You want your recap of the Nashville Predators Friday night matchup with the Dallas Stars? Here’s your recap:
I take no joy in writing about what was an absolute thrashing, in which the Nashville Predators suffered self-inflicted wound after self-inflicted wound to the tune of a 7-0 route.
That’s not to say that the sky is falling and all hope is lost, because it’s not: this was just Game 4 of 56. However, having to relive what I just saw so recently is…agonizing. And yet here I am.
I do it just to feel something.
Period 1, We Kinda Had Fun
In the first period, the Predators actually played pretty solidly. They led in shots on goal 10-6, and the offense was buzzing, attacking early and often.
There were some breakdowns that created some stalls in the momentum, such as Ryan Ellis being out of position a few times during an awkward shift that saw him defending alongside Matt Benning.
Other than a few hiccups, honestly the Nashville Predators looked energetic, like they were on the cusp of another solid showing that could produce results. As they say, bad puck luck happens, and there were a lot of moments where the offense just couldn’t convert.
Nobody has suffered this more than Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson – they’ve had a lot of chances only to see them snubbed. You’ve gotta think eventually it’ll be put together.
Period 2, Queue the Boos
You would think after the solid first period, with the attacking offense, and the good showing by the defense, that the Nashville Predators would come out strong in the second period and put it together.
You would think.
To make it easier, I’m just going to give the tail of two teams: penalties, power plays, and poor plays.
- 18:37 Nashville Penalty: Nick Cousins holding the stick. Dallas 5 on 4.
- 17:45 Nashville Penalty: Brad Richardson slashing. Dallas 5 on 3.
- 17:15 Dallas Power Play Goal: Pavelski from Radulov (gross).
- 15:49 Dallas Goal: Radulov (gross) from Pavelski.
- 13:08 Dallas Penalty: Andrej Sekera called for interference on Yakov Trenin. Nashville Predators don’t convert the power play.
- 10:38 Nashville Penalty: Matt Benning tripping. Dallas 5 on 4.
- 09:42 Dallas Power Play Goal: Gurianov from Klinberg.
- 08:16 Dallas Penalty: Jamie Benn holding the stick of Viktor Arvidson. Nashville Predators don’t convert the power play.
- 05:20 Dallas Goal: Radulov (gross) from Kiviranta and Pavelski.
- 04:57 Dallas Penalty: Radek Faksa hooking Matt Duchene. Nashville Predators not only doesn’t convert the power play….
- 03:19 Dallas Shorthanded Goal: Lindell unassisted.
- 0:43 Nashville Penalty: Matthieu Olivier cross checking. Dallas 5 on 4.
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For those keeping score at home, the Nashville Predators committed four penalties and allowed five goals, while Dallas committed three penalties and allowed no goals…in just the second period. Not exactly a winning formula.
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Period 3, Mercy Please
Do I really have to keep doing this? The Nashville Predators gave up two goals in the third period: one to Pavelski (again), and one to Kiviranta.
At this point it was a miracle Pavelski and Radulov didn’t each walk out with a hat trick.
Pavelski’s came off the power play after Borowiecki got called for tripping, and the other also came on the power play after Borowiecki (again) got called for a delay of game.
Stop me if this sounds grossly familiar: the Predators have a bad power play problem, and the penalty kill is even worse.
Tail of the Tape
The Nashville Predators are now 1-16 on the power play with a 6.3% conversion rate after tonight, averaging 4 chances per game. That puts them at 28th in the league on the power play.
Meanwhile on the flip side, their penalty kill rate after tonight is 62.5%, allowing 16 power plays and killing 10 of them. That’s good enough for. Good for 29th in the league.
The special teams through the first four games are bottom percentile, and until they get right, the team is going to struggle.
I don’t know what Lambert’s plan is, but Hynes has to be putting pressure on him.
Okay, Say Something Nice
Listen, it’s the first four games, and we can’t panic yet.
The team had Mikael Granlund back for the first time this season, and he played pretty good for his first game since rejoining the team.
The Predators are clearly still figuring some things out. We knew Dallas would come out energized and prepared after a delayed start to their season, and following a loss in the Stanley Cup Final.
We absolutely cannot put ourselves in the position we did tonight and expect to win games, obviously.
The good news is, we can right the ship quickly by getting one back against Dallas in Sunday’s rematch. Let’s hope it goes better than tonight.
R.I.P. in peace to the #Stachberg Streak. Here’s your chaser: