Up until Saturday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets, the Nashville Predators didn’t have a lot of issues when it came to starting off games.
In four of their first five games of the season, if Nashville wasn’t scoring in the first period, it was scoring the first goal of the game. The 7-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs was the only game out of the first five where the Predators didn’t have a first-period goal or score the first of the match.
Facing off against the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners, the Winnipeg Jets, following that trend would’ve been critical for the Predators to keep pace with Winnipeg. That did not happen.
Steven Stamkos took a hooking penalty a minute into the game, allowing the third-best power play in the NHL to go to work and take a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.
Halfway through the period, Nino Niederreiter snuck past the defense and scored on a breakaway to make it 2-0 Winnipeg. Six minutes after that, Brady Skjei was called for hooking.
A disastrous first period put the Predators in a hole that they were unable to dig themselves out of, falling to Winnipeg, 4-1.
“We didn’t start on time,” Predators head coach Andrew Brunette said. “We took a bad penalty right away against a really good power play and made a mental mistake on the second goal. It was a lot of things we’ve haven’t done this year so far that crept into the game a little bit.”
The Predators struggled to get the offense going in the first period as well, getting outshot 11-5 before registering 10 more shots in the second period. To Nashville’s credit, outside of a bad fight by Michael McCarron and a slashing peanlty by Roman Josi that led to a Jets goal in third period, the Predators evened out the game.
Throughout this four-game road trip, where the Predators posted a 1-2-1 record, Nashville has shown flashes that they can be a good team and play complete periods.
“You see the images of when we play a certain way and it’s a good picture,” Brunette said. “For us, going forward, we need to be a little more consistent with that from the puck drop. For the most part, through this trip, we have been.”
The biggest thing the Predators need to avoid is bad habits from last season. The power play needs to improve as it is sitting at a low 8.7% efficiency. Its offense needs to start scoring more, as its 15 goals for in six games is tied for the 10th lowest in the league.
Then there’s the penalty minutes. The Predators are smack dab in the middle of the league with 49 penalty minutes in six games, but it’s about the type of penalties that are taken and when.
McCarron, who was one of the league leaders in penalties and led the Predators in fights last season with nine, squared off against Logan Stanley when the Predators were down 2-0 in the second period.
While McCarron was likely trying to “fire up” the Predators, Nashville was playing predominantly better already than in the first period. It outshot Winnipeg 15-4 and went to the power play three times.
Returning to Nashville with a balanced 2-2-2 record, the Predators have a five-game home stand to take advantage of and potentially turn things around halfway through the first month of play.
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