Nothing even at 5v5
It has been a concern all season. The Nashville Predators are not great at 5v5 hockey. At current, the team ranks tied for 21st in even-strength goals with 80. Let’s see, 80 divided by 123 (total goals on the year) equals 65.04.
That’s right. The Predators goals at even-strength account for just 65% of their scoring. There are only two teams with worse percentages: Pittsburg with 61.1% and 63.7% for San Jose.
The silver lining is the Predators are successful on the power-play, right?
It helps the team allowed the third fewest goals at even-strength. Thank you, Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros.
The problem? The last four Stanley Cup-winning teams obtained 72% or higher of their total goals at even-strength.
Can the Nashville Predators fix this? It can improve, but I doubt the percentage will increase too much. Unless a flurry of scoring happens on 5v5 chances, reaching a 70% clip is improbable.