Field Level Media
26 Nov 2021, 00:25 GMT+10
The Nashville Predators survived Filip Forsberg's nine-game absence reasonably well and then struggled in his return on Wednesday.
As Forsberg continues to integrate himself back into the lineup, the Predators hope to produce a better showing Friday night when they host the New Jersey Devils.Nashville went 5-3-1 in Forsberg's absence with an upper-body injury. During that span, the Predators won three one-goal games and scored 24 goals as Matt Duchene scored nine of his 12 goals in that span.
Forsberg's six goals are tied for the second most on the team and he scored twice in his return. Forsberg has five goals in his past five contests. The Predators were unbeaten in the previous three games he scored in until seeing their four-game home winning streak stopped with a 5-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
Forsberg scored twice in a span of 8:31 during the third period as Nashville already trailed by three goals through the first 40 minutes.
"Not good enough," Forsberg said. "I think we kind of shot ourselves in the foot by not executing. Obviously, a handful of their goals were kind of given to them, and the power play definitely has to step up, too. It's been working really well, but today was not the best effort overall."
"There are some things in his game he needs to clean up," Predators coach John Hynes said. "It is tough when you are off that long and away from the team, but he was firing the puck and that is a big strength of his."
The Devils are 2-2-2 in their past six games since scoring 11 goals against the Florida Panthers and New York Islanders in the final two games of their three-game winning streak Nov. 6-11.
They have experienced a mixed bag of performances since then with two shootout losses and a pair of three-goal defeats.
Their first shootout loss was a 4-3 decision to the New York Rangers on Nov. 14 when they scored the first goal. On Wednesday, the Devils took a 3-2 shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild in a game where they took 42 shots on goal. But they also went 0-for-4 on the power play and hit four goalposts while allowing 27 shots.
Pavel Zacha scored New Jersey's first goal early in the third and Yegor Sharangovich scored with the extra attacker with 67 seconds left after the Devils could not score on a 5-on-3 a few minutes earlier.
"We did have a couple of good looks. We did have a couple that was frustrating on the entry," Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. "We made some tough decisions, but that's stuff that we're just going to continue to keep working on. I think we hit a post on a power player, I think we hit an open net on a power play. We've just got to keep believing that if we keep working at it, it's going to get better."
Friday is the first meeting since Forsberg and Duchene scored in the shootout to give Nashville a 6-5 home win on Jan. 30, 2020, for the Predators' fourth straight win over New Jersey.
--Field Level MediaGet a daily dose of Herald Globe news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Herald Globe.
More InformationATLANTA, Georgia: The United States is facing its worst measles outbreak in more than three decades, with 1,288 confirmed cases so...
In the past month alone, 23 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza—three more than the number of remaining living hostages held...
LONDON, U.K.: At least 13 people are believed to have taken their own lives as a result of the U.K.'s Post Office scandal, in which...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Travelers at U.S. airports will no longer need to remove their shoes during security screenings, Department of Homeland...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: An elaborate impersonation scheme involving artificial intelligence targeted senior U.S. and foreign officials in...
SLUBICE, Poland: Poland reinstated border controls with Germany and Lithuania on July 7, following Germany's earlier reintroduction...
(Photo credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images) Cody Bellinger hit three homers for the first time in his career and drove in six runs,...
(Photo credit: Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images) Willy Adames drove in three runs with a triple and a home run, Dominic Smith added...
(Photo credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images) Alejandro Kirk and Nathan Lukes each drove in two runs during a six-run fifth inning...
(Photo credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images) Pinch-hitter Travis d'Arnaud singled in Logan O'Hoppe from second with one out in the bottom...
Kingston [Jamaica], July 12 (ANI): Australia's Test captain Pat Cummins is set to sit out next month's white-ball series against South...
(Photo credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images) Mike Tauchman delivered a game-ending infield single in the 11th inning and Lenyn Sosa homered...