When Predators travel to play the Golden Knights, they rekindle their chemistry.
When the Nashville Predators begin a three-game western trip against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights on Monday afternoon in Las Vegas, they will be playing for a seven-game road point streak.
With six wins in a row during that point streak, Nashville—which currently sits atop the Western Conference wild-card standings with 49 points—has only lost once, 5-4 in overtime at Detroit on December 29. The Predators last suffered a regulation road loss, 4-0, at Toronto on December 9.
Nashville defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3 on Friday night and the New York Islanders 3-1 at home on Saturday to sweep the weekend back-to-back.
To overcome New York, the Predators scored three goals in the last five minutes of play. With 4:52 remaining, Luke Evangelista scored on a power play to tie the score at one, and with just 7.9 seconds remaining, Alexandre Carrier scored the game-winning goal. Just before the last buzzer, Juuso Parssinen added an empty-net goal.
Nashville coach Andrew Brunette remarked, “We persevered.” “The hockey game was tough and enjoyable. It was quick, akin to hockey in the playoffs. There was not much space outside. We persevered and showed a lot of resilience, in my opinion, towards the end. With roughly five minutes remaining, it appeared that we would not fare as well as we should have.
With 24 saves in total, Juuse Saros made a crucial stop on Bo Horvat in the third quarter to keep the score at one.
Brunette exclaimed, “He was great.” “You could tell that he was dialed in tonight.”
The Nashville Predators will play six of their next seven games away from home after their game against the Golden Knights.
“We like each other in the room, and we’re having a good time on the road,” Carrier stated. “That shows on the ice when we’re on the road too.”
The Predators will be facing a Vegas team that has lost eight of its last 11 games, including a 3-1 home loss to Calgary on Saturday night.
Jack Eichel, the team’s top scorer, was not present for the Golden Knights. After taking a hip check along the boards from former Boston University teammate Matt Grzelcyk during a 2-1 overtime victory over the Bruins, he was placed on injured reserve on Sunday due to a left leg injury.
After a brilliant 11-0-1 start to the season, Vegas’ offense has faltered and they have been shut out five times in the last 28 games. In their past nine games, the Golden Knights have only managed 16 goals and have been shut out twice.
Following the Flames defeat, Bruce Cassidy, the coach of the Golden Knights, lamented his team’s offensive shortcomings, citing “some personnel as struggling.” “A few players who are essential to our offense are not in the starting lineup. Some guys have good chances, but they are off the net. There was too much of that tonight. both lofty and expansive. A couple of crossbars. That’s tough puck luck.
“I appreciate our effort. Our goal is to score goals. We simply weren’t good enough to finish.”
Moving forward With 17 goals, Jonathan Marchessault is second on the team to Eichel (19). He hasn’t scored since December 21st at Tampa Bay, and on Saturday afternoon, he attempted a shot but missed the crossbar.
“I thought we played a pretty good game, but at the end of the day, we have to find a way to score goals,” Marchessault stated.
