The Nashville Predators' 2-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday was the result of several breakdowns, but the major problem was the team's power play.

Five times the Predators had the man advantage — including a pivotal 5-on-3 in the third period — and five times they were held scoreless.

Through three games of the NHL playoffs first-round series, the Predators have scored on only one power play in 13 chances. That's a 7% scoring rate, three times worse than their 21.7% rate in the regular season.

After the game, Predators coach Andrew Brunette said the power play unit has been slow and indecisive, even while giving credit to the Canucks for their hard work on the penalty kill.

"(The Canucks') penalty kill is very well prepared, very well coached," Brunette said after the game. "But we stickhandle a little too often. A little quicker on the stick, little quicker with our movements."

Roman Josi, Filip Forsberg on what's wrong with Predators power play

Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg are two of the Predators' most important pieces on the power play. In the regular season, those two accounted for 22 power play goals, but neither has scored one in these playoffs.

"I think just movement, a little bit more movement," Josi said after the Game 3 loss. "(The Canucks' penalty kill) doesn't move much, we've got to get some movement, just get some shots through. Maybe get a dirty goal, maybe a tip or just a rebound."

"I think we're moving a little slow," Forsberg said. "We had one look that was good and created a lot of chances. But they've got some big fellas back there, blocking a lot of shots. We've got to move quicker."

Though Josi and Forsberg are right — the power play unit does need to work faster in certain moments — there are multiple layers to its failure. Zone entries on the power play have been poor, with attackers often carrying the puck directly into the Canucks' penalty killers. And even when the power play gets set up, the attacking space is often compact, forcing players to make quick decisions.

So far, advantage Vancouver. Their penalty kill ended the regular season ranked 17th-best in the league, but with a near-flawless performance in three games, they are the best unit in the playoffs so far.

One late-season addition to the power play, Luke Evangelista, the youngest member of the team, offered one solution to getting the unit going.

"It looks like it's gonna have to be a greasy (goal) to get it done," he said.

Finding traffic in front of the Vancouver net, getting to rebounds when they come loose, and getting to prime scoring areas before the defenders get set up is one way to get those "greasy" goals.

Whatever the solution, the Predators will need to find a way to get the power play going soon. The best-of-seven series resumes with Game 4 on Sunday (4 p.m. CT, TBS, Bally Sports South) at Bridgestone Arena. The Canucks lead the series 2-1.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How Predators' power play failed in NHL playoffs Game 3 loss to Canucks