Nashville Predators Celebrate Halloween with Scary Performance
The Nashville Predators have given their fans quite a fright with a terrifying performance in Anaheim.
The Nashville Predators were on the wrong end of a thrashing Wednesday night, as the Anaheim Ducks avenged their elimination from last year’s postseason to the tune of a 6-1 whooping. Despite a third period goal from Colin Wilson, the positives remained in shockingly short supply.
Perhaps most horrifying was the Predators special teams. The power play, which entered the night with the most scores in the league and second-highest scoring percentage, surrendered two short handed goals to the opposition while marking only one irrelevant Wilson point after down 6-0 in the third.
These results came on five power play attempts which managed to provide Anaheim with multiple odd-man rushes and breakaway opportunities. So while the Nashville Predators man advantage has been potent, it’s also proving to be highly susceptible to counter strikes. One abhorrent performance doesn’t mean hitting the drawing boards again, but the chalk should be on standby.
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The Nashville penalty kill, on the other hand, was dug an early grave, where it laid the entirety of the night. The Anaheim Ducks struck on three of four power plays, for a ludicrous 75% scoring rate. It has to leave anyone, myself included, who touted the Preds defense as a contender for the league’s best scratching their skull.
If we’re sticking to the Halloween theme, it’s mandatory to discuss the nerve wracking play by the men in the hockey masks. Goaltender Pekka Rinne was pulled after 35 minutes of ice time, having surrendered 4 goals on 17 shots for a .765 save percentage. He was replaced by backup Marek Mazanec, who hardly fared better, giving up 2 goals on 9 shots with a .778 save percentage.
There’s not really an easy way to be fair about the goaltender play. The defense in front of them was atrocious, if it was even there. But plenty of net was left open, angles played inaccurately, and there was not a single moment where the masked men offered up significant resistance to the Anaheim offense. It was just bad team defense, as a whole.
Offensively, there are some fellas with big names (Filip Forsberg, James Neal, Ryan Johansen) who have yet to hit the net through six games. You can’t win hockey games if you don’t score goals. And you can’t score goals if you continually pass the puck to the other team (looking at you, Mike Ribeiro).
All of this being said- it’s not time to slam on the panic button in Smashville. We’ve already documented how the Preds slow start isn’t too dissimilar from that of last season’s Pittsburgh Penguins, who went on the win the Stanley Cup. It’s also of substantial worth to note that Nashville has been squaring off against some of the league’s toughest competition.
The Nashville Predators should treat last night’s game like so many of the rubber Halloween decorations sticking out of car trunks and BBQ grills across the country- a severed limb. Cauterize the wound and move on, because the season is only starting.
Nashville has the opportunity to bounce back strong tonight in Los Angeles as they take on the Kings. The game will be the second of a five game road trip.
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