In Nashville, the Predators were staked t a 1-0 lead in the second period off a goal from Austin Watson.
Problem was, that was it for the Preds as the visiting Dallas Stars ripped off four unanswered goals in a 4-1 victory.
All goals were scored in the middle frame.
“We got the lead,” Watson said. “It’s a lot easier to play with the lead than try to claw back into the game, but it turned around quick there with the shorthanded goal and from that point. We played well in the third, but to claw back from a 4-1 deficit against any team in the League, especially one of, if not the top defensive teams in the League, at least analytically, it’s a tall task.”
Anton Khudobin made 37 saves to get the win for Dallas.
The Predators dropped to 14-12-5.
“It wasn’t a quantity thing,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. “It was the quality, starting with the first [goal], a breakaway. The second one, we have a chance to clear pucks out of there and we don’t. Again, another one turns over. It’s coming back at us quick. So it’s not like we were under siege, but the mistakes that we’re making, they’re costing us. They’re too big. We need to quiet the game down defensively just from a quality standpoint, not a quantity standpoint, and right now they’re capitalizing.”
Dallas improved to 19-11-4 and are 4-0-1 in their last five.
Blake Comeau, Roope Hintz, Jamie Oleksiak and Andrew Cogliano scored for Dallas.
“It seems like we’ve built a pretty good rivalry, especially with the playoff series we had last year and now the outdoor game this year,” Comeau said. “We knew it was going to be a huge divisional game for us coming into it.”
[WATCH: All Stars vs. Predators highlights]
Pekka Rinne made 18 saves in the loss.
“They pretty much got those four chances and they scored on every one of them,” Rinne said. “I don’t know what or why it was. Made a few mistakes, and then they made us pay right away. I’ve got to find a way to at least make some of those saves.”
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