Careless First Period Dooms Nashville In Final Preseason Tilt

NASHVILLE — The Nashville Predators have been preaching starting faster throughout the 2026-27 training camp. The message clearly needs more time to sink in after the Predators lost the preseason finale 6-0 to the Carolina Hurricanes.

"Yeah, this one's always kind of tricky. It's the last one," Andrew Brunette said after the loss. "Obviously, still trying to figure out some positions and some guys where they fit. Really, no excuses for really not being ready. I think we've talked about it. I think they all want a good start, we just haven't backed it up with our play and our energy into the game."

Carolina scored three first-period goals, hammering every Nashville mistake, starting with the Predators' penalty killers getting too aggressive up the ice and opening up a three-on-two chance for Jackson Blake to dent the scoreboard five minutes into the game. Nikolaj Ehlers caught Nashville's defenders out of position and found Jordan Martinook wide open in front of Juuse Saros two minutes later for the second goal. Ehlers scored the third after intercepting a careless Roman Josi pass at the top of the Predators' offensive zone, skating the length of the ice and shooting into the far side of the net.

Goal for Carolina: Jackson Blake scores on the power play at 5:02 into the first period.

The Hurricanes take a 1-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/DE5cwGEiX1
— Joe Gaither (@JoeGaither6) September 26, 2026

"I think when you go down 3-0 in the first period, you've got to show up," Alexander Kerfoot said. "It's got to wake you up, and we obviously weren't able to claw ourselves back in the game, and we've got to do a better job of that going forward."

Nashville created a few quality chances in the second period, but Logan Stankoven took the puck off Predators defenseman Nicolas Hague in the neutral zone, creating another two-on-one odd-man rush. Blake picked up the loose puck and passed back to Stankoven across the slot, putting the Hurricanes ahead 4-0 late in the second period.

"I just think right from the start we weren't really ready to play," Brady Skjei said. "We weren't really sharp, didn't have a ton of energy in the first period. I thought the second period we got going a little bit, and then the third period it wasn't great either. Kind of blah. Yeah, need a better start, and obviously that's a really good team, clearly. They won it last year. They were ready, and I just don't think we were ready right from the start."

Carolina kept humming in the third period, scoring two power-play goals in the final 11 minutes. Former Predator Mark Jankowski scored at 9:21 in the period after the Hurricanes briskly moved the puck around the Nashville zone. Jankowski took Felix Unger Sorum's pass at the top of the circle and fired past Saros for the fifth. Andrei Svechnikov put the cherry on top in the final minute by squirting the puck past Saros for the sixth.

"Obviously, we were trying to fit a few different pieces in to see where they go and how they fit," Brunette said. "Today wasn't a great exhibition for anybody. So it kind of makes it even harder because it wasn't even any of them felt like they earned a spot today or played well enough to push other guys out or to get one themselves."

Nashville goes back to the drawing board this week. The Predators have three practices to clean up the issues ahead of opening night.

"We've got to work hard," Skjei said. "We've got to be ready to go on Thursday. It's going to be a quick week here. Like you said, we have a few practices. We'll watch video and learn on things we've been working on during this camp. I'm sure we'll practice them and then gotta be ready to go come Thursday."

The Predators preseason is over, but preaching a fast start to the year message has five more days to sink in before the regular season begins against the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 1.

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