By Anthony Pellegrino @Pellegrinoap50 IceInsider.com Predators All Access Reporter
BOSTON--The Nashville Predators certainly can only improve from their current 7-12-6 record. They subtly fell in overtime 3-2 against Philadelphia on Wednesday, Tampa Bay on Friday, and Minnesota on Saturday.
Fear not--the team's improvement is just what the Predators need for any push to get back to even (.500%) on the season record.
Any successful offensive push for the team was a rarity through 22 regular season games (up to Wednesday). Nevertheless, only a handful of those earned the team walking out with at least a point.
Take it; in the month of November, when the Predators played a total of fifteen games in a thirty-day month, they were shut out on three occasions and only scored more than two goals in just four outings.
Throughout the week, barring the early offensive charge paid off when the Predators (according to Andrew Brunette following the overtime loss to the Flyers) simply "fell asleep" in three consecutive overtimes.
Roman Josi did as any captain would do when their team unexpectedly finds themselves 7-12-3 with an improved roster, at least individually.
Seven minutes after welcoming Philiedepehia into Nashville for the lone time this season, Josi would skate just about coast-to-coast, catching Flyers defenseman Emil Andreae flat-footed, proceeding to wrap around goaltender Aleksei Kolosov, putting the puck off opposite defenseman Travis Sanheim for an own goal.
It was just the spark that Nashville needed.
Scott Laughton would score minutes later, squeaking a puck through Saros on his post, followed by Ryan O'Reilly, putting the Predators back up by one heading into the third.
Yet, with twelve seconds remaining--perhaps half the bench pondering off onto Thanksgiving the following day, saw Morgan Frost skate to the front of the net and tap home a saucer pass.
It was fitting that Sean Couturier would score the overtime winner after facilitating the saucer play to Frost on the late tie-up goal.
The fact of the matter was--reasoning shifted from "no offense" to "we fell asleep at the end."
I think we fell asleep a little bit. (You know), I didn't love us through the neutral zone. We talked about five-on-six and their three-D off the rush. We fell asleep a little bit." Brunette explained following the loss to Philedelphia.
Friday showed Josi again opening the scoring, just 1:17 into the game this time. From the blue line, Josi shot a puck that flew by a stand-still Jonas Johansson.
Tampa Bay would score two un-answered before the captain again after receiving Mark Jankowski's feed and ripped in a wrist shot from the slot for his second goal of the day, making it 2-2 in the 2nd period.
How often any team would practice a four-on-three penalty kill for overtime is an anomaly. A missed effort by Brady Skeji off the wall led to Brayden Point receiving Nikita Kucherov's feed from below the goal line and putting it home on his backhand, beating Juuse Saros on the power play to win, 3-2, in overtime.
The Predators began to show consistency; offensive consistency. A key aspect to any successful team that hasn't been present in Nashville's season.
"I thought Wednesday we probably deserved to win the game. I thought we really played a good game. I thought tonight was kind of up and down. It was a 50/50 game, we had some looks. I thought our game Wednesday was better."
He thought more chances also game against the Flyers:
"Wednesday, I thought we had a lot of looks; a lot of chances." Josi said following the overtime loss to Tampa..."The only thing we can do is put our heads down, keep trying, keep going to the net, keep shooting. We're all trying to work on it."
So, how would they do on the back half of a back-to-back?
Minnesota would find the early goal as the period wound down; they controlled the majority of the first period. Fedor Svechkov received Luke Evangelista's pass and snapped in a shot from the circle for his first career goal, making it 1-1 quickly after the Wild started the scoring in the 1st period.
It was 2-2 as the game found itself heading into overtime, the third straight game going to extra time for Nashville.
This time, Minnesota would capitalize on a missed Predators two-on-one, resulting in a two-on-two the other way until Steven Stamkos was caught flat-footed, and Jared Spurgeon got Kirill Kaprizov's pass and beat Juuse Saros with a wrister from the slot to win, 3-2, in overtime.
Winless in now four outings. Yet a step in the right direction for the Nashville Predators.
Consistency, at least in some form, has been found. If more than just Josi begins to produce in the opening frame, the team could see themselves in a handful of more down-to-the-wire outings. Producing early offense could be what the team needs to play a complete game.
On the defensive end, forcing the opposition to three goals per game over the three-game span can be a step for the Predators to bounce off. Maintaining the new-found defensive consistency will be a test for Nashville, as it will have been five days in between the current gap of games.
Time will tell. Something the team doesn't necessarily have a lot of to get competitive for a playoff spot.
Single-game tickets for the Predators 2024-25 home games at Bridgestone Arena available at Ticketmaster.com.
Ice Insider is your go-to source for Predators news, updates, and more!
Comments