The Nashville Predators wrapped up their back-to-back set Saturday night with a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets at Bridgestone Arena-a game that showed flashes of promise but ultimately underscored the team’s ongoing struggle to put together a full 60-minute performance.
Nick Blankenburg and Luke Evangelista found the back of the net for the Preds, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Winnipeg’s early surge and late-game insurance. The Jets struck twice in the first period-once in the opening minute and again in the final seconds-to set the tone, and that’s a tough hole to dig out of in today’s NHL.
“It’s really hard in this League when you give one up in the first minute and the last minute of the period,” said Head Coach Andrew Brunette. That takeaway pretty much summed up the night. The Preds were chasing from the jump.
Winnipeg added a third goal midway through the second, stretching their lead to 3-0 and putting Nashville on the ropes. But to their credit, the Predators didn’t fold.
Blankenburg got the crowd back into it with a power-play blast from the point late in the second. It was a textbook execution-clean puck movement up top, a good screen in front, and Blankenburg let it fly.
That goal gave the Preds some life heading into the final frame.
Then, early in the third, Evangelista capitalized on a loose puck near the crease, lifting a slick backhand over Jets netminder Eric Comrie to make it 3-2. Suddenly, it was a one-goal game and the momentum was shifting.
But that’s as close as Nashville got. Winnipeg responded with a key insurance goal and sealed the deal with an empty-netter in the final minutes.
For Evangelista, the game was a mix of accountability and optimism. “The pushback is a good sign,” he said.
“I think we’ve been resilient to the end of games in that sense. But I think just early on, slow, loose defensively-that starts with me.”
That kind of self-awareness is what you want from a young player. Evangelista knows he’s going to get minutes against top talent, and he’s learning that the margin for error is razor-thin.
A couple of missed reads and the puck’s in the back of your net. Clean that up early, and you’re not playing catch-up.
Blankenburg echoed those sentiments. “We’re trying to find that consistent game,” he said.
“There’s glimpses and there’s parts where it’s really good. We’ve just got to find a way to do it for 60 minutes consistently.”
And that’s the key for Nashville right now. The effort is there.
The talent is there. But the consistency-especially in the opening minutes-is what’s holding them back from stringing together a real run.
Despite the loss, the Predators came away from this three-games-in-four-nights stretch with four out of a possible six points. That’s not a bad haul, especially considering they picked up a pair of gutsy wins before Saturday’s setback. It’s something to build on as they turn the page to December.
“We were desperate, we played a complete 60, we battled to the very end,” Evangelista said of those earlier wins. “It’s kind of our identity. We’ve got to be desperate right now.”
There were a few lineup notes of interest as well. Jonathan Marchessault remained out with a lower-body injury and is considered day-to-day.
Rookie winger Reid Schaefer made his home debut in just his second NHL game, while Justin Barron and Adam Wilsby were healthy scratches. On the blue line, Roman Josi once again showed why he wears the “C,” logging the final 5:15 of regulation as Nashville pushed to close the gap.
Now, with Thanksgiving week in the rearview, the Predators shift their focus to a December slate that begins with a home matchup against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday. After that, it’s a two-game road swing through Florida and Carolina-two tough tests that will demand the kind of full-game effort Nashville is still chasing.
The pieces are there. The fight is there. Now it’s about putting it all together, start to finish.