Nashville Predators coach Andrew Brunette expects a response from his team Saturday as it ends a two-game road trip against the Pittsburgh Penguins after a lopsided defeat in Boston.
His team suffered a 6-0 loss in Boston Thursday, the franchise’s worst loss since Dallas beat the Predators 9-2 on Feb. 15, 2024.
“We had too many passengers tonight, and probably almost all of them,” the Predators coach said. “It’s disappointing. We knew coming in, it’s a big stretch of hockey. Big month for our group. We knew that, and we just forgot to play hockey tonight.”
The Predators have lost four of five (1-2-2) and sit seventh in the eight-team Central Division, though the top six teams have all played at least one more game than Nashville. Still, they have the league’s eighth-worst goal differential at minus-seven. A key reason is the team’s 6.1% shooting rate in 5-on-5 situations. That’s tied with the Philadelphia Flyers for the third-lowest in the NHL.
Steven Stamkos leads the team with 10 points. He shares the goal-scoring lead (four) with Ryan O’Reilly and Adam Edstrom. Defenseman Roman Josi leads the roster with eight assists.
Goalie Juuse Saros (3-2-2, 2.82 goals-against average) did not play Thursday, resting for just the second time this season. He’s 4-6-1 in 13 games against the Penguins, with a 2.73 GAA and .914 save percentage.
The Penguins secured a much-needed win Thursday, beating the Florida Panthers 4-0 to end a four-game losing streak (0-4-0). Nicholas Robertson scored twice, while Hendrix Lapierre and Evgeni Malkin each had a goal and an assist.
Robertson, 25, signed with the Penguins after Toronto traded him there in the offseason. After scoring a career-high 16 goals last season, he already has six in 11 games. That ties him with Malkin for the team lead.
The forward is one of several new pieces the Penguins have on the ice while they wait to decide what to do with a roster that includes several older players who have been in Pittsburgh for several years.
That’s a formula nearly identical to the Predators’. According to Elite Prospects, Nashville has the league’s 11th-oldest roster, with an average age of 28.54. Pittsburgh is right behind at 28.52. The Penguins’ experience, with an average of 11.5 NHL seasons, is the ninth-oldest, while the Predators’ 10.1 ranks 17th.
The Penguins have also dealt with numerous injuries in the first month of the season, including placing Ben Kindel and Bryan Rust on the injured reserve list Thursday.
Malkin, 40, missed practice Friday, but Muse said it was just illness-related and he should be ready to play Saturday.
Before Thursday’s win, Pittsburgh was 1-6-1 over its last eight games. Rust told reporters that his team “can’t get bored with what works” and just has to repeat what they did Thursday.
“It’s a quick turnaround,” he said. “We got an opportunity here tomorrow to try to build on that. That’s the most important thing, right now, is just continuing to work (and) stack days together. Not just games, but games, practices, stacking days here, and taking positives from each.”
After allowing 16 goals in his previous four starts, Arturs Silovs (4-3-0, 3.01 GAA) recorded his second shutout of the season, stopping 26 shots from Florida on Thursday. The Latvian netminder is 1-0-1 in two games against Nashville, with a 2.40 GAA and a .919 save percentage.