The Nashville Predators blew Game 3 of their NHL Playoffs series against the Winnipeg Jets thanks to a concerning defense
Game 3 of the NHL Playoffs series between the Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets saw the latter come out on top 7-4. This outcome couldn’t have been predicted after the first 20 minutes of Tuesday’s Game 3, as the Preds were up 3-0. Suddenly, Winnipeg scored seven of the next eight goals, including four straight in the second period.
Nashville lost a great chance to steal a game on the road. And considering the Jets have already won on the road once this series, the last 40 minutes of Game 3 might wind up costing the Predators the series itself.
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Over the final two periods, Nashville get outshot by Winnipeg 35 to 18. This came after an impressive first period, during which the Predators were able to hold the high-octane Jets to merely 10 shots on goal while mustering 12 shots against them.
So how did Nashville manage to lose a three-goal lead? First of all, their discipline was awful. Though the Jets only scored one power-play goal on the evening, the Predators had to kill five penalties (four of those in the final 20 minutes) killed their chances of making a comeback. In fact, Nashville should be lucky Winnipeg only converted on one of their five power-plays.
Secondly, the Predators allowed the Jets to get high-danger chances, which led to their four second-period goals. The first goal came from a deflection right by the net by Paul Stastny. Their next goal came from Dustin Byfuglien during a four-on-four. If you watch the video, the Predators leave him wide open. Anytime you give someone with as lethal of a slapshot as Byfuglien open, bad things tend to happen.
After failing to clear the zone, the Jets made the Predators pay with their third goal of the period. Jacob Trouba pinched up and was left all alone close to the net. Once again, Nashville left a guy wide open near the net and Winnipeg made them pay. The Jets’ fourth goal came off Byfuglien scoring from Alex Ovechkin’s office. Nobody picked him up.
Admittedly, the Jets fifth goal (which came shortly after a Predators power-play goal to tie the game at four) was probably on goaltender Pekka Rinne. He gave up a juicy rebound to Blake Wheeler. The final two goals of the game were empty-net goals, so there’s not much the Predators could have done to stop those.
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Nashville now faces a must-win situation in Game 4. They can’t afford to go home to Bridgestone Arena down 3-1 in the series. And the Predators must address their defensive coverages because the Jets exploited them big time in Game 3.
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