In 12 seconds, Nashville Predators' fortunes in Game 1 of NHL playoffs were scuttled
VANCOUVER — The Nashville Predators had Game 1 in their hands.
In 12 seconds, they lost it.
After Jason Zucker and Ryan O'Reilly scored early against the Vancouver Canucks in the first-round NHL playoff game Sunday, the Predators looked ready to steal a win.
Everything was going to plan. They were managing the momentum of the game. They capitalized on early chances. They kept the Canucks' power play off the board. They used their defensive structure to keep Vancouver from getting too many quality looks.
Then it all fell apart.
A screen in front of the net kept Juuse Saros from seeing Quinn Hughes' shot from the point midway through the third period. That tied the game 2-2. Then, 12 seconds later, a physical play behind the Nashville net after the ensuing faceoff allowed Dakota Joshua to gather a pass in front of Saros. He scored to make it 3-2 Canucks.
In a heartbeat, the game changed. Now the Canucks — not the Predators — have a 1-0 series lead.
"It's tough to put it on one thing," O'Reilly said. "We were in a good spot. Just have to calm down and will it out."
But after the Canucks went up 3-2, the Predators did very little the rest of the way. They managed only a handful of chances to tie the score before Joshua's empty-net goal sealed the 4-2 win for Vancouver.
Andrew Brunette: Like Predators' early season struggles
After the game, coach Andrew Brunette said the breakdown reminded him of problems the team had early in the season with shifts after a goal.
"Uncharacteristic for us from the last 40 games or so," he said of the third period. "It was a little bit of a theme early in the year. Shift after a goal is so important."
Brunette said it wasn't so much the crowd or the atmosphere at Rogers Arena that fed into the errors, just a lack of focus at a key moment.
"It's disappointing," he said. "We haven't done that in a long time."
Brunette not worried Predators will be dragged down
A loss like this — where you have a chance to steal a win but come up short — can have a lingering effect on a locker room. But with Game 2 on Tuesday, the Predators will need to move on quickly.
Brunette said he's not worried about that happening here.
"This group has been resilient. We've handled adversity all year," he said. "To a man, we know we didn't play our best. But we've done a really good job of just moving straight ahead. Forget about it, rinse it, let's go back to work."
O'Reilly, who has been in enough playoff games to know how to respond to losses, knows the series is far from over.
"It's one game," he said. "In the playoffs, things happen really quick. We have another chance in two days."
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Predators' bad habits return in NHL playoffs loss to Canucks
