The hometown crowd was eagerly awaiting the team’s first win of the season in their second home game of the season, but the visiting Seattle Kraken started the third period with some fireworks and the Nashville Predators move to 0-3-0 in the early stages of the 2024-25 NHL season.
The Predators got out to a hot start, looking to improve on their quality chances, but just over three minutes into the game, a streaking Ryker Evans came down the left side of the ice and fired past Juuse Saros, and the Kraken would start the game with a 1-0 lead.
Nashville appeared to recover decently, getting a few more chances on Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord, but an ill-timed pinch by Jeremy Lauzon led to yet another odd-man rush against Nashville (who has the most in the league against), and Oliver Bjorkstrand beat Saros with 12 minutes left and Seattle would take the two goal lead, 2-0.
Despite the early deficit, however, the Predators would settle down and find their game. Filip Forsberg and company would benefit from some prime chances, as the top six was able to generate some chemistry at even strength. Not to be outdone, however, Juuso Parssinen would steal the puck off the right wall, fire to Alex Carrier who would make an excellent cross-crease pass to Michael McCarron, who would open up the Nashville scoring with a nice backhand to make the score 2-1.
Just a few minutes later, an incredible pass by Mark Jankowski would find Tommy Novak, and he’d fire into a wide-open net past Daccord and the score would be tied for the first time at two.
With the game tied and the home crowd back in the game, the high wouldn’t last very long. With around 35 seconds left, Montour would fire from the blue line, and Brandon Tanev would deflect the puck past Juuse Saros and the Kraken would head to first intermission up 3-2.
Hoping to start the second period better than the first., the Predators would continue pushing the puck up the ice. Jonathan Marchessault would get boarded by Tye Kartye, a scrum ensued, and both teams sent a player to the box for some 4 on 4 action, and Nashville took advantage quickly, as newcomer Brady Skjei would score from the bottom of the left circle, tying the game at 3 with just 3 minutes in.
Nashville would continue to harass Daccord, and Seattle would take another penalty to give Nashville a 4 on 3 advantage, but despite the effort, Nashville would be unable to take advantage and was left still seeking their first lead of the season. Despite that, Nashville appeared to be reinvigorated during the period, leading play and heading to the locker room at intermission with a ton of momentum on their side, tied at three a piece.
Unfortunately, any thought of the word “momentum” was lost by the team coming out of intermission, and it would take no time at all for Seattle to restore their two goal lead. Another odd-man rush from Seattle (stop me if you’ve heard this before) would lead Jaden Schwartz to take the feed from Bjorkstrand, and Seattle would go back up 4-3 just 1:19 into the third, but the bleeding wouldn’t stop anytime soon.
Just over a minute later, with the Predators trying to clear the zone, McCann would find captain Jordan Eberle and the two-goal lead would be restored, and the fans started to look furtively at the exits.
The wind had been basically sucked out of the room at that point in Bridgestone Arena, as the Predators wouldn’t be able to find any rhythm whatsoever. To add insult to injury, Jared McCann would take the puck on what was essentially a two on four, and beat Saros once again, officially making this game ugly at 6-3.
With five minutes remaining, coach Andrew Brunette would pull Juuse Saros for the empty net, and despite a couple of decent chances, Adam Larsson would fire it home for the ENG and the final score of the night, with the Seattle Kraken winning 7-3.
Three Stars of the Game
Third Star: SEA Jared McCann – 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 points
Second Star: SEA Oliver Bjorkstrand – 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 points
First Star: SEA Jaden Schwartz – 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 points