Blue Jackets, Predators catch each other on rebound (Jan 26, 2017)
If one is looking for a word to describe the mood of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Nashville Predators ahead of their game on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, salty comes to mind.
Columbus coach John Tortorella's postgame scrum Tuesday night after a 4-2 loss at the New York Islanders lasted all of 55 seconds.
Later that night, Predators coach Peter Laviolette wasn't much happier after his team blew a 4-2 lead with less than six minutes left in regulation and lost 5-4 in overtime to Buffalo.
"We should carry it with us for a little bit, and take it into the next game," Laviolette said. "Hopefully, we'll be irritated with the way we played."
Tortorella sure sounded irritated with most everything after his team lost for the sixth time in 11 games since a 16-game winning streak propelled them from the NHL's witness protection program into a rare glimpse of the spotlight.
There wasn't much for the Blue Jackets (32-11-4) to brag about in Brooklyn. After scoring first, they gave up the next four goals, forcing Tortorella to yank goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for the second time in his last six starts.
"I'm not dissecting anything tonight," Tortorella said during his brief postgame soliloquy. "We played a good first period and I don't know where it went from there. That's all. I'm just tired of talking about what's right, what's wrong."
While Tortorella might not want to address it for public consumption, defense hasn't been a Columbus strength lately. It has allowed 36 goals since its 16-game winning streak, an average of 3.3 per game, and needs to tighten up against the Predators.
In winning six of its last eight games, Nashville has averaged nearly three goals per game.
The Predators scored four goals in three of the last four games, generating more shots and possession time with the return of mainstays like forward James Neal and defenseman P.K. Subban.
"We've got to find ways to be desperate here," Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno said. "We've got to find ways to sustain a good game all the way through. We have not done that in a while here. That's cause for concern."
Pardon the Predators (23-17-8) if they are not casting a sympathetic eye toward their former Central Division rivals. Their loss to Buffalo was not only a brutal one from the standpoint of coughing up a late lead, but prevented them from achieving a season-high four-game winning streak.
Wasted in the loss were Neal's team-high 17th goal and Filip Forsberg's 12th goal in 19 games, dating to Dec. 19. No player in the NHL has more markers than Forsberg over that span.
"Playing solid in the first period is great," Forsberg said. "Then after that, it was just kind of up and down. We were loose with a 4-2 lead and at home, it's disappointing. It's obviously a bad way to lose.'
Pekka Rinne should return to the net for Nashville after rookie Juuse Saros gave up five goals on Tuesday night, the first time in his 11 NHL games that he allowed more than three.
Rinne has won three of his last four starts, giving up only seven goals.
