Nashville Predators and Their Goalie Woes
The Nashville Predators continue to be on top in the league, but their goaltending woes continue to be problematic.
The Nashville Predators have given their fans quite the ride this season. One moment they’re up, the next they’re down. Game to game, period to period and shift to shift, fans just never know what they’re going to get from this team. The most polarizing issue is that of goaltending versus overall team defense. What’s really going on? I’m about to dispel some of this from a birds-eye view.
Nashville Predators Tale of Two Goalies
We can look at the stats of goalies Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros and see a tale of two goalies. While Saros’s numbers are clearly better, does that really tell the whole story of the two? Absolutely not. Rinne won player of the month for November of this season. The man was on fire. He followed that month up with an abysmal showing in December only to rebound in January. When Rinne is on, he is outstanding. When he’s off, he’s horrible. There is no in between and that’s part of the problem.
Saros on the other hand has given the Predators a steadying influence as a backup this season. Saros has won against some of the best teams in the league. His composure and overall play in net is encouraging for the future of the young Finish net minder.
How exactly has Saros gotten it done while Rinne has been so up and down? Many respond to this question by saying the team defense has been up and down all season long. While there may be some truth to that, I’m not totally sold on that being the reason. Injuries have hurt the team’s chemistry. The top four defensemen haven’t all be in the lineup at the same time for a good portion of the season either which has also hurt Nashville on the back end.
More from Predlines
- Nashville Predators 2023 Training Camp Spotlight: Kiefer Sherwood
- Captain Candidates if Nashville Predators Didn’t Have Roman Josi
- The All-Time 25 Games or Less Nashville Predators Lineup
- Nashville Predators 2023 Training Camp Spotlight: Cody Glass
- Joakim Kemell Flashes his Offense in Nashville Predators Loss to Tampa
Is team defense really the problem?
Is this really the problem, the team in front of the goalies? It’s not as simple as the overall team defense response. It’s a confidence factor in the goalies. The team has more confidence in Saros than Rinne at this point. Saros gave up a goal against San Jose on the road this past weekend and then shut the door the rest of the way as Nashville ended up winning 3-1. The team continued to play their game because they felt Saros would keep them in it. If it had been Rinne between the pipes, the team would’ve opened up their game to try to make up for the early deficit.
When the team plays a more open style, their overall team defense suffers. They are trying to make up for what they feel Rinne will give up later in the game and that’s a hard place to be. The lack of confidence in Rinne causes the team to play a different style which in turn gives up more chances and unfortunately goals. With Saros in net the team believes it won’t be let down by an untimely goal against or the ever-dreaded softie. Unfortunately, it starts to play in to the head of the goalie, Rinne in this case, as well as the team in front of him.
It’s a chicken or the egg scenario for the Predators right now. Try to outscore opponents because Rinne isn’t the elite goalie he once was or play Saros and take your chances with a rookie goalie. I don’t envy coach Laviolette and the hard decisions he’s going to have to make over the next month of the season.