There are traditions, and then there are hockey traditions.
The Nashville Predators and their fans are known for throwing catfish on the ice before the start of games.
One of Nashville’s own, former NFL player and Tennessee Titans tackle Taylor Lewan, teased folks on Twitter calling for help to catch one before puck drop. Lewan sent the tweet a little after 10 a.m. Sunday, April 28.
It’s unknown if Lewan got his catfish, but there was one in possession of a fan during intermission, and the use of the animal was rather disgusting as it combined two classic traditions: catfish and beer chug.
Lewan ended up attending Sunday’s game with his daughter, and he abided by the traditions chugging a beer in smooth fashion before pouring the rest of the beverage all over his head.
What nobody expected, however, was the little kid going for the chug herself. Lewan’s daughter, firmly holding a plastic cup of water, had no hesitation in drinking half of it in a heartwarming yet energizing scene.
It could be said it was all fun and laughs… until it was not.
Nashville Predators Had Historic Collapse, Lose 4-3 in OT
The “Catfish Chug” happened in the first intermission when the Predators and the Vancouver Canucks were still tied 1-1. Nashville had to come back from behind as Vancouver hit paydirt first, opening the score a little under three seconds into the game.
Mark Jankowski tied it for the Preds, and goals by Gustav Nyquist in the second period and Filip Forsberg at the start of the third put Nashville 3-1 up, right after Lewan and his little daughter were shown on drinking their can and cup of beer and water respectively.
Things unraveled from there, however, as the Canucks proceeded to score two unanswered goals with less than three minutes left in regulation followed by an overtime winner scored by Elias Lindholm barely one minute into extra time.
As former Predators General Manager David Poile put it after the game, via The Athletic’s Joe Rexrode: “Speechless.”
Predators Facing Daunting Future Down 1-3 to Vancouver
Nobody from the Nashville side of things seemed to believe what had just happened on their home rink.
Predators captain Roman Josi Filip assisted what seemed to be the game-winning goal on Filip Forsberg’s effort to make it 3-1. Far from it.
“We felt like we played a really good game for 55 minutes,” Josi told reporters after the OT loss on April 28. “We just didn’t get the win. That’s just what happens sometimes.
“It’s 3-1 in the series. We’re going on the road. We need to win one on the road. We’ve done it before.”
Game 5 is scheduled for Tuesday, April 30, with the Canucks in a commanding 3-1 lead through Game 4 of the first-round series. The Canucks’ lone loss in the series happened in their home arena, however, which might be giving Nashville some hopes for pulling off the series comeback.
“It’s tough,” Josi said. “It hurts, obviously. Everybody’s a little bit hurt right now. But sometimes you’ve got to focus on the process.”
Adding injury to insult, the Canucks had to put their third-string netminder, Arturs Silovs, on the net on Sunday after the team announced backup goalie Casey DeSmith had suffered an undisclosed injury. Starter Thatcher Demko is injured and out for the series listed as week-to-week to make his return.
Brock Boeser scored the three regulation-time goals for Vancouver including two in the final 2:51 minutes of the third period. Silovs saved 27 shots in his NHL playoff debut on April 28.
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