Ingram did his part, but Preds offense to blame for 0-2 series deficit | Nashville Predators

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Making just his fourth NHL appearance and his first career playoff start, Nashville Predators rookie goaltender Connor Ingram did everything except score the game-winning goal himself in Thursday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena.

The Predators wasted an all-time performance from Ingram, who turned away 49 of 51 shots (.961 save percentage) and finished tied for the second-most saves by a rookie goalie making his first playoff start.

“Connor played great,” Predators coach John Hynes said. “He made lots of saves at key times and it was nice to be able to see him play to his ability. Against a high-powered offensive team, you’re going to need excellent goaltending to win games, and he certainly provided that tonight.”

Added defenseman Alex Carrier: “I played with him for a few seasons in Milwaukee, I know what he’s capable of and I think we all saw it tonight. …Hey [played] a hell of a game. It wasn’t his fault tonight, obviously. He kept us in the game.”

Ingram was under fire from whistle to whistle. Colorado outshot Nashville 51 to 26, and the Avalanche possessed the puck in the offensive zone for more than half the game (32 minutes).

Nathan MacKinnon (6), Nazem Kadri (8) and Cale Makar (12) — Colorado’s second, fourth and fifth-leading goal scorers, respectively — combined for 26 shots on goal.

And although MacKinnon and Makar tallied the Avalanche’s two goals, holding the trio to a shooting percentage of just seven percent, and the team to a shooting percentage of 3.8 percent, could be considered a win in itself given the Avalanche are the NHL’s third-best scoring offense and they chased David Rittich just 15 minutes into Game 1.

Colorado also dominated in scoring chances for (42 to 16), high-danger scoring chances (17-11), and expected goals for (3.51 to 1.56).

“Obviously, they had too many grade-A chances,” Carrier sad. “We’ve got to limit those and still find a way to close on them and not give them as much time [to shoot].”

While coming back to Nashville down two games isn’t ideal, the Predators have never lost a Game 3 after going down 0-2 in a playoff series.

Ingram’s emergence also proves the Predators can at the very least hang with the Avalanche, even if the offense is nowhere to be found. In a game and two periods, Ingram has stopped 79 of 83 shots (.951 save percentage) with a 2.11 goals-against average.

“I think it benefited him for sure to get into Game 1 and be in this environment and see the type of shots he’s going to face, some of the things that they do, the tendencies that they have in the offensive zone,” Hynes added . “There’s a lot of shots, a lot of motion up high and you have to be able to find pucks and see pucks, and I thought he did a really good job with that. …One of his strengths as a goalie is he’s pretty calm and he reads plays well and he did that tonight.”

But if the Predators are going to make the series competitive, the offense needs to show up.

Only three Predators forwards — Filip Forsberg (6), Yakov Trenin (4) and Mikael Granlund (3) — had more than a single shot on goal, and just two forwards — Duchene and Michael McCarron — had more than two shots on goal in Game 1.

Follow Michael Gallagher on Twitter @MGsports_

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