Nashville Predators First Quarter Grades

Nov 23, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne (35) defends his net against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports

Goaltenders

Pekka Rinne -B-

Pekka at times has at times has been fantastic and at times has seemed mere human this season.  He currently has a 2.34 Goals Against which is high for him and ranks him 16th in the league among netminders with 10 or more starts.  He has a .911 Save Percentage which ranks 17th.

Teams and goaltenders tend to ebb and flow and Rinne is no exception. There have been games where he didn’t look “Rinne-like” but never to the point where you would worry about the Predators goaltending.

Carter Hutton – B-

One of the worries going into this season for many was the state of the Predators back up goaltending.  Hutton was sub-par in that regard last season and there were cries for a replacement.  In many ways he has answered those critics. In his three starts this year he has sandwiched one less than sterling game against the Ducks with two really nice outings against the Sabres and Ottawa. Just about anyone would take two of three really good games from their backup.

The goaltending has been a little less than expected this season. That being said, the Predators rank 10th in the league in Goals Against and it certainly hasn’t hurt their place in the standings much.  We think there is a good chance that it will bounce back. It would be nice to see Hutton play a few more games and give Pekka some rest for later in the season. There have only been two netminders with more games than Rinne this season.

Next: Overall Team Grade