Connor Ingram made 49 saves, but the Nashville Predators fell to the Colorado Avalanche in overtime by a 2-1 final in Game 2 on Thursday night at Ball Arena. The result sees the Preds trail by a 2-0 count in the Round One series with Games 3 and 4 ahead in Nashville.
Yakov Trenin scored the lone goal for the Predators on the night, and Ingram, who made the first postseason start of his career, produced one of the more epic playoff performances from a Nashville goaltender in franchise history.
But ultimately, the Preds were unable to tally for a second time, and the visitors were left with a result they were hoping to avoid before heading home.
“I don’t think it really matters individually at this point,” Ingram said when asked of his emotions following the loss. “I mean, it’s a playoff series. If you don’t come out with wins it doesn’t really add up to much, and that’s the beauty of playoffs. For Game 1, it was 7-2, today it’s 2-1. On Saturday it’ll be a brand new day again. That’s the beauty of it. We can pack this one away and move on to the next one.”
“Connor played great,” Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. “He had a great goaltending performance tonight. He made lots of saves at key times, and it was nice to see him be able to play to his ability. Against a high-powered offensive team you’re going to need excellent goaltending to be able to win games. He certainly provided that tonight.”
Nathan MacKinnon gave Colorado a 1-0 lead when he beat Ingram short side just over five minutes into Game 2, but before the opening period was out, Trenin converted on a 2-on-1 and snapped a shot past Darcy Kuemper for his first of the postseason to even the score.
Both clubs traded chances in the second stanza, and Ingram made 21 saves in the period for the Preds, and then Nashville’s netminder stopped 13 more Avalanche shots in the final frame to single handedly lead his club to overtime.
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