In Edmonton Thursday night, the Oilers broke out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
The problem for the Oilers was they forgot there were another 40 minutes to play.
The Nashville Predators didn’t lose their composure and rallied with two goals in the second and third periods to defeat the Oilers, 4-2.
“I think we have that confidence as a group that we know that we can score goals if we stick to what we’re talking about and stick to what [coach Peter Laviolette] is preaching, then we’re going to be able to score goals and come back in the hockey game and we were able to do that,” Nashville’s Austin Watson said.
For all the hype about the Vegas Golden Knights, the Preds have quietly moved up the Western Conference ladder and now hold the top spot in the west.
“Mistakes hurt us,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “We fought with the right effort and a lot of our guys had really strong games. As long as we have that compete level and that effort we will be on the right side of the board most nights. It was definitely tough to lose that one, but it is one we can grow from.”
Viktor Arvidsson struck for two goals in the win.
“The first period was tough, I don’t think we played that bad,” Predators head coach Peter Laviolette said. “The chances were in our favor. I like some of the things we did. Our defenseman didn’t have his stick on the first goal, and the second one they were able to score a goal off the rush on the power play.”
Scott Hartnell and Watson also scored for Nashville who improved to 40-14-9.
“To be able to come back and deliver on such a big night for him was pretty special and something really incredible for us as a group to be a part of,” Watson said. “Congratulations to Mr. Poile and his family. It’s incredible.”
The Oilers dropped to 27-33-4.
“We didn’t make a lot of mistakes, but they made us pay for the ones that we made. We had enough chances to extend the lead in the second period and we weren’t able to capitalize on them,” the Oilers’ Milan Lucic said after the loss.
[WATCH: All Predators vs. Oilers highlights]
Cam Talbot made 38 saves in taking the loss.
“I thought it was a fairly evenly matched game and when all was said, we made a few more mistakes than they did, and they capitalized more on our mistakes than we did on theirs,” Oilers head coach Todd McLellan said. “We played a solid third period, there wasn’t much going on either way, but we had a couple of breakdowns from veteran players that really cost us.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.