Box Score | War On Ice

The Predators got off to a strong start in this one, choking off the Leafs' attack with tight neutral zone play. Although the Leafs drifted a few long shots on goal, they didn't have any decent chances until Michael Grabner danced in on a shorthanded breakaway, which he predictably flubbed.

Immediately turning the other direction, the Preds rushed up ice and totally embarrassed Martin Marincin with a pass that went right through his feet, sending Filip Forsberg flying past him for a highlight reel goal on James Reimer. Byron Froese also deserves a jeer as well for totally losing Forsberg on the rush.

Ugh.

We always knew this would be ugly. Auston Matthews. Auston Matthews. Auston Matthews.

Things continued on rather unremarkably until Nazem Kadri absolutely undressed a couple Predators in their own zone and created a great chance on net. He also deked several others while hemming the Predators into their own zone for a full shift and generally stood out as the only thing the Leafs have going on.

At the end of one, the Leafs had outshot the Preds 10-5 but really didn't look all that dangerous doing it.

Probably the highlight of the night for the Leafs was this Rich Clune interview:

Right out of the gate in the second period, Jake Gardiner beat Nashville goaltender Carter Hutton with a nice wrist shot off a rush, but the puck caught the inside of the post and bounced out, leaving the Leafs still working on a 1-0 deficit.

The Leafs unfortunately conceded a 2-0 deficit not long into the period on a poor pass behind the net by Reimer, who gave the puck up to Craig Smith, who immediately fed an uncovered Forsberg for an empty-netter with Reimer out of the net.

Forsberg picked up the hat trick just minutes later to make it 3-0 Nashville after a bad angle shot came off Reimer right into the slot, and he made no mistake. The Predators' Twitter account seems confused about the definition of a natural hat trick, but here's a gif anyway:

With 2:05 left in the period, Ryan Ellis scored on the power play to make it 4-0, but Mike Babcock successfully challenged the play, and it was determined that the Predators were offside on the play leading up to it. The Leafs managed to close out the period down only 3-0.

The Leafs generally pushed the puck in the right direction through the third period, even if they failed to get much in the way of dangerous scoring chances.

Josh Leivo scored a nice power play goal on a quick shot from the slot, fed by Kadri and Peter Holland, to finally break the goose egg.

It took until 2:32 left in the third period with Reimer pulled for the extra man, but Morgan Rielly managed to score on a somewhat broken play, as Holland attempted a between-the-legs blind pass into the slot. Kadri picked up the secondary assist on the play to bring the Leafs within one.

The team pulled Reimer again and had a couple good whacks at the puck in tight around Hutton, but to no avail. Nashville wins, 3-2.

The Leafs finished this one leading 27-26 in shots, 51-33 in raw Corsi For, and generally controlled more of the play. They just can't score.

Notes on individual players:

- Nazem Kadri was the standout for the Leafs tonight with two assists and several dangerous rushes, but he also fared quite well defensively in this game.

- Peter Holland has looked good with more ice time. I'm not overly surprised, but still.

- Josh Leivo had a nice goal tonight but also got a few other scoring chances throughout the game. He's done well with his limited action up with the big club.

- I've also liked what I've seen of Frank Corrado's game. Wish he'd been playing with the Leafs for longer.

- Suart Percy looked relatively solid tonight. Looking forward to seeing more of him.