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3 things we saw in Nashville Predators final preseason game against Carolina Hurricanes

The Nashville Predators preseason has officially come to a close. 

For the second time this preseason, the Predators needed overtime, tied 2-2, with the Carolina Hurricanes. It was a big hit by Joakim Kemell and a one-timer goal by the Finn the following shift that proved to be the difference in a 3-2 victory.

Jonathan Marchessault scored on the power play to give the Predators a 1-0 lead in the first, and Tyson Jost scored his first unofficial goal as a Nashville Predator to make it 2-1 in the second period.

Nashville wraps up the preseason with a 3-2-1 record. It's their first winning preseason record since 2022.

Here are three things we saw in the Predators final game of the preseason against the Hurricanes.

Kemell steps up in overtime 

The Predators' third period and early parts of overtime were lackluster to say the least. Nashville was struggling to generate any offense and was getting sloppy with its play. 

It was a blind, backhanded pass attempt from Marchessault along the boards that led to Carolina scoring the game-tying goal with five minutes left in the third period. In overtime, Nashville was again struggling to generate chances until Joakim Kemell hit the ice. 

He delivered a booming hit to Carolina's Andrei Svechnikov at center ice, causing Sebastian Aho to react and commit an unsportsmanlike misconduct penalty.

14 seconds into the power play, with 16 seconds left in overtime, Kemell got a pass from Brady Skjei and let a one-time shot go from the right side of the face-off circle that beat goalie Pyotr Kochetkov high glove-side for the OT winner. 

"It's just a part of me. I like to play hard and I like to hit," Kemell said. "Good hit. Good goal. I like to shoot, so I hit the net and I can score sometimes." 

Predators head coach Andrew Brunette said that there are going to be some "hard decisions" to make regarding which wingers Nashville wants to keep on the roster. Kemell's overtime performance may have just cemented him a roster spot. 

"It was a heck of an overtime. I don't know how many seconds he played, but they were pretty impactful," Brunette said about Kemell. "I've seen a lot of things, but I don't think I've seen a hit like that in 3-on-3. Then, to get a goal after they were trying to get at him, was pretty fun to be a part of." 

Brady Martin centers first line; O'Reilly plays on wing 

More and more trust is being instilled in the Predators' 2025 fifth overall pick, Brady Martin, as he centers the first line alongside Filip Forsberg and Ryan O'Reilly. 

"He does so many things well," O'Reilly said about Martin. "The way he reads the game, the plays he makes, his vision out there finding guys. It's exciting to see, especially him being a young kid coming in and not having played at this level very long." 

"Every day he's getting more comfortable making things happen." 

The trio didn't score, but logged the second most ice time of the night at 11:37 minutes. 

O'Reilly also talked about Martin's abilities at the face-off circle and said he did a solid job. He even went as far as saying that O'Reilly could've helped Martin get a higher face-off percentage in the game. 

Martin won 37.5 of his face-offs as the Predators won nearly 60% of the overall face-offs on the night. 

"I lost a lot of draws for him on those 50/50 pucks that I normally win," O'Reilly said. "He would've been better in the circle if I had helped him out a little bit more. I'm still getting used to the wing, so I'll blame it on that."

Predators lost edge in third period

Slopiness was abundant for the Predators in the third period as they gave away the puck 13 times for a total of 24 times on the night. The Hurricanes ' game-tying goal was scored off a Marchessault turnover in the Predators' zone.

Not long after that, Marchessault turned over the puck again, which led to a Carolina rush going the other way. Roman Josi and Adam Wilsby gave away the puck six combined times. 

While the Predators were able to make up for it in overtime, this could've been costly. The preseason results don't count, but establishing good habits is beneficial to put in place ahead of the regular season. 

Still, the Predators found a way to win against the Hurricanes squad that brought most of its talent to Nashville. The Predators have not seen a lot of that at Bridgestone Arena this preseason as the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning brought depleted rosters in their matchups. 

"It's hard to put a whole lot of stock in exhibition games, but that was an NHL team that we played and a good one," Brunette said. "It was a fast team that was going to test us in a bunch of different areas, and I thought we handled the test. There are some things we can definitely clean up a little bit, but lots of good." 

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A game lost but another valuable experience for Sánchez

A game lost but another valuable experience for Sánchez originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The stroll to the outfield for his pregame warmups couldn’t have been any cooler for Phillies starting pitcher Cristopher Sánchez. And neither could his reaction.

Sánchez, about to make his third playoff start in the first game of the NLDS against the defending World Series champion Dodgers, took his cap off and raised his long right arm to the frenzied, early-arriving crowd who were showering him with adulation.

Turns out, the red-clad fans were just practicing their cheering before Sánchez’ acknowledgment, because then it became deafening.

The sellout crowd at Citizens Bank Park was never silent during a heartbreaking 5-3 loss to the Dodgers, who took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series with Game 2 scheduled for Monday night. Sánchez kept the powerful Dodgers silent for most of his outing, as he allowed just four hits and two earned runs during his 5 2/3 innings.

But that wasn’t good enough, as Los Angeles took the lead for good the next inning when Teoscar Hernandez bombed a three-run, two-out homer off reliever Matt Strahm to lead the Dodgers to the win.

While Sánchez stated his outing wasn’t good enough for the win, his performance will go a long way into his march as a top starter in this league, because he knows how to make that happen.

“We lost tonight so personally I don’t care about how I did individually,” he said after striking out eight. “If we lose then I don’t feel good. One pitch changed the game for us and for me personally.

“Individually, even if I perform well, or whatever I do, if we lose the game then I don’t feel good. We’re a team. If we win then we win together and if we lose then we all lose together. I don’t feel good about losing.”

And that’s where he is, personally and professionally, in a nutshell. He has grown as much mentally as he has in height the past few years, in which he sprouted to six feet, six inches tall. His pitching can be documented by stats. His growth as a leader and top pitcher in the league is seen a bit differently. Like Saturday night.

“He was, again, really good,” said Rob Thomson. “The strike throwing ability. The changeup was filthy tonight. 65 percent strikes, 18 whiffs, 17 out of 24, I think, first pitch (strikes). He was fantastic. He really was.”

You could really bottle those quotes from the manager and insert them after almost all of Sánchez’ starts this season. He’s become that good. Good enough that the national media, who don’t see him that often, were overly impressed throughout the park.

It was just the third playoff start for the 28-year-old and the first since being anointed the team’s ace after Zack Wheeler was shelved by a blood clot near his right shoulder that ultimately required surgery.

Sánchez has embraced the new role with the passion of a veteran, but with the understanding that you never stop absorbing the lessons in this crazy game of baseball.

“To learn and to always learn,” Sánchez said of what he could take from last night’s devastating loss. “There’s always new things that you can learn from everything that you get. Learn from those things on this outcome and I think there’s a lot of things that we have to improve but take the good out of it and learn from it.”

As much as a crowd like Saturday’s can give adrenaline to a player, the withdrawal can also be real. Perhaps a little of that hit Sánchez during his outing.

“Yeah, he looked great,” said catcher J.T. Realmuto. “I thought it looked like he got a little tired there that last inning. He started falling behind hitters, wasn’t quite commanding his fastball the same as he was early on. But other than that inning he looked his old self. He was great.

“It’s not that he was at a ton of pitches but there’s a ton of energy out there. These games are draining. I looked up one point in the fourth inning, and I was exhausted. I couldn’t believe it was only the fourth inning. I can’t imagine what a starting pitcher feels like. That’s just part of the playoffs and for me, I think just the command of his pitches was a little off there in that last inning.”

He left the game with two outs in the sixth, having given up those two runs. His demeanor was much different than it had been earlier in the night when he went to the outfield for that warmup session. His shoulders were slightly shrugged, the frustration readable on his face. But as he spoke to the media following the game, Sánchez was thoughtful about what had happened, honest with his performance and professing his belief of team first.

In the short term, it is a hard loss for this team in a playoff series against perhaps the best team in baseball right now. In the long term, an experience gained by their top pitcher.

Red October coverage on NBC Sports Philadelphia is sponsored by Toyota.

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Silent offense, leaky bullpen doom Yankees in 10-1 loss to Blue Jays in Game 1 of ALDS

Aaron Judge missed on a big chance, two Yankee bullpen cogs wobbled and Alejandro Kirk homered twice Saturday as the Blue Jays routed the Yankees, 10-1, in the opener of their ALDS at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Toronto also got a much better outing from their starter, Kevin Gausman, than the Yankees did from Luis Gil,who was yanked after only 2.2 innings. The Jays scored four runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to wreck a tight game.

The Yanks will try to even up the series Sunday in Game 2. They were the second-best road team in MLB this year, but that has not translated to Toronto. They are now 1-7 at Rogers Centre this year.

Toronto’s Game 1 victory was the Jays’ first postseason win since Game 4 of the 2016 AL Championship Series. Toronto had been mired in a seven-game playoff losing streak. 

Here are the takeaways...

- The baseball world has been waiting for Judge, who took a .212 postseason average into Saturday, to have a breakout October and he had a key opportunity in the sixth inning of Game 1 with the Yanks down, 2-0. The inning started when Anthony Volpe swatted a ball off the left-field wall for a leadoff double. Austin Wells followed with a single and Trent Grisham walked, loading the bases and bringing up Judge, who entered the game with a career average of .354 against Gausman and six home runs. After a tense, eight-pitch battle, Judge struck out, swinging and missing at a Gausman splitter that dove out of the strike zone. Gausman set up the outside pitch by throwing a 97-mph fastball inside to Judge, who fouled it off. The Yankees scored when Gausman threw four straight balls to Cody Bellinger, but they could not tack on. Gausman retired Ben Rice on a popup for the second out and then Toronto manager John Schneider replaced Gausman with righty Louis Varland. With Giancarlo Stanton up and a 1-2 count, Varland threw a 101-mph fastball past Stanton’s hard cut for the final out of the inning.

- Judge has been hitting so far this postseason -- he was 2-for-4 in Game 1 with a single and a double and is batting .400 this October with a .905 OPS.

- Except for the bases-loaded walk, Gausman was excellent for Toronto, getting quick outs and using his mid-80s splitter to generate whiffs. The Yankees swung at the pitch 17 times and missed 10 of them, according to Baseball Savant. Overall, Gausman allowed one run and four hits in 5.2 innings, striking out three and walking two. He had only 50 pitches after five scoreless innings, but the Yankees made him work in the sixth inning and though he got Judge in a big spot, the Jays went to the bullpen for the final out of that frame.

- Yankee starters were mostly excellent in the first round victory over Boston, fashioning a 1.33 ERA and delivering 20.1 innings in three games. But that ended quickly in the ALDS. Gil lasted only 2.2 innings and gave up two runs and four hits. He struck out two and walked none. He gave up two early home runs and the Jays looked pretty comfortable against him. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered in the first inning and Kirk slammed a 392-foot homer in the second. Gil is generally adept at suppressing home runs – he allowed 0.8 per nine innings this season and his career mark is around one per nine.

- Guerrero’s homer was a solo shot and his first longball since Sept. 5, a span of 90 plate appearances. It was also Guerrero’s first career playoff homer and perhaps a start at altering the October perception of him – he came into the game with a career average of .136 and a .422 OPS in his first six career postseason games, all losses. Guerrero also made a terrific defensive play at first in the second inning, a diving, backhand snare of a Ryan McMahon liner that he took to the first-base bag for an unassisted double play. He finished the day 3-for-4 with two RBI.

- Luke Weaver’s woes this postseason continued when he came in to start the seventh, an inning that devolved into a four-run bonanza for Toronto. Weaver walked Daulton Varsho leading off and then gave up a single to Anthony Santander. The lone glimmer of that particular play came when Judge threw the ball all the way to third, perhaps lessening some of the concerns about his injured elbow. But with first and third against Weaver, Andrés Giménez singled through a drawn-in infield to drive in an insurance run and put Toronto up, 3-1. Weaver has faced six batters so far in the playoffs and all of them have reached base. He was removed in favor of Fernando Cruz. But, one out later, Cruz allowed a two-run double to Nathan Lukes and a sac fly to Guerrero, ballooning Toronto’s lead to 6-1. According to the Fox broadcast, the Jays were 71-4 when scoring five-plus runs, the best such mark in MLB.

- Kirk hit his second homer of the game, leading off the eighth inning, connecting against Paul Blackburn. Including his homer flurry at the end of the regular season, Kirk has five home runs in his last three games.

- Perhaps the Yankees could’ve kick-started their offense early against Gausman, but they came out on the wrong side of a quirky play. Grisham seemed to foul a ball off his toe leading off, but umpires did not see it, and Yankee arguments did not sway them. The ball went to Guerrero for a 3-unassisted, giving Gausman an easy, first-pitch out.

Game MVP: Alejandro Kirk

Kirk, who became the fourth player in Blue Jays history to have a multi-homer game in the playoffs.

Highlights

What's next

The Yankees and Blue Jays continue their best-of-five series on Sunday. First pitch is set for 4:08 p.m.

New York will send ace Max Fried to the mound with Toronto countering with Trey Yesavage. 

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Sabres Lose Preseason Finale To Penguins; News And Notes

The Buffalo Sabres tried to return the favor after the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated them at home on Wednesday, but the clu surrendered a 4-2 lead in the third period, allowing power plays goals from Rickard Rakell and Sidney Crosby to tie the game, and Crosby to give Pittsburgh a 5-4 victory with his second of the game nine seconds into overtime. 

Jiri Kulich scored twice, Tage Thompson and Jason Zucker added singles for Buffalo, and Alex Tuch had a pair of assists in the contest. Alex Lyon allowed two goals on 13 shots in the opening 40 minutes, but Alexandar Georgiev relieved Lyon in the third period and faced 17 shots. The Sabres end the preseason with a record of 3-2-1 and will have to cut down to 23 players by Monday afternoon. 

Goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, defenseman Michael Kesselring, and winger Jordan Greenway will likely not be available for the season opener against the New York Rangers at KeyBank Center on Thursday, and could be placed on injured reserve to help get the Sabres down to 23. 

Other Sabres Stories

Projecting Sabres Trade Cost - Lawson Crouse 

Six Former Sabres Who Signed Elsewhere

In other news, the Philadelphia Flyers placed Buffalo native and former Sabre Dennis Gilbert on waivers on Saturday. The 28-year-old played 25 games for the Sabres last season before being included in the Josh Norris - Dylan Cozens trade with Ottawa. Other former Buffalo players that have been on the waiver wire and cleared are Casey Fitzgerald (NY Rangers) and Kale Clague (Winnipeg).

Ex-Sabre forward Tyson Jost was claimed by the Nashville Predators earlier in the week after being placed on waivers by the Carolina Hurricanes.   

Follow Michael on X, Instagram  @MikeInBuffalo

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Ex-Blackhawks Defender Among Latest Players On Waivers

Dennis Gilbert (© Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images)

Several players hit waivers on Oct. 4 around the NHL. No current Chicago Blackhawks players have been placed on waivers, but a former one has been. 

This is because former Blackhawks defenseman Dennis Gilbert has been placed on waivers by the Philadelphia Flyers. 

Gilbert signed a one-year, $875,000 contract with the Philadelphia Flyers this off-season. This was after the 28-year-old defenseman posted six assists, 36 blocks, 50 penalty minutes, 63 hits, and a minus-3 rating in 29 games split between the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators this past season. 

Gilbert started his professional career with the Blackhawks organization, as he was selected by the Original Six club with the 91st overall pick of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. From there, he played his first two NHL seasons with the Blackhawks during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 campaigns, where he recorded one goal, two assists, three points, 40 penalty minutes, 80 hits, and minus-8 rating. 

Gilbert's time with the Blackhawks ended when he was traded with forward Brandon Saad to the Colorado Avalanche in October of 2020. Since then, he has had stops with the Avalanche, Calgary Flames, Sabres, and Senators. 

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Big Contracts, Different Motivations: Ovechkin and Kaprizov vs. Crosby and McDavid

Big deals in the modern NHL are becoming the norm. That will force some key players into even more crucial decisions. Should they prioritize earnings as they lock into massive extensions or winning?

Not every star is driven by the same motivation. Players like Alex Ovechkin and Kirill Kaprizov have set precedents of signing monster deals that heavily favor individual wealth, while Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid seem happy to settle for slightly lower average annual values (AAVs) to prolong their teams' championship windows. 

In 2008, Ovechkin negotiated his 13-year, $124 million contract extension —the largest NHL contract at the time —without an agent. His deal was less about a negotiation and more about him walking into the office of the Capitals and putting a number on the table. They gave it to him. 

It was a monster deal that worked out for both sides, but it took the Capitals a decade to finally win a Stanley Cup. 

Ovechkin had already become a Washington Capitals legend, and the team wasn’t about to let him walk away knowing he was the sole reason fans bought tickets. He was invaluable to their market, even if there was a chance the team would be less competitive because it would be harder to build around him.

Ovechkin understandably knew to chase high numbers. His value in that market was undeniable. But anyone who argues he was thinking team first is probably fooling themselves. 

Fast forward to this summer, where Kirill Kaprizov's new eight-year, $136-million contract with the Minnesota Wild guarantees he will earn the most money ever handed out in the NHL. This is a good player, but he’s likely not as good as Ovechkin was in his prime. Like the Capitals’ great, Kaprizov understands how important he is to the Minnesota market. He played that hand, leveraging another $1 million per season after reportedly turning down $16 million per year.  The challenge for Wild GM Bill Guerin is how to build around a $17 million winger. 

Which Pending NHL UFAs Will Kaprizov's Major Contract Extension Affect?Which Pending NHL UFAs Will Kaprizov's Major Contract Extension Affect?Minnesota Wild left winger Kirill Kaprizov reset the market this week, signing an eight-year, $136 million extension that carries a $17 million average annual value. 

Contrast that to Crosby and McDavid. 

Both have already established their legacies to some degree — Crosby with three Stanley Cups in Pittsburgh, McDavid as Edmonton's face man and a perennial MVP candidate — but their contract decisions suggest an even greater commitment to putting the team in a position to win.

Crosby infamously signed extensions below the maximum amount he could have negotiated, insisting that he wanted the Penguins to be able to retain other star players and remain competitive.

McDavid, who is reportedly negotiating his next contract and has expressed a desire to sign a deal that allows the Oilers to build around him and become legitimate contenders for the next several seasons (which includes adding more impact players), could theoretically take less than Kaprizov. 

Both have been and appear willing to forfeit prime earnings in exchange for the possibility of contending for the Cup in his prime years.

Why Connor McDavid Shouldn't Consider An Oilers Discount After Kaprizov SigningWhy Connor McDavid Shouldn't Consider An Oilers Discount After Kaprizov SigningNews that Minnesota Wild superstar left winger Kirill Kaprizov signed an eight-year contract extension Tuesday sent ripple effects throughout the NHL – most notably, in Edmonton, where Oilers dynamo Connor McDavid is in need of a contract extension.

Which Is The Right Direction For a Player To Take?

This is not to suggest that the different mindset among top players means there’s a right and a wrong. Financial security is essential for any athlete. There’s no knowing how long a career will last, and if the money is available, the popular move might be to take it.

For Ovechkin and Kaprizov, they knew their value and each took the money the team was willing to pay. They left it in the hands of their respective GMs to figure out the rest. In Ovechkin’s case, it eventually worked. 

The mentality of franchise pillars like Crosby and McDavid might actually be rarer. The new McDavid deal hasn’t been announced, and there is a chance it's higher than people expect; however, insiders believe he’ll sign a lower AAV that will surprise most fans. Perhaps following Crosby’s lead, many players wouldn’t go this route, even if it’s ultimately best for the team. 

These two stars have asked their teams to build competitive rosters with the money left on the table. That doesn’t always work either. In McDavid’s case, his rumored shorter-term deal might be a way for him to continue applying pressure on the Edmonton Oilers to get it right. 

Ultimately, the NHL's stars are motivated by money and championships. The question becomes, which takes priority?

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