The Nashville Predators were no match for the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night, losing 5-1. And honestly, it could’ve been worse.
The futility against the top teams in the division, like the Hurricanes, continued on Thursday night as the Predators fell way behind on the scoreboard early on in the opening period, They could never recover from that deficit.
This game was a disaster basically from start to finish, but let’s talk about it anyway!
KEY PLAYS: HOW THE BEATDOWN HAPPENED
The Nashville Predators struggled to control the puck or even string together consecutive passes early on in the 1st period, leading to a very sloppy first 9 minutes with basically no offense.
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The next 5 minutes or so were like watching a train wreck, as the Canes scored on the power play after a Michael McCarron roughing penalty, then again 3 minutes later, then yet again not 30 seconds after that. The Preds found themselves down 0-3 after less than 12 minutes of play.
In the 2nd period, Nick Cousins was called for a cross-check, which the Canes then capitalized on as a puck bounced off of Mattias Ekholm‘s skate, giving Carolina a 4-0 lead.
The Predators were struggling to keep up with anything the Canes were doing, but held them scoreless for the rest of the 2nd period.
In the 3rd period, Calle Jarnkrok had a shot ricochet off the post.
Carolina missed a wide open net, then earned a power play thanks to a Ben Harpur cross-check. Of course, the Hurricanes scored here as well as Pekka Rinne let the 5th goal of the game slide lazily through the 5-hole. Rinne was subsequently benched for Kasimir Kaskisuo, and the Preds were down 0-5.
Yakov Trenin hit the post, then a few minutes later Cousins finally scored for the Preds. However, it was too little too late, as the game ended with a score of 5-1 and another Preds loss.
TAKEAWAYS: WE CAN ALWAYS LEARN SOMETHING!
(The above is me attempting to stay positive)
Yeah, so, the Preds just straight-up did not look good. (The positivity certainly didn’t last long, huh). They lacked control, momentum, and toughness. Most importantly, they looked lost on the ice. Granted, of course, they were forced to start more rookies than I’ve ever seen before.
The Nashville Predators were missing, for one reason or another: Ryan Ellis, Luke Kunin, Brad Richardson, Rocco Grimaldi, Erik Haula, Dante Fabbro, Roman Josi, Juuse Saros, and Matt Duchene. That’s…a lot to replace.
Even so, the Predators have often lacked on-ice chemistry for the majority of the season due to injuries, suspensions, line-shuffling, inexplicable healthy scratches, or moving players to/from Milwaukee.
The Predators have lacked rhythm, which has been especially evident in losses like this.
MOVING FORWARD(S?)
The team is frustrated, as are the fans. Something’s gotta give.
There have been lots of trade rumors going around. Should they fire Hynes and try to maximize current talent? Should the Preds move one or two pieces and try to make that work? Should they keep one or two core pieces and try to trade as many others as possible and just basically start from scratch? Should someone break into the arena every game and just Y33T a catfish onto the ice for motivation?
All I’m saying is that the team and the fanbase cannot continue on like this. We’ve come to expect better. And with every loss, our frustration mounts. Perhaps we do need a massive shake-up to inject some energy back into the Nashville hockey scene.
Though, if they trade Forsberg, I’ll lose my mind. And then probably write an article that’s comprised of 500 crying emojis. We simply can’t afford to lose a mustache like that.
The Preds face off against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, March 13th at 6:00 pm CST.