Predators Fall Short in Tight Battle With Canucks, 4–3

Game 8: Canucks 4 vs Predators 3

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Nashville Predators couldn’t hold off a red-hot Vancouver Canucks squad Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena, falling 4–3 despite a strong showing from their depth lines and penalty killers.

First Period: Early Punch, Late Response

The Predators opened the scoring just three minutes into the contest when Nino Niederreiter buried his first of the season off a crisp feed from Lawson Crouse. The Canucks, however, capitalized late as Leon Draisaitl evened things up with a wrister past Jake Allen at 19:12, giving Vancouver momentum heading into the intermission.

Second Period: Offensive Flurry

The middle frame saw both teams trade blows in quick succession. Vancouver took its first lead when Sam Reinhart converted on the power play, finishing a setup from Moritz Seider and Draisaitl.
But Nashville answered back swiftly — rookie Maxim Tsyplakov notched his first NHL goal at 17:15, finishing a smart feed from Ty Dellandrea.
Just 11 seconds later, Brian Dumoulin gave Nashville a brief 3–2 edge with a seeing-eye shot through traffic off passes from Reilly Smith and Nick Jensen.

However, the Canucks struck back late again, with Reinhart recording his second of the night at 19:31 — this time off a setup from Mark Stone — knotting the score at 3–3 heading into the final period.

Third Period: One Mistake Too Many

A costly high-sticking penalty to Lawson Crouse early in the third gave Vancouver its opening. Defenseman Gustav Forsling made Nashville pay, blasting home a power-play goal at 8:33 that would stand as the winner.
The Predators pushed late, but Vancouver netminder Darcy Kuemper stood tall, stopping 20 of 23 shots to secure his sixth win of the year.

Postgame Notes

• Jake Allen stopped 25 of 29 in net for Nashville, falling to 2–5–0 on the season.

• Nashville went 0-for-2 on the power play, while Vancouver converted twice on six chances.

• Attendance was a packed 18,000 at Bridgestone Arena, bringing in over $2.2 million in total game revenue.

• Sam Reinhart (2G), Leon Draisaitl (1G, 1A), and Gustav Forsling (1G) were named the game’s three stars.

Quotable

“We played with the right intent tonight,” said Predators head coach Lane Lambert. “But discipline hurt us. You can’t give that kind of power play six chances and expect to survive.”

“We’re right there in these games,” added Brian Dumoulin, who scored for the fourth time this season. “It’s small breakdowns, but they’re costing us points. We’ve got to tighten up.”