A two point night for Steven Stamkos was not enough in his return to Amalie Arena, as the slow-starting Predators fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in overtime, maintaining a four-game point streak.
The game was yet another trademark slow Nashville start, as the Predators were completely unable to string together an offensive possession. With the Predators chasing the puck and failing to enter the offensive zone, Tampa was able to cash in halfway through the period, Jake Guentzel found Braydon Point, who came across the crease and buried the shot past Juuse Saros, and Tampa Bay led 1-0.
After successfully killing a Tampa Bay power play, Nashville looked to get a chance of their own after drawing a penalty, but another was taken, so play went to 4 on 4 (and a subsequent penalty kill). Nashville was able to provide a few chances in this time, but unfortunately, none of them could beat Andrei Vasilevskiy, so the remained down. Shortly after another Nashville kill, Point found a streaking Mitchell Chaffee, who beat Saros and gave the Bolts a 2-0 lead right before the end of the first.
Thankfully, in the second period, Nashville would awaken and control the tempo throughout. After dominating possession and generating several high-danger chances in the first half of the period, as well as an overturned Nikita Kucherov goal, the Predators finally got another power play chance. And it wouldn’t take long – Stamkos would pick up his first assist as he and Jonathan Marchessault found Ryan O’Reilly, who beat Vasilevkiy and trimmed the Nashville deficit to one.
The Predators remained in control the rest of the period, and in the final two minutes, Stamkos would pick up his second assist of the night after taking a beautiful strech pass from Brady Skjei and sending it to a streaking Gustav Nyquist who sent home the equalizer, 2-2 right before second intermission.
The final period was spent in a much more back-and-forth manner, as both teams traded power play attempts early on, before Nashville was able to create several high-danger chances – including a shot from Stamkos that banked off the post, just missing a goal in his homecoming. As the teams continued to fight for a lead, Nashville was able to build momentum in the final minutes, getting several chances to end the game, but like Tampa, they were unable to convert.
As the teams headed to overtime, the first two and a half minutes were dominated by the Predators. The entire first two minutes were controlled by Nashville, and despite passing a bit more than would be desired, Nashville finally ceded possession a couple of times, and Guentzel would find Nick Paul who would go across Saros face and tuck it in stick side to end the game 3-2. The Predators three game winning streak would be snapped, but they managed to maintain a now four-game point streak as they head home to Nashville to face the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
Three Stars of the Game
Third Star: NSH F Steven Stamkos – 2 assists, 2 points
Second Star: TB F Brayden Point – 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 points
First Star: TB F Nick Paul – Game-winning OT goal, 1 point