The Preds got off to a wobbly start, as the Sens came out strong and Michael McCarron took a tripping penalty early, but Juuse Saros was on top of it all, and things rapidly improved from there–for a while. Nashville found their feet and started pressing into the Ottawa zone, with McCarron scoring the first of the game at 8:26 on a smart, opportunistic play. A few minutes later, Thomas Chabot took a holding penalty, but the Preds were unable to convert.
Still, they continued to press, and at 16:30 Phil Tomasino got the Preds a second goal.