Predators fall to the brink of elimination
This marks the worst performance by the Predators of the entire playoffs. Even worse than the Game 3 meltdown. At least in that game the Predators had flashes of dominance and let it slip away. This is a no-show from start to finish. No aggression or desperation for the moment.
Again, you have to give the Jets a ton of credit. They respond to adversity just as well as the Predators do. These two teams are so similar, which is why this is becoming such a memorable series.
Check out Subban’s guarantee after the Game 5 loss, per Brook Bratten:
P.K. Subban on his guarantee after Game 5: “I said what everybody else in the dressing room was thinking, & we knew right after that game that we were built for this. We were built to come on the road & win big games & that's a championship effort tonight." #Preds #StandWithUs
— Brooks Bratten 🍪 (@brooksbratten) May 8, 2018
It’s an uplifting guarantee, but still gut-wrenching to suddenly be useless in your home building. A place that’s always been tough for other team to win in. This is also by far Rinne’s rock bottom moment of the playoffs. You can defend him for some of the losses, but this one is largely on his shoulders. Six goals allowed on just 26 shots. The Juuse Saros pushers end up coming out again, which is ridiculous. The Predators need yet another must-win game, on the road in Canada.