Nashville Predators showing impressive resiliency during injury woes
Despite losing some key players, the Nashville Predators keep finding new ways to win games.
The Nashville Predators came into this season as one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. They’re a well-balanced team who have enough elite talent to challenge just about anyone. However, the Predators have been tested early thanks to some injuries.
Over the past month, Nashville has lost numerous players, including Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson, Kyle Turris, and P.K. Subban. Though Turris has since come back, those are three key players the Predators don’t have.
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It hasn’t always been pretty, but Nashville’s finding ways to win without them. They lost Arvidsson on Nov. 11 and Subban on Nov. 14. The Predators are 8-7-1 without the former and 8-6-0 without the latter.
Without them, they’ve been getting other guys to step up. For example, captain Roman Josi has 12 points in 14 games since Subban left the lineup. The usually defensively inclined Mattias Ekholm has nine points in 14 games. Understandably, they’ve been suffering a bit as far as goaltending without Subban to get the puck out of the zone. But the Predators are doing a darn fine job treading water.
On offense, Colton Sissons has been averaging nearly a point per game (10 points in 16 games) without Arvidsson. Craig Smith also has 10 points in his last 16 games. Austin Watson has eight points, including six goals, over his last 14 games.
The regular season is mostly meaningless for the Predators at this point. All that matters is setting themselves up for success in the postseason. Ideally, the Predators should look to avoid the Winnipeg Jets until at least the second round. It’s telling the best thing for Nashville might be having whichever wild card gets to face the Pacific Division rather than having the best record.
On Thursday, Dec. 13, the Predators showed especially impressive resiliency. After blowing a 3-1 lead at home to the Vancouver Canucks, many teams wouldn’t be able to salvage two points. But that’s precisely what the Predators were able to do thanks to an overtime goal by Sissons.
Since Nov. 11, the Preds have the best five-on-five CorsiFor percentage in the NHL. Bad goaltending (89.49 percent save percentage in all situations during the same span) and bad puck luck (8.60 shooting percentage across all situations) has diluted their results without Arvidsson and Subban.
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To win a Stanley Cup, you have to be able to overcome adversity. You need to be skilled. And yes, Lady Luck needs to smile on your fortunes. The Predators appear to have the first two down if they can get healthy.