In their quest to rally from a 3-1 series deficit against the Vancouver Canucks, it turned out the last thing the Predators needed was another home game.
Home, after all, is where the Preds have come to die in recent years.
The troubling and familiar script played out once again on Friday, when Nashville fell 1-0 to Vancouver, losing the first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series to the Canucks in six games despite the efforts of a raucous, catfish-tossing, towel-waving, standing-ovation delivering sellout crowd in Music City.
The Preds went 0-3 at home this series, the only team in the NHL to do so this postseason.
Nashville has now lost six straight home playoff games, and the Predators have seen each of their last three playoff series end with losses in front of their own fans.
Bridgestone Arena? Perhaps it should be renamed Tombstone Arena, given the number of times the Predators’ hopes have been snuffed out here.
“Yeah, definitely, it is frustrating,” Predators captain Roman Josi said. “Especially in the playoffs. You’ve got to take care of your home games. You’ve got to win some of your home games. We didn’t do that. It’s such an amazing place to play, play at Bridgestone.
“Tonight again, it felt like the crowd, they were on their feet the whole game. They pushed us late. To not get a win for them and obviously for us, because we take a lot of pride in playing at Bridgestone … We’ve definitely got to find a way to be better at home, get some wins.”
That quest will have to resume once again next season, following another narrow Nashville loss in a very tightly contested series.
The Predators actually created more scoring chances (29-23), produced more high-danger chances (16-9) and had a higher expected goals total (3.21 to 2.72) in Game Six, per Natural Stat Trick. But Nashville couldn’t manage to beat Vancouver’s third-string goalie, Arturs Silovs, who posted the first shutout of his NHL career — which includes all of nine regular-season and three playoff contests.
The Preds will be wondering what might have been had they been able to score on a four-minute power play early in the second period, a man-advantage opportunity that led to just three harmless shots on goal when the score was still 0-0.
Nashville also had a six-on-four advantage for the game’s final 34 seconds, after the Predators pulled goalie Juuse Saros and then drew a penalty. There were two shots on goal this time as the clock wound down, but no tying goal. The Preds went two-for-22 on the power play over six games.
“I think for sure that’s going to keep you up all night,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “I’m probably going to [replay] that last 33 seconds. I thought we had some things that were there that we missed. [The power play] needs to be better. I’ll take responsibility for that. But at the same time, we put ourselves in opportunities to make plays. We just unfortunately didn’t make the plays.”
The Canucks likely had the better of the final 20 minutes, generating more and more chances as the third period wore on.
Preds goalie Juuse Saros was spectacular in defeat, stopping Vancouver’s first 28 shots on goal.
But the Canucks finally figured a way to get a puck past him on their final attempt. Brock Boeser corralled a loose puck behind the Nashville net and sent a blind backhand pass in front, where an unchecked Pius Suter — a couple steps ahead of Preds forward Anthony Beauvillier — snapped it past a helpless Saros with just 1:39 left in regulation.
“We got caught back on our heels a bit,” Predators forward Ryan O’Reilly said of the third period. “I don’t know if it was frustration, not generating anything. But they made a strong pushback. It was obviously too late [once] they got a goal. We didn’t take the momentum back like we needed to. To their credit, they played us well. It stings.”
Just 99 seconds after Suter’s score, the final horn sounded, marking the end of a Predators season that had exceeded expectations — but one that had ended in familiar fashion, in an all-too-familiar setting.
“Obviously the whole series, right, we didn’t get one win at home,” Preds defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “Liked a lot about our game in all three at home.
“Kind of some missed opportunities, some games situationally you’d want back or a do-over. But you don’t get that in this day and age.”