Preds Fall to Devils in New Jersey

On By Littum

The Nashville Predators fell to Nico Hischier and the New Jersey Devils with a 5-2 final Monday night at the Prudential Center. The loss comes after the Preds topped Winnipeg on Saturday, but the visitors were unable to repeat that effort against the Devils.

Hischier had a natural hat trick for New Jersey, while the Predators couldn’t find a way to come back in the final period after a huge penalty late in the game.

“I thought tonight they were faster, they won more games and they were just a better team for 60 minutes,” Preds captain Roman Josi said. “We had a little push in the third but it was too late. We’ve talked about it – we have a good game and we fall back to a bad game and we’re not able to to do. We have to find coherence.”

Filip Forsberg gave Nashville the first goal of the night when he fired a shot into the top corner past Jacob Markstrom just over five minutes into the game, but the Devils took off from there.

Former Preds forward Erik Haula equalized before the first period was out, and then in the middle frame, Hischier notched a natural hat trick to give New Jersey a 4-1 lead through 40 minutes.

Zach L’Heureux gave the Preds some life when he converted on a breakaway to bring Nashville back within two in the third period, and the visitors got a 5-minute power play when Devils forward Timo Meier got a major for crosschecking and a game foul when he cross-checked L’Heureux in the face.

However, the Predators were unable to convert on the man advantage and soon after, the Devils converted into an empty net before the night came to an end.

Notes:

Prior to Monday’s game, the Predators acquired the New York Rangers’ fourth-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for forward Philip Tomasino.

Forwards Michael McCarron (upper body, day-to-day) and Luke Evangelista were traded to Nashville on Monday.

The Predators return home to host Philadelphia on Wednesday night before the Tampa Bay Lightning come to Nashville for a post-Thanksgiving Black Friday matinee.