NASHVILLE, Tenn. — They can’t all be 9-0 wins.
In tone, tenor and result, this one was far removed from Tuesday’s shellacking of the Devils.
The Islanders still can’t seem to win at Bridgestone Arena, and Thursday yielded a 2-1 shootout defeat to the Predators in a low-event match ended by Filip Forsberg’s winner.
Neither team’s offense did much to write home about in this game, and you can’t blame the loss solely on the power play when the Islanders had just two chances at five-on-four.
The man advantage is where the culpability begins, though, both because it remains perhaps the Islanders’ single biggest liability right now and because it gave up a game-tying shorthanded goal to Ryan O’Reilly with under a minute to go in the second.
That came after Cole Smith picked off Mathew Barzal’s feed from behind the net, feeding O’Reilly off the break for a shot that slid under David Rittich’s pads.
There was blame to go around, and it allowed the Predators to enter the third period tied at one in a game where the Islanders had been the better team through 40 minutes.
After the Islanders’ second power play of the night went for nothing, physical hostilities that had been building all night spilled over after Anders Lee clipped Juuse Saros.
The ensuing maelstrom took several minutes to calm down and ended with Tony DeAngelo and Luke Evangelista taking offsetting unsportsmanlike conducts, though Lee got off clean.
The game did start to yield some offense after that.
For the first time all night, both teams began trading chances off the rush, with Barzal missing Lee at the back door and O’Reilly sending Steven Stamkos’ two-on-one feed wide.
A frenetic ending to regulation, though, did not yield a goal for either team, and neither did an overtime where the best chance came to Matthew Schaefer, denied by Saros in the final minute of three-on-three play.
The Predators got the extra point, with Forsberg going bar down on his backhand to score the only goal of the skills competition.
Patrick Roy mixed up his bottom six going into the night, responding to Anthony Duclair’s hat trick by putting him on a revamped third line with Casey Cizikas and Max Shabanov.
Cal Ritchie centered Marc Gatcomb and Kyle MacLean on the fourth line.
As has often been the case when the Gatcomb, Cizikas, MacLean trio has been split, it looked mismatched at best.
Ritchie’s game doesn’t seem to fit linemates who play heavy, checking hockey; Cizikas is usually at his best with linemates who play his same style.
It didn’t help Thursday that Shabanov was below par, getting knocked off the puck and away from the crease when trying to work inside.
The top six was untouched, and validated the lack of changes. Barzal, quietly in the midst of a terrific stretch of hockey, looked in command.
Simon Holmstrom got on the scoresheet for the second straight game when Scott Mayfield’s feed from behind the net found his stick at the right post 12:14 into the second for the opening goal.
Rittich faltered on the shorthanded goal, seeming to lose the puck under himself, but otherwise had a solid night in the crease.
There was not much to complain about among the defense corps on a night when the Islanders played clean, unyielding hockey in their own end either.
For the most part, the Islanders could truthfully claim to have played a solid road game.
Still, they were left four points behind the Hurricanes, staying one ahead of the Flyers, who have a game in hand.
And however decent they may have felt about the effort, dropping gettable points is not a good way to start such a long trip.
