Nashville Predators: Special Teams Debacle Might Undo the Season

The first three games of the season showed that the Nashville Predators’ changes in the offseason are making an impact. The blowout loss to the Dallas Stars and the subsequent loss two days later brought some glaring deficiencies back to the surface.

Fans had reason to cheer during the first three games against the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Carolina Hurricanes. The Predators were playing with more defensive prowess and were able to put pressure on those teams.

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Even losing to the Hurricanes was palatable because the Predators showed great effort on both sides of the ice.

However, the 7-0 loss to the Stars showed that with all of the offseason changes, including personnel and system changes, the Predators were still horrendous on special teams.

Old Habits Are Hard To Break

In the two games against Columbus, the Predators had  six power play opportunities, but failed to score on any of them.

This wasn’t as noticeable since the Predators only committed four penalties and managed to kill all four opportunities that Columbus had.

It was a similar scenario against the Hurricanes. The Predators converted on one power play out of the five opportunities. Carolina converted one of their four.

For both games in Dallas, the Predators committed a total of 12 penalties, more than all three previous games combined, eight of which the Stars converted to goals.

At one point, the Stars scored on a 5-on-3 power-play and then scored on the same sequence when it went to 5-on-4. The Predators also gave up a short-handed goal.

Penalties are going to happen. The bad part is the Predators’ penalty kill is so awful that they cannot stop strong teams from taking advantage.

The Predators did stop the bleeding a bit by scoring a power-play goal in the second game against Dallas. That goal put them at 2-for-20 on the season. Not going to get it done.

Bad Penalties Produce Bad Results

In the games against Dallas, the Predators spent a total of 24 minutes in the penalty box. Against an opponent like Dallas that can capitalize on mistakes, those penalty minutes are disastrous.

The Predators faced these same issues last season. With the roster changes in the offseason, it appeared that the coaches had addressed the matter. The problem still exists, and it only took a more robust opponent like Dallas to bring it to the forefront.

Until the Predators can stop taking bad penalties or step up their penalty kill, I fear that the results will be the same.

The Predators really have two choices here. Show some vast improvement in this critical area, or become a much more disciplined team that doesn’t take many penalties.

Take The Gift When It Is Given

A ten percent clip in power-play opportunities is a glaring number. Had the Predators managed to convert on some of these opportunities, their results would most likely be much different.

Viktor Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg are the only Predators who have managed to score a power-play goal this season. Against the Stars, the Predators failed to get a shot on goal in some of their power play chances.

It’s one thing to not connect or get stopped by a hot goaltender, but not even registering a shot is unsettling to say the least.

The Predators have issues carrying the puck into the offensive zone, so they settle for the dump and chase with disastrous results. Precious seconds are lost trying to reclaim the puck, which takes away from setting up quality shots.

Granted, the Predators were facing one of the best goaltenders in Anton Khudobin, but they must remain tenacious, get pucks to the net, and finish.

How Can The Nashville Predators Fix This?

That’s  the million-dollar question.

Last season the Predators hired assistant coach Dan Lambert to work on special teams. Whether it was an issue with then-head coach Peter Laviolette, Lambert himself, or the players remains to be seen. It’s almost certainly a combination and shared blame.

The problem continued all last season and is now carrying over to this season.

Head Coach John Hynes has to be putting pressure on his assistants to address this issue. If he isn’t, he should be. He may also need to reevaluate the team’s association with Lambert.

This issue rests with the players as well. The mental mistakes have to be cut to a minimum, or teams will continue to take advantage of them. Mental toughness and focus is a must.

The good news is we are still very early in the season. The bad news is the compacted schedule allows for very few practice days, which must be used to address the next team up on the schedule.

The Predators have made some definite improvements. If they can straighten out the issues with special teams, they have the opportunity to remain relevant in the Central Division. If they can’t, this season will be long, and they will face the consequences in the offseason.