Nashville Predators: November Awards For Predators

The Nashville Predators had an up & down month of November, yet remain on top of the Western Conference. We take a look back & present awards to the best & worst.

November was quite the roller coaster ride for the Nashville Predators. The Predators won the first four games of the month. They lost three games out West, then returned home & swept a three-game home stand. They went back & forth between wins & losses to end the month, and remained on top of the Central Division & Western Conference.

Not by much though. Some of Nashville’s division rivals spent the month catching up. The Colorado Avalanche went on a hot streak to end the month. The Winnipeg Jets played much better hockey in November & the Minnesota Wild are hanging around as well. If the Predators keep having issues, these teams will be more than happy to take the top spot.

Nashville still sits on top after a crazy month. Here’s some of the best, worst & interesting.

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New Top Predators Rival: The Injury Bug

Injuries are a way of life in sports, especially in physical sports like hockey. Your favorite team is rarely going to have its optimal roster all 100% healthy & ready to go. The best you can hope for is that most of the important players stay on the ice for most of the season.

The Nashville Predators had that happen last season. Outside of brief absences from Filip Forsberg & Roman Josi, most of the top Nashville players were available to play the lions’ share of the 2017-18 season. It was one of the main reasons the Predators were able to win the Presidents’ Trophy. If they attain the best regular season record again this year, it won’t be due to everybody staying healthy.

Just after Pekka Rinne came back from concussion symptoms, Nashville lost the services of Viktor Arvidsson. He missed three games with a lower-body injury, came back & immediately injured his thumb. He was expected to miss 6-8 weeks. P.K. Subban went out three days after Arvidsson with an upper-body injury and has missed two weeks of action. Kyle Turris followed them onto IR with an upper-body injury last Friday, and there’s no word on when he’ll be back.

The bright side of all of this is it’s allowing Peter Laviolette to shuffle the lineup and give different guys chances to work together on lines. We can also pray to the hockey gods that this rash of injuries now won’t be repeated later in the season.

Most Complicated Predators Storyline: The Return of Austin Watson

Though the Predators are currently missing some of their top stars, they’ve gotten a boost recently from a returning player. Austin Watson has been on fire since his return from suspension. In his first seven games back, he had four goals & two assists, including a hat trick that led the Predators to victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

Ordinarily, we would all be happy to see Watson back on the ice and playing at a top level. Unfortunately, the reason for Watson’s absence is one that has me feeling conflicting emotions about all of it. If you’re reading this, you know that Austin Watson was suspended for the beginning of this season due to an incident involving domestic assault. We all have our opinions regarding what happened, and the Predators’ decision to stand behind Watson. Some are perfectly fine with it and don’t think Watson did anything wrong. Others are outraged and want Watson banned from the sport of hockey.

A lot of us are in the middle, which is where I am. We support Watson’s efforts on the ice and hope that he steers clear of off-ice issues in the future. In the back of our mind, we worry that it’s something we’ll have to hear about again. Hopefully we’re just worrying too much. At least for the near future, every time Watson has success on the ice will result in opposing team fans bringing up the incident and trying to make people feel bad for cheering for him. I admit to feeling a little uneasy when he was part of the banner-raising ceremony. It’s one of those things that will pass with him…as long as there’s no new developments.

Hopefully, Watson rewards the Predators’ trust in him with positive actions on & off the ice in the future. That’s all we can hope for.

Best Predators Game: 5-4 OT win over Dallas, November 10

I like road wins, as they’re less expected than wins in Bridgestone Arena. I like divisional wins, as they keep a rival from taking one or two points away from the Predators. I really like overtime wins, because it seems like the Nashville Predators can never do anything in three-on-three hockey.

The win over the Stars in American Airlines Center had all of these wonderful qualities, along with the come-from-behind aspect that adds extra fun. Nashville was down 3-1 in the second period, scored two goals quickly to start the third, then Roman Josi had to tie things up with 43 seconds left in regulation. Oh, and that was on a power play, another unexpected thing from Nashville.

It wasn’t the prettiest win of the month, but it was the most exciting.

Worst Predators Game: 6-2 loss to St. Louis, November 23

Over the years I’ve developed a good sense for when a team is going to have a bad night. When I wrote the preview for the Black Friday game against the Blues, I had a feeling that the Nashville Predators were in for a rough one.

They were playing a team that desperately needed something good to happen. The St.Louis Blues had just seen their coach fired after an abysmal start to the season that put them at the bottom of the Central Division. They knew that they had to do something good quick, or they’d fall further behind the other teams & lose any hope of competing for a chance to get into the postseason. A big win over the first place team in the Central was just what the doctor ordered.

I didn’t watch any of this game. By the time my other plans for the evening were over, the Predators were down 5-1 & Juuse Saros had been pulled from the game. I saw no reason to concern myself with such nonsense.

Obligatory P.K. Subban Dance of the Month

Hopefully we’ll get to see a lot more of these in December.

Most Valuable Predator: Roman Josi

When times are tough, you need your captain to take the reins & put the team on his back. That’s exactly what Josi did in the month of November. After a slow start in October, Josi had more points than any other Predator in November, mostly in the assist column.

The main complaint Predators fans have had all season has been the power play. It was pretty abysmal in October, but Josi helped turn things around in November, to the point where the Predators are no longer worst in the league. One goal & three assists on the power play from Josi in November will hopefully be a sign of things to come.

Every great team needs great leadership. The Nashville Predators won’t be lacking in that department anytime soon.