For all of its Flaws, This Team has Resiliency
Giving up a goal in the first 60 seconds in a divisional game where you’re the overwhelming underdog isn’t ideal. The good part is, you have almost an entire game to settle down and erase that deficit.
The important thing at that juncture after the Jets goal was to not let it compound into a two or three-goal deficit. The Predators played out the rest of the first period without scoring a goal, but they slowly took back some momentum and kept the score manageable.
In the second period, the Predators remained committed to their gameplan of forechecking hard and putting tons of pressure on Jets puck handlers. The Jets only managed five shots on Saros in the second period. The Predators ramped up their offensive pressure by getting 18 shots on Hellebuyck and the tying goal from Cody Glass.
Flashy, lopsided wins aren’t going to happen very often with the Predators. They’re not a high-scoring team and the margin for error is thin, especially against teams with a lot of offensive talent and a top tier goaltender like Hellebuyck.
The resiliency the Predators showed us in this game was impressive. They’ve done it a lot over the past couple of weeks. Three of their last four wins have come by a 2-1 final score and needing to be clutch in the final moments of games.