NASHVILLE, Tenn. _ Close to a downtown area known as Honky Tonk Highway _ where bars are filled with loud music and cold beverages _ many Nashville hotels give their patrons complimentary earplugs so they can block out the noise.
The Bridgestone Arena, the Nashville Predators' home, is usually more uproarious than its neighbors on Broadway, but earplugs were not handed out Tuesday night.
It wouldn't have been a bad idea, however, because the noise level was deafening as the Predators scored three late goals to jolt the Flyers, 6-5.
With Nashville on a six-on-three power play, two Flyers were in the penalty box, and the Preds with a pulled goalie _ the hosts tied it at 5-5 on Scott Hartnell's goal with 1:17 left. The Flyers challenged the play, claiming there was an offside.
But the call stood and the Flyers received another penalty because of a new NHL rule that penalizes a team for an unsuccessful challenge.
The challenge proved fatal.
Fillip Forsberg scored on a five-on-three with 35.6 seconds remaining to give the Preds the lead for good.
The Flyers got two power-play goals from Val Filppula as they finished a season-starting 2-2 road trip.
Travis Konecny got ahead of the pack and fired a shot upstairs to beat Pekka Rinne, giving the Flyers their first lead, at 4-3, with 14:53 left in regulation.
Just 1:41 later, Filppula, who has assumed Brayden Schenn's spot on the power play, padded the lead to 5-3 with the team's fifth straight goal of the night.
But a defensive breakdown and a terrific lob pass by Ryan Johansen led to Forsberg's goal _ he roofed it over Brian Elliott _ and got the Preds (1-2) within 5-4 with 12:22 remaining.
Trailing 3-0, Andrew MacDonald, Nolan Patrick, and Filppula scored goals in a stunning 4:46 span of the second period to knot the score.
MacDonald and Patrick scored 16 seconds apart to slice the deficit to 3-2. It was the first NHL goal for Patrick, who benefitted from Dale Weise's relentless forechecking and his slick pass from behind the net that set up the 19-year-old rookie in front.
"It was an unbelievable play by Weiser to jump right off the draw, get on their D, and throw it in front for a pretty easy goal for me," Patrick said.
MacDonald's goal _ a point blast after he took a pass from Scott Laughton _ was his first in 51 games, dating to Dec. 19, 2016. It got the Flyers to within 3-1 with 9:41 to go in the stanza.
Filpulla tied it on a rebound with 4:55 left in the second, scoring on a rebound to end the Flyers' 0-for-15 power-play drought.
Before Nashville hoisted its first-ever Western Conference championship banner to the rafters in an emotional pregame ceremony, Flyers coach Dave Hakstol called Tuesday's matchup "the biggest game of the road trip."
The Predators, energized by the yellow-clad crowd, dominated the opening 10 minutes as they fired eight of the game's first 10 shots and took an early lead on Craig Smith's power-play goal.
A little over four minutes into the game, with Claude Giroux in the penalty box for slashing, Smith connected on a wrist shot from the high slot, beating Elliott to the stick side.
Twenty-five seconds into the game, Elliott had denied Viktor Arvidsson on a breakaway, making a left-pad save.
But Elliott allowed a juicy rebound to former Flyer Scott Hartnell, who scored on a left-circle put-back to put the Preds ahead, 2-0, with 16:52 left in the second. It was a demoralizing goal because the Flyers, after a slow start, had gradually taken play away. About two minutes later, Nick Bonino scored on another rebound and Nashville had a 3-0 advantage before the Flyers erupted.
For the second straight game, the Flyers played a team hit hard by injuries.
Nashville played without two of its best defensemen, Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis (long-term injured list). Josi was replaced by 19-year-old Samuel Girard, a quick but small defender (5-foot-10, 162 pounds) who made his NHL debut.
After the morning skate, MacDonald said when an opponent is missing starters, like Nashville, you "try to play your own game. You don't want to get in a mental trap of thinking it's going to be an easier game because some of their best players aren't playing," he said.
On Saturday, the Flyers scored a 3-2 overtime win against an Anaheim team that was missing six regulars and its backup goalie.
"We talked about that in Anaheim (because) we knew they were missing some guys, but you never want to let your guard down, especially against a team that has a few guys missing," MacDonald said. "There are hungrier guys in the lineup and their guys are going to work real hard, so you have to be careful of that. I think our mind-set stays the same. We try to focus on our game and execute our game plan."
