All losses hit hard in a playoff series, though some leave more than a bruise. They can break the skin.

What the Nashville Predators suffered in the Pacific Northwest late Sunday was the second kind, one of those coulda, woulda, shoulda nights that can fester and bleed if unattended. They know they let one get away. That they had the Vancouver Canucks and didn’t close. And that teams can't do that in the postseason.

The Canucks’ reward for owning the third period was a 4-2 comeback victory and a one-game lead over a franchise that has never won a playoff series after dropping Game 1. History isn’t on the Predators’ side as they move to Game 2, but that doesn't have anything to do with the rest of this series.

This will come down to how the Predators respond to an introductory gut punch and whether they understand the following:

The Predators could have won Game 1. That doesn’t mean they should have won it.

Had the Predators — who led 2-1 and coughed it up by allowing three goals in the final 11:01 — held on, it would have been found money. It would’ve obscured, but not changed, that this performance wasn’t up to par. Things happened in Game 1 that can’t continue for the Predators to survive this series.

Goalie Juuse Saros was just OK. Vancouver’s first goal shouldn’t have gotten past him, and that goal originated with Roman Josi allowing Elias Lindholm ample space to shoot. Josi, too, was just OK. Same for Filip Forsberg.

While Ryan O’Reilly scored on a power play, these Predators aren’t going to win many playoff games when their stars don’t sparkle and their top forward line is minus-3.

Even more troubling, the Canucks won because they had more in the tank late, which doesn’t make much sense against a Predators team that hadn’t played in almost a week.

Maybe the Preds were a little rusty. Offensively, they weren’t as sharp. Three times with a 2-1 lead, they whiffed on a power play when a two-goal lead would have been massive, considering the Canucks mustered only 21 shots on goal.

Alas, the Predators totaled only 22 shots on goal — meager by their standards. In 82 regular-season games, only five times did they finish with fewer than 22 (not surprisingly, they went 1-4 in those games).

Not good enough. Not assertive enough. Not the way this team can hope to win in the playoffs.

Predators coach Andrew Brunette, for the most part, took an encouraging and positive tone after the game. But he tossed in a few words like “sloppy” and “slow” to describe the evening.

“We stepped on our toe a little bit,” Brunette said.

And despite all of it, the Predators could have won.

The Canucks are a quality opponent, but nothing about Game 1 suggested that this matchup presents some insurmountable obstacle (see two years ago against the Colorado Avalanche for an example of what it looks like when that’s the case).

This looks like a winnable playoff series for the Predators, but it’s not going to be handed to them. They’ll have to step up and take it. They'll have to be able to prove that the team no one expected to be here does in fact deserve to be here and can bite.

“I think we have another level,” Josi said. “We gave ourselves a chance to win, but there's still another level.”

I’d agree. I’d also suggest the Predators find it soon.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes. Click here and bookmark to follow his work.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: To beat Vancouver Canucks, Nashville Predators need better than Game 1