Official Nashville Predators Thread

#8,678
#8,678
They are still in trouble. Still way too many turnovers in their own zone and holes on the back end you could drive a truck through.
 
#8,680
#8,680
Wickman said:
Loser Vol mentality can all exit that way ————>
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Just calling it like I see it. They are not playing like a team that can win the Cup or even get to the Final, honestly. They did look like one at this stage in the playoffs last year, despite being the last team to get into the playoffs.

I think being the "marked man" this go-around is messing with their minds a little bit. These guys aren't used to being in that position. They are used to being an underdog.
 
#8,681
#8,681
We should be 2-0 on the second best team in the league and we aren’t playing like we can reach the final. Ok.
 
#8,682
#8,682
Wickman said:
We should be 2-0 on the second best team in the league and we aren’t playing like we can reach the final. Ok.
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Defense is really porous and Rinne is not regular season-Rinne (3 goals on 16 shots in Game 1, also had a clunker in Game 3 in Colorado, lets in way too many soft goals). Colorado gave this team much more trouble than they should have; they appear to really struggle against teams with speed, which they didn't throughout the balance of the season because our defensemen could match the speed. I don't know what's happened.
 
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#8,683
#8,683
There are stretches, and it's been streaky all post-season, where the team plays like it's a final-caliber team.

There's also stretches where the defense looks like garbage and it's a wonder how they got this far.

The defense has to pinch, has to control the puck in front of the net, and Pekka cannot give up the easy ones if this team wants to advance. The neutral and own zone turnovers have to stop.

They also need to be the aggressor for a full 60 minutes against Winnipeg. That last 5 minutes of regulation was awful, but they played well pretty much the whole 2OT.

It's going to be raucous in Winnipeg tomorrow. They need to punch Winnipeg in the mouth early and take control.
 
#8,684
#8,684
Pekka is notorious for playing bad on a low volume of shots.

Turnovers absolutely have to be cleaned up. 100%. There’s no way around it.

Defense can play better (and should) but they haven’t been nearly as bad as advertised imo. They’ve shut down Laine and Ehlers so far, contained MacKinnon and shut down Rantanen. I agree they have done better throughout the year but they’re not playing terrible like some are making it out to be.

Bottom line- we should be 2-0 right now but we aren’t. We’re playing the second best team in hockey. Pekka found his groove late last night and hopefully we can build off that. There’s times when the team isn’t playing up to par- but there’s been plenty of times where every team in the playoffs hasn’t played up to par. Whether that’s nerves, overthinking, under thinking or whatever, it happens to every one. This “I knew this was going to happen, we suck again” derivative bs is for the birds. We’re playing good hockey.
 
#8,685
#8,685
Wickman said:
Pekka is notorious for playing bad on a low volume of shots.
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He also just lets in an inexplicable soft goal from time to time, regardless of the number of shots he is facing. Always has. He's in position, square to the shooter, can see the puck...but will just miss it. He can be very up and down in big spots; tends to play his best when the pressure is off.

Rantanen was shut down in the Colorado series, I agree, but they hardly contained MacKinnon and Landeskog skated circles around them (7 points in 6 games). That line was basically all Nashville had to worry about with Colorado and could focus on them...and they still put up production.

Nashville was lucky Colorado's defense or goaltending (especially goaltending) wasn't just marginally better. Otherwise they could have won that series, because they outplayed Nashville for extended periods of time despite only winning 2 of the 6 games.
 
#8,686
#8,686
Man I still can't get over how nervous I was last night. That was a for sure must win. We go down 2-0 and we probably don't recover
 
#8,688
#8,688
Some people acting like the Jets are a scrub team. They are really really good.

Hopefully the Preds can steal one of the next two.
 
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#8,689
#8,689
I know you guys have probably seen it, but this is hilarious.

[twitterv]990732945701916673[/twitterv]
 
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#8,690
#8,690
GBO18 said:
Some people acting like the Jets are a scrub team. They are really really good.

Hopefully the Preds can still one of the next two.
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Nashville should match up pretty well with Winnipeg though. Winnipeg has a speedy offense and Hellebuyck has had a great year. However, Nashville has the speed on defense to combat theirs, and Winnipeg's D corps, while not bad, is not exactly the best of the playoff teams (there is a drop off once you get past Byfuglien and Trouba).

Best Nashville can realistically hope for, based on how they've been playing, is to get a split in Winnipeg and get home ice advantage back. Their barn is a really tough place to play.
 
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#8,692
#8,692
GBO18 said:
Some people acting like the Jets are a scrub team. They are really really good.

Hopefully the Preds can steal one of the next two.
Click to expand...

Got to. I think that win was the boost we needed though, I feel pretty good about stealing one in Winnipeg.
 
#8,694
#8,694
Win tonight and really put the pressure on them for Game 4. We got crushed in Game 3 in Colorado. I hope our guys are ready to play tonight.
 
#8,697
#8,697
tvolsfan said:
I’m worried about Rinne’s fatigue, to be honest.
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All we heard all year was that the Preds were giving Saros lots of action and resting Rinne to help out in the playoffs but Rinne still isn’t playing very consistent. Idk if it’s fatigue or nerves or what but according to the radio this morning his last 16 games he has a .89 save percentage or something close to that. He was .92 for most of the year. Bad time to be playing your worst. Hopefully he can figure it out and fast.
 
#8,698
#8,698
Nash_Vol97 said:
All we heard all year was that the Preds were giving Saros lots of action and resting Rinne to help out in the playoffs but Rinne still isn’t playing very consistent. Idk if it’s fatigue or nerves or what but according to the radio this morning his last 16 games he has a .89 save percentage or something close to that. He was .92 for most of the year. Bad time to be playing your worst. Hopefully he can figure it out and fast.
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I love Pekka, but this is a pattern for him. He just does not play his best or close to it in a lot of big spots, and sometimes completely lays eggs. He did play well in the playoffs last year until the Finals, when he laid 2 big eggs.

After all that talk about getting him rest, he still played in 59 games this year. That's less than several other starting goaltenders but is still a decent number of games; 5 more than Tuukka Rask, for example. That's also just 2 less than last year, and only 4-5 games less than the number he was playing earlier in his career. He also played in 22 playoff games last year.
 
#8,699
#8,699
Ok. I'm trying to get into hockey more.. the games are exciting. Can't wait to go to one..

My question is.. why would a goalie need a lot of rest? He stands mostly still ... maybe needs mental rest??
 
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