Nashville Predators: Predators Continue Their Reign Of Terror
The Nashville Predators didn’t disappoint after a great outing against the Kings. This is the team we’ve been waiting to see since the start of the season.
Although the Broadway Blueshirts made a push late in the game, the Nashville Predators were excellent. Even when the Rangers managed to score, Nashville was quick to answer. Whatever kind of secret stuff that the Predators were drinking against the Kings, they had plenty for their game against New York.
The first period was absolute domination by the Predators, and although their grasp lessened throughout the rest of the match, there was no question who was the better team. Let’s take another look at how great the home team was tonight by starting with a Norris candidate.
Subbanation
P.K. Subban is a truly elite talent and Nashville is so lucky to have him. He’s truly the heart and soul of the team, and he shined tonight. The chart below illustrates unblocked shot attempts, high danger chances for, and goals for. All are at five on five and show the Predators’ totals versus Subban’s.
Seriously, Subban was on the ice for 17 of the Nashville Predators 30 unblocked shot attempts. That’s absolutely nuts. He was also on the ice for 4 of the 5 goals for the Predators, all four of which were at five on five. Not many defenders are better than Subban on either side of the puck. We should all take a moment to thank the lord that he’s only on the books for 9 million dollars.
Don’t call them a 4th line
Colton Sissons, Miikka Salomaki, and Austin Watson had a terrific night, Sissons more specifically. All stats below are the same as the other chart, but zone starts for are in the offensive zone while against are in the defensive zone.
When you get production like this from your “4th line”, you’re going to be sitting pretty. The best part of the entire chart is that they didn’t surrender a single high danger chance despite starting over 50% of their zone starts in the defensive zone.
When the fourth line is playing like this, it has to make people reconsider adding in Mike Fisher.
The real reason the Predators won
Do you want to know the real reason why the Predators won? Check out the heat map below.
The Predators made Pekka Rinne‘s life very easy over the last two nights. Tonight especially, as there was very little screening and barely any rebounds. The shots were kept to extremely low danger areas and Rinne upheld his end of the bargain. The man advantage goals were unfortunate, but one was a great tip and the other was a laser of a shot.
In the other end, things were just as good. That’s two goals in a high danger area at five on five, with another coming from just above the high danger areas. That little outlier on the bottom end of the map was, of course, a blast from P.K. Subban. This is how it should have looked.
Trending up
What else could you want from the Nashville Predators? They’ve dominated the last two games and show no signs of slowing down. Lucky for them, they’re going up against the worst defensive team in the NHL. The New York Islanders will host the Predators and try to win the game by a score of 6 to 5.
That’ll be on Monday, and it’ll be a real treat. If you like offense, you will be enamored. What more could you want from the opposition than John Tavares, Matt Barzal, Anders Lee, Josh Bailey, Jordan Eberle, and more.