Why Andrew Brunette said Nashville Predators' veterans were 'ornery' in win vs Sharks
· Yahoo Sports
You'd think a 6-3 win would leave Nashville Predators coach Andrew Brunette satisfied.
For the most part, it did. The win, Nashville's fifth straight, puts the Predators further ahead in the wild card race and takes two points away from the San Jose Sharks, a team chasing them in the standings.
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But how the latter half of the game unfolded on March 24 at Bridgestone Arena had Brunette worried.
The Predators built a four-goal lead in the first period, then made it 6-1 in the second period before seeing the Sharks dominate possession in the second half of the game.
"It's hard when you're up five goals to keep the throttle down," Brunette said. "It took us a while to get going in the second. ... we took some penalties and had some learning experiences."
Several Nashville penalties led to two goals for San Jose. The Sharks scored early in the third period to make it 6-3, which created some nervous tension at Bridgestone Arena. Surely the Predators wouldn't lose a five-goal lead?
They didn't, thanks to their veteran players, Brunette said.
"We had to bear down a little bit and our veterans got kind of ornery," Brunette said.
Brunette wasn't blaming his team for a hot-scoring touch in the first period, more just emphasizing this drop off in focus isn't going to work in a playoff push. He complimented his veterans on steering the team from complacency.
"(Up 6-1), we were feeling we're really in a good spot," Brunette said. "But we have to understand, there's going to be momentum swings in games. We're still learning."
Nashville Predators use balanced attack to defeat San Jose Sharks
The Predators' attack in the first period wasn't one line dominating. It was the whole team.
Five different goal scorers found the back of the net: Filip Forsberg, Matthew Wood, Roman Josi, Luke Evangelista, and Brady Skjei. Then Steven Stamkos made it six with his power play goal early in the second period.
"Everyone came ready to play," said Filip Forsberg, who finished with one goal and two assists.
This was sixth time the Predators scored six or more goals in a game this season, and the first time they'd scored five goals in the first period since 2009.
Nashville's attack wasn't about volume of shots, but about placement and timing. On the first goal, a pass from Fedor Svechkov led Forsberg right into the goal crease, against the momentum of goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic. Evangelista's goal came off a sharp angle pass by Ryan O'Reilly, perfectly lofted over two Sharks' defenders' sticks. Stamkos' power play goal in the second wasn't a powerful one-timer, it was a well-placed wrist shot that snuck around traffic in front.
"We're getting rewarded, which is nice, but we did a lot of the right things," Forsberg added. "We were getting pucks behind their defensemen and scored a couple goals off the rush, which is huge. We set the tone for the rest of the game."
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at [email protected]. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why Andrew Brunette said Predators' veterans were 'ornery' in 6-3 win