Predators to open homestand against Oilers (Feb 02, 2017)
The Edmonton Oilers and Nashville Predators were two of the hottest teams in the NHL going into the All-Star break.
When they meet Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., both will look to regain their form prior to Tuesday night losses.
Edmonton (28-16-8) absorbed a 5-2 home beating at the hands of Minnesota, which jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the second period and drove starting goalie Cam Talbot to cover after four goals on just 19 shots. Nashville (24-18-8) suffered a 4-2 defeat in Pittsburgh, thanks to a three-goal second period by the Penguins.
It was just the second regulation loss in the last 10 games for the Predators, which wrapped up January at 8-4-2 and jumped over St. Louis into third place in the Central Division. They will play nine of their next 12 games at home, including the next three.
"We're going to have to learn from this," Nashville defenseman Ryan Ellis said. "We had a streak going. We were playing really good hockey and we need to regroup, refocus and come back from this game better."
Prior to Tuesday night's game, Nashville had outscored opponents 61-32 in the second period and was the NHL's lone team not to lose in regulation when scoring the first goal (15-0-5). But Pittsburgh played the role of outlier, keeping the Predators without a shot on net for the first six minutes and turning a 1-1 tie into a 4-1 breather.
Although Nashville controlled most of the third period, all it managed was a Colin Wilson power-play marker.
"We played 40 minutes of good hockey, I thought. Our second period just can't happen," center Ryan Johansen said. "We have three games at home here and we understand that. Just take care of business at home."
While the Predators start a homestand, this is the beginning of a three-game trip for the Oilers. Before Tuesday night, their only defeat in eight games was a 3-2 shootout loss to Nashville on Jan. 20 in Edmonton.
Not much good came out of the Oilers' return from the All-Star break. While they managed to pump 43 shots on net, they also missed the net with 18 shots and were too loose in their end. They gave the puck away 14 times.
"It was catastrophic mistakes, often just by individuals, that really caused us problems," Edmonton coach Todd McLellan said. "We were flat, we didn't execute well, we weren't good around the net. We got what we deserved."
A return to the road could be a good thing for the Oilers. They swept their last road trip, drumming Calgary, Anaheim and San Jose by a combined 15-4. Their 4-1 win over the Sharks just before the All-Star break opened quite a few eyes around the league.
Veteran forward Milan Lucic said Edmonton simply needs to commit to playing defense as a unit to regain its winning form. While Talbot's goals-against average suffered Tuesday night, Lucic said the skaters in front of him simply gave up too many quality chances.
"You can add up the distance from the net of all their goals put together and I don't think it goes from the goal line to the blue line," he said. "That's not on the goaltender, that's on the five-man unit in the D-zone."
