Nashville Falls in a Shootout to the New York Islanders

The Predators overcame a three-goal deficit to force overtime before coming up short in a shootout.

Oct 27, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators left wing Filip Forsberg (9) takes a shot on goal and scores against the New York Islanders during the second period at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

NASHVILLE — The Nashville (4-3-5) overcame a three-goal deficit to force overtime, but a costly penalty kept the Predators on the back skate in the extra period, and the home team ended up losing 4-3 in a shootout against the New York Islanders (6-4-2).

"Yeah, a slow start," Filip Forsberg said. "Obviously, they came out more ready to play than we did, but as the game went on we took over. It's obviously hard to come back from three-nothing, but very proud of the guys for doing that and an unbelievable job in the overtime to kill off the penalty. Unfortunately we couldn't get it done in the shootout, which is a problem that we need to work on, but the start wasn't good enough and after that the second half of the game was way better than them."

Nashville started the game on the power play when Matthew Kessel was called for high-sticking. The Predators unfortunately wasted the opportunity when Roman Josi was called for interference 30 seconds into the advantage. The Islanders made the Predators pay for the mistake when Jean-Gabriel Pageau found Anthony Duclair across the slot for the opening goal in four-on-four play at 3:07.

The Islanders doubled their lead at 8:07 when the Predators failed to clear their own defensive zone. Duclair centered the puck for New York, and Nic Hague's clearance attempt went straight to Ondrej Palat. Palat found Brayden Schenn alone on the back post, giving the visitors a 2-0 lead.

Both teams took three first-period penalties, but the Islanders made the most of a rhythmless period, winning 63.2-percent of faceoffs and generating more rush chances en route to a 2-0 first-intermission lead.

The one-way traffic continued as the second period began. The Islanders quickly took the offensive zone, and defenseman Matthew Schaefer found Bo Horvat across the zone for a one-timer goal, extending New York's lead to 3-0 at 1:08.

The Predators finally got on the scoreboard at the halfway mark of the second period after Schenn committed the Islanders' fourth penalty. Nashville generated only two shots during their first three power plays, but Jonathan Marchessault found Filip Forsberg early in the fourth power play on the backside of the net, giving the home side a heartbeat at 9:52

Nashville's heartbeat grew stronger as Adam Edström chased a loose puck behind the Islanders' net, giving Nils Höglander a clean look at Semyon Varlamov's net. Varlamov stopped Höglander's first attempt, but Alexander Kerfoot followed up and put it home, cutting New York's lead to 3-2 at 13:02.

The Predators got more offense going in the middle period as Nashville turned up the aggression with strong forechecking, but the Islanders still took a 3-2 lead into the second intermission thanks to Horvat's early snipe.

Ryan O'Reilly went into the penalty box for a tripping penalty to open the third period, but his Predator teammates successfully killed the Islanders' fourth power play. Nashville turned defense into offense on a rush after the penalty, and the puck found newest Predator Daemon Hunt for a shot. Varlamov stopped Hunt's shot, but O'Reilly was in the right place at the right time, poking the puck past the line at 4:16 to tie the game at 3-3.

Kessel picked up his second penalty of the night at the halfway mark of the final period, giving the Predators their fifth power play of the night. Nashville generated several shots at Varlamov but couldn't break through.

The Predators pushed over the last five minutes of the period, but ultimately the game went into overtime. Nashville unfortunately saw Forsberg called for a controversial tripping penalty to open overtime, putting the Predators on a lengthy penalty-kill. The Islanders weren't able to score, but Nashville wasn't able to generate offense, sending the game to a shootout.

"Yeah, it's probably a trip, but he goes, I mean, they get the puck, there's nothing happens," Forsberg said. "The ref that's 200 feet away takes it and the guy that's right there doesn't, but if you look at the rule book it probably is a trip, but sometimes you've got to play the game a little bit too."

New York's penalty-shooters, Kyle Palmieri and Horvat went two-for-two, while O'Reilly and Forsberg missed each of theirs, leaving the Predators with their fifth consecutive overtime or shootout loss in 2026-27.

The Nashville Predators return for their third game of the homestand on Thursday, Oct. 29 against the Washington Capitals.

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