With the full understanding that the season is still in its infancy, the Nashville Predators are at least finding ways to grind out points in the standings and get off to a 2-0-1 start.
Their lastest win, on the road at the Ottawa Senators on Monday in matinee action, really tested the physicality of the Predators. Neither team could capitalize on their power play opportunities to break open the scoriong until finally Jonathan Marchessault found the back of the net over halfway through the 2nd period.
Despite the five points in their first three games, there's still a lot to be desired from this Predators team. They aren't playing their best game, but still finding ways to win is critical this early in the season to avoid what happened last season.
If you remember, last season the Predators stumbled to an 0-5-0 start and never could dig their way out of it. And the first two losses in particular were heartbreakers, with Nashville taking Dallas to the brink without Juuse Saros for the season-opener, and then getting absolutely goalied in the second game against Detroit despite having a 3.89 Expected Goals but instead getting held to zero goals.
Here are my three most important keys to why the Predators are 2-0-1 with a difficult test at the Toronto Maple Leafs on the back end of a back-to-back up next on Tuesday night.