It's Game 1 of an 82-game regular season so we're going to mostly keep this game recap with a glass half full perspective, but it's never easy to see the Nashville Predators lose when they should've won.
The Predators lost to the Dallas Stars 4-3 on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena in a game that took a while for both offenses to get cooking, but once they did, the goaltenders ended up being the x-factors.
After the Stars broke the scoring open at 2:05 of the second period on a wrister from Roope Hintz that fooled Scott Wedgewood, the Predators were playing catch-up the rest of the night.
Let's get the negatives out of the way first, and then we'll focus on the positives from the Predators.
Nashville Predators might have a serious problem at backup goalie
I was already mildly concerned going into the season after Wedgewood's three preseason outings that were terrible at best, and unfortunately he carried that over to the season-opener against his former team.
Wedgewood's worst goal given up of the night was by far the Mason Marchment goal from outside the circle that made it 4-1. A shot you absolutely have to stop if you're Wedgewood. The deficit proved to be the difference-maker between pushing this to overtime and losing in regulation. See it for yourself courtesy of NHL.com.
The Stars are throwing everything at Wedgewood tonight. Marchment far side and it’s 4-1#TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/UTxHQ6F6jz
— DailyDallasHockey (@DallasStarsDDH) October 11, 2024
To be fair to Wedgewood, the Predators sprung a few leaks on the back end of their defense that led to some breakouts for the Stars. However, these things are bound to happen during the course of every game, and sometimes the goalie just has to step up and make the clutch save. Wedgwood wasn't able to do that.
Wedgewood never looked comfortable in the crease. He was flailing around a lot and didn't look locked in at all. Some of that is certainly shaking off more rust from the offseason, but he's definitely giving fans no reason to have confidence in his backup duties right now.
On the other side, Jake Oettinger looked the part of a franchise goalie for the Stars. He makes 33 saves on 36 shots, a lot of them high quality shots from the Predators.
The Goals Saved Above Expected comparison between Wedgewood and Oettinger? A -1.86 for Wedgewood and a positive 0.69 for Oettinger. The clear difference-maker in the game.
Timing was a bit off for Preds offensive attack
The Predators got plenty of shots on net to test Oettinger. For it being the season-opener and having a lot of kinks to work out, I thought the Predators did a good job being aggressive on the puck and pushing the pace. The timing was off on some of their passes and set ups that was needed to beat Oettinger.
Nothing to raise alarm bells on. It's hockey and just being off by one second in timing can be the difference between a tying goal and hitting a post.
If my memory serves me right, the Predators hit three posts, including a near-miss from Tommy Novak to get his second goal of the night.
Despite a lot of chances and zone time, the Predators power play finishes with just one goal on six attempts. Much of that was due to Oettinger's excellence and just being off a fraction of a second.
A lot to build off of going into their first road game of the season, at the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
The Predators will be a strong comeback team throughout the season
One reason this Predators team should win a lot of games in 2024-25 is their ability to make comebacks thanks to their offense and depth. They put that on display against the Stars after falling behind 4-1 heading into the third period.
Novak made is 4-2 on a backhand shot at 4:37 of the third period. Plenty of time left after that to score two more and keep things interesting. Also really encouraging to see the connection from Evangelista to Novak for the goal.
Oettinger held things together throughout the third period onslaught by the Predators, but Ryan O'Reilly did manage to get another one back for the home team at 18:25 of the third period with the net emptied.
Jonathan Marchessault added his second assist of the night in his Predators debut. The Predators didn't fold after making it 4-3, either. They kept the high intensity engaged until the final horn sounded, which you tip your cap to as a fan.
Stamkos held scoreless, may take time to get into a groove
We're all buzzing to see the future lock Hall of Famer Steven Stamkos score his first goal for the Predators and look like the Stamkos that played all those years with the Tampa Bay Lightning. We have to be patient here.
Stamkos in his highly-anticipated regular season debut for the Predators had trouble finding his office on the power play. That one-timer set-up spot was guarded very well by the Stars penalty kill, which ranked 8th in the NHL last season.
The final stat line for Stamkos in his debut is three shots on goal, 23:01 of ice time, two penalty minutes and two hits. He had the second-highest ice time on the team among skaters, only trailing Roman Josi's enormous 29:07 of ice time.
It might take a few games for Stamkos to get into form, but against such a well-coached and disciplined Stars team, it was a tall order for him to jump right in and light up the scoresheet. It'll come, and I won't be surprised in the slightest if he gets his first goal for the Predators on Saturday against the Red Wings.