The Nashville Predators got bad and the New Jersey Devils got even Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena.

Then the Nashville Predators got worse and the New Jersey Devils got even again.

Blowing two one-goal leads wasn't the worst part for the Predators, who got mad after the Devils stole a 4-2 victory that cost Nashville a chance to move back into a wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

"We got what we deserved," said captain Roman Josi, pressing his palms hard into the either side of his face.

Josi used the word "frustrating" three times in response to the first postgame question he faced. The scent of that word hung on every ensuing word Josi said, and for good reason.

The loss marked the 12th time this season Nashville has lost after leading a game, tied for sixth most in the NHL. It also was the sixth time the Predators blew a third-period lead, tied for fourth most in the league.

But wasn't losing indicative of what many expected of the Predators more often than not this season? New coach. New GM. New faces. New future.

Yet here the Predators are, in another playoff race.

For now.

"We're at a stage where we're going to dictate where we are here for the next two weeks," coach Andrew Brunette said. "Tonight we dictated that we weren't going to be that interested to be in the playoffs."

Roman Josi: 'It's unacceptable'

Josi used a version of the word "battle" three more times in response to another question.

He wasn't referring to his team winning those "battles," be they on the wall, on the puck or just about everywhere else on the ice. Brunette called his team "soft" around its own net.

"It's unacceptable," Josi said.

Forward Cody Glass repeated, word for word, those two words. Three times.

"Especially 30 games left. Playoff push. We're right there in a playoff race," Glass said.

But for those wishing or hoping the team gives up on those hopes in favor of a brighter future, keep wishing and hoping.

You think Predators players and coaches care about future draft picks or preseason predictions? They'll leave that to general manager Barry Trotz.

They don't. They care about winning. They care about right now. They're wired that way.

Exhibit A: Remember the Predators' improbable second half last season, when they made a playoff push after the front office decided to sell at the trade deadline?

Andrew Brunette: 'We're hard-headed, I guess'

Back to this season.

It wasn't that the Predators lost Tuesday that upset Josi and Glass and the rest of the team. It was how the Predators lost.

"You can lose games, even get outplayed sometimes," Josi said. "But you can't get outworked. You can't get outbattled. In our position, at this time of the year, we need to be a lot better."

The game — and in some ways, the season — in a nutshell moment occurred 53 seconds into the second period when the Predators washed away a power play by being called for too many men on the ice during a delayed penalty.

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Thirty-seven seconds later, Jack Hughes' four-on-four goal gave the Predators their first blown lead of the game.

"That kind of summarized our game," Brunette said. "I don't know how many games we've let points fly away. ... We're hard-headed, I guess."

The loss left Nashville an inexplicable 14-14-0 at home.

The loss did not leave the Predators at a loss for words.

"We kept feeding the animal and it just kept rolling and rolling," Brunette said of Tuesday's game. "You know sooner or later you're in trouble."

The March 8 trade deadline is approaching.

It's time to get mad, or later could come sooner than the Predators would like.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why Andrew Brunette said Predators don't seem 'interested' in playoffs