NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Both teams wanted to treat this like a road game, meaning a simple, no-frills approach with attention to the little details with the Islanders starting a seven-game trek and the Predators back home after seven games away.
So both teams played a stingy game despite its quick pace, with a commitment to blocked shots and a healthy dose of physicality and snarl.
It ended with the Islanders dropping an exciting 2-1 shootout on Thursday night as their losing streak at Bridgestone Arena grew to seven games. Their last win in the building was on Oct. 28, 2017.
The Islanders (24-15-5), who blocked 23 shots and got 26 saves from David Rittich, remained in second place in the Metropolitan Division.
Filip Forsberg scored the lone goal in the shootout as Juuse Saros stopped Mathew Barzal, Simon Holmstrom and Emil Heineman.
“I’m happy that we’ve put ourselves in a position to fight and be in the playoffs,” general manager Mathieu Darche said in a mini-state-of-the-team pre-game session. “There’s still a lot of work to be done but our goal is to make the playoffs. We have to keep fighting. I like where the team is at. I like the vibe around our team. We’re going in the right direction.”
Saros, who stoned a wide-open Matthew Schaefer in the waning seconds of overtime, stopped 30 shots for the Predators (20-19-4), who blocked 16 shots as they were coming of a 4-3-0 road trip.
“The mentality has to be we’re still on the road,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said before the game. “These are tricky, trap games [coming off the road].”
The Islanders were coming off Tuesday’s 9-0 win over the Devils at UBS Arena that still left the team feeling it could play better, particularly with its breakouts from the defensive zone and sustaining possession time in the offensive zone.
“That’s what I love about this group,” coach Patrick Roy said. “They’re not afraid to reflect on the last game and look at, OK, there’s things that we could do better.”
The breakouts were better against the Predators and the Islanders established more cycles than they did against the Devils.
Holmstrom opened the scoring off defenseman Scott Mayfield’s strong feed after circling behind the crease at 12:14 of the second period. But Ryan O’Reilly snuck the puck underneath Rittich’s pads on a shorthanded rush with 40.3 seconds left before the second intermission.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.