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Breaking News: Preds Drop Jaw-Dropping Quotes Before Crucial Game 3 in Nashville
Smashville is almost ready to host the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in two years.
The same energy was evident in Nashville’s dressing room on Thursday, even though Predators supporters are probably counting down the minutes until Game 3 puck drop. After all, if the home team has a good few days, they may return to Vancouver with Game 5 holding the possibility of deciding the series.
Naturally, nothing in the postseason is guaranteed, and the Predators are aware that if they want to capitalize on the home crowd this weekend, they’ll need to play much more hockey and defend their zone less against the Canucks.
Get tickets for Friday’s Game 3 at Bridgestone Arena by clicking here. In the meantime, enjoy the finest Predators lines from Thursday’s practice available below:
Roman Josi on Nashville’s return to the playoffs: “We definitely missed the playoffs last year. They’re in for a treat, especially with so many new guys who have never played in a playoff game here. We missed that sensation. It promises to be a great time. Playoff games are always enjoyable at Bridgestone, where I’ve played a lot.
Regarding returning the tied series at Bridgestone Arena, Colton Sissons said, “We should bring a lot of confidence coming back here.” It is excellent that we completed our work while traveling. It’s also thrilling since we still believe that there are certain levels for our game to attain. It will be incredible. We’re going to have excited fans, and maybe we can capitalize on it.
Regarding the atmosphere inside Bridgestone Arena, Luke Evangelista said, “I’m pumped.” When we were on that point streak and making a late comeback in games, it felt a little bit like playoff games. The rink was buzzing, but that was just the regular season. I’m excited to play in the playoffs in front of our supporters and take in the excitement on Broadway, as well as to simply bask in the environment and energy created by them. It will be a tremendous amount of fun.
“I think we could have the puck a little bit more and kind of get to our game through the neutral zone onto our forecheck,” said Andrew Brunette while discussing how to apply more consistent offensive pressure versus Vancouver. We need to and haven’t done a very good job of maintaining offensive zone time. Additionally, there are numerous variables. We started to play our game in the second half of Game 2, and I felt that in the third, you were going to get that push.
We performed a fantastic job of finishing the game, in my opinion, but we want to be a little bit more alert for this one.
Gustav Nqyuist versus Vancouver: narrow margins
We’ve discussed a few things that we can do to increase our puck possession a little bit. Having said that, I felt we played a tremendous game last night, winning the key battles and putting up a strong defense. Juice was undoubtedly making some huge saves, in my opinion. Tomorrow will require that same amount of work. It appears that [shots] have been scarce in this series.
There have been few shots in both games, and both sides have, of course, blocked a lot of shots. It’s hard to find ice in the outdoors. Everyone is doing their hardest, but it’s difficult to acquire even a little bit of exposure.
“I feel like I’ve gotten more puck touches and got that feeling back and my offensive game is how it should be,” said Juuso Parssinen after being called up to Nashville. It feels great to be back in this place. I’m just trying to do my best because I’ve been watching and [the Predators] have been doing insane things.
Sissons on putting offensive pressure on Vancouver for longer stretches of time: “I think it’s just getting to our forecheck.” We’re probably giving their goalie a little too many puck dumps. We’ve seen that a few times, so we know how to clear that up and just concentrate on finding areas where we can increase the pressure on those individuals and make things more difficult for them.
Josi on the Predators improving their level of competition versus Vancouver: “We have to keep improving.” They’ll play better and make some adjustments, but I felt like we did a lot of things right to win [Game 2]. We made a big sacrifice by blocking numerous shots.
We clearly spent too much time in our zone, but I believe that’s something we can fix. We also want to play a little bit more on offense and with the puck. All that counts in the playoffs is who wins, but we also need to keep improving, and we most surely must [in Game 3].
Evangelista on exercising patience throughout the series: “I believe that patience is the key, and some of the older men have been sort of preaching to us about it. It differs from the standard season. In the third period, you look up and see shots that are like 12-14, 12-13. There is a lot of pressure and limited opportunities, therefore patience is needed.
