Nashville Predators Look to Make November's Success the New Normal
The Nashville Predators plan to keep things rolling after finding their winning formula in November.
The Nashville Predators have turned Smashville’s worried frowns upside down. Following a painful 2-5-1 opening to the season, the Predators rebounded with an impressive 9-3-2 November that has planted them firmly in the playoff scramble.
That being said, November is over with the first quarter of the season and Nashville now looks to build upon their chemistry and become the Cup contender that they were expected to be before the season began.
The Preds have built their success from the net out, with goaltender Pekka Rinne‘s stellar performance serving as the heartbeat of their winning ways. Defense has once again become the name to Smashville’s game as the Preds gave up only 27 goals last month, tied for best in the NHL.
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The defensive unit has solidified into a strength as newcomer P.K. Subban has become comfortable with linemate Matthias Ekholm and continues to fuse his unique style and ability into his new team. Widely eliminated are the defensive breakdowns and odd-man opportunities that plagued the Nashville Predators at the beginning of the season.
Easily overlooked but critical to Nashville’s defensive play has been the success of free agent signings Yannick Weber and Matt Irwin on the team’s third defensive pairing.
Irwin has earned some popularity by putting together a nice point streak early in the campaign, and has been impressive enough to play alongside Roman Josi on the team’s second pairing, filling in for an injured Ryan Ellis. Weber has performed everything asked of him as a depth defender, and very quietly leads the team with a +8 plus/minus rating.
Despite the recent defensive success, this is not your Barry Trotz’s Nashville Predators. Head Coach Peter Laviolette‘s system has the gears turning, using a speedy and skilled roster to put up the 3rd most goals in the NHL through November.
And if your team is ranking 1st in Goals Against and 3rd in Goals For, you’re going to be winning an awful lot of hockey games. If Nashville can sustain numbers even ballparking their recent statistics, they’ll be both a shoe-in for the postseason and a force during the tournament. But we’ve got a whole lot of hockey to play before then.
The Nashville Predators will break into December action with back-to-back home contests beginning Saturday afternoon against the 10-7-6 New Jersey Devils, followed by a Sunday night tilt against the 12-10-3 Philadelphia Flyers.