Post-Game Talk: Game 20: 11/22/2014 Florida vs. YOUR NASHVILLE PREDATORS 7 PM @ Bridgestone Arena

[jstreet]

and we take back the Central lead even though St Louis won today

 

[101st_fan]

As always your only comment is a negative one- fluke ending sucked, but we dominated the game and got the 2 points

No ... it is a neutral statement of fact ... and agreement with the statements of others. How is agreeing with others worthy of a backlash when the original statements don't receive any? Consistency is lacking in the condemnation. Look through the litany of "wtf" comments ... the predictions that we would lose ... yet no critique of those comments.

Domination doesn't result in giving up a two goal lead in the final minute ... it doesn't feature 90 seconds of 5on3 play that generated just one shot. The Preds never put the Panthers away in regulation and needed extra rounds in the shootout to get the win. No different than the "dominating" first period against the Oilers that led to a nailbiter ... the domination of the first and third periods against the Sens, that resulted in a loss. True domination puts a team away ... something that didn't happen in regulation tonight.

As always, the points in the standings are great ... the issues remain. 0-4 tonight on the PP, 0-10 in the last three home games (a time where the road PP is succeeding) ... as somebody else mentioned "Special teams are dooming us."

 

[wadesworld]

I'm with 101 on this one. We played well for 59 minutes, blew chunks for that last minute, and then survived for five more.

Two-goal leads are the most dangerous in hockey. We proved it.

Thank God for FF9 and Pekka Rinne.

A lot of teams would have completely folded after giving up two in the final minute. Good on us for not doing so.

The 5-on-3 was ridiculous though. I do not understand the point of passing it around on the outside when you're 5-on-3. Throw the puck at the net and crash the freaking net. You have the numbers to do it.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Happy we got the 2. Still in first in the Central!

 

[wadesworld]

I think that’s the sign of a good team. When you don’t play well, and you don’t stay focused and you don’t do the intangibles that it takes, you still win the hockey game.
— New York Islanders coach Jack Capuano after their win vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday

 

[jwhouk]

How in Hades do you fix a power play that's THIS bad?

Use four of those Predator Punching buddies and a stuffed dummy in practice?

 

[wadesworld]

How in Hades do you fix a power play that's THIS bad?

Use four of those Predator Punching buddies and a stuffed dummy in practice?

Not saying our power play isn't atrocious and not saying it doesn't need improvement, but I noticed that Montreal's is even worse than ours and they're the #1 team in the NHL. So although it's important, apparently you can still win hockey games without it being stellar.

 

[CanadianPantherFan]

You guys have a great team. I like Rinne a lot so figured he'd be on with taking last game off. Josi was flyingggg. The fastest skating Dman all year I've seen. I like how you can ice Jones and Weber on seperate D pairings then plug Josi and others where needed.

Your transition game looks flawless. You skate hard and win loose puck battles. Plus our solid D core could not push your forwards off any pucks or tie you up. You could say it's becuase the Panthers are at the end of a long west coast trip, but I don't believe that was the case. The Panthers were decent. Preds were just on another level tonight. You made Guds and Olsen look horrific all night with extended shifts hemmed into their own zone.

Congrats on the two points. If your team continues to skate in transition game and win puck battles like they did tonight versus a very good defensive team... ALL TEAMS in this league are in trouble when they face you guys.

 

[PredsHabs]

You guys have a great team. I like Rinne a lot so figured he'd be on with taking last game off. Josi was flyingggg. The fastest skating Dman all year I've seen. I like how you can ice Jones and Weber on seperate D pairings then plug Josi and others where needed.

Your transition game looks flawless. You skate hard and win loose puck battles. Plus our solid D core could not push your forwards off any pucks or tie you up. You could say it's becuase the Panthers are at the end of a long west coast trip, but I don't believe that was the case. The Panthers were decent. Preds were just on another level tonight. You made Guds and Olsen look horrific all night with extended shifts hemmed into their own zone.

Congrats on the two points. If your team continues to skate in transition game and win puck battles like they did tonight versus a very good defensive team... ALL TEAMS in this league are in trouble when they face you guys.

Thanks for those comments. Wish Panthers the best of luck, except February 8th. Tons of young good hockey players on your side. You will be winning more sooner than later.

 

[jwhouk]

The Stathead Report:

• I know what you're thinking: no, it's not the most shots the Preds have ever put on net in a single game. That happenened five years and 8 days ago, on 14 November 2009 against Montreal. Preds launched 55 shots on Carey Price, scoring twice to win 2-0.
• This also wasn't even in the top 10 when it comes to total shots on net by both the Preds and their opponents. The all-time shooting gallery was when both the Preds and Wild launched 45 shots each on goal, in a game where Minnesota won 7-6 in a four-round shootout (Wild's Dwayne Rolston scored the gamer as Josef Vasicek's goal was stopped by Niklas Backstrom to end the game). In the 13 games where Nashville has combined with their opposition for 80-plus shots, the Preds are 6-1-6 (4 OTL, 2 SOL).
• Filip Forsberg is the first Forsberg to score a shootout goal for the Predators. That "other" Forsberg missed on his only shootout attempt for Nashville, on 22 February 2007 against Montreal. Saku Koivu had given the Habs the 2-1 lead in the shootout, but the Hall-of-Famer missed on his attempt against Jaroslav Halak to give Montreal the 6-5 win.
• Historically, the Predators at the quarter pole usually project out about 1.4 points below the total with which they end the season. As of right now, Nashville projects to 114.8 points over a full 82 game schedule (matching the 2006-07 squad, by the way). That would translate to 116 points, if the Preds hold form. By the way, in 2007, the Preds actually dropped 4.8 points from their projection to their finishing total of 110 points - best in franchise history.
• In another similarity to that 2006-07 squad, Nashville was also 2-1 in its first 3 shootouts of that season. The Preds ended up going 6-5 in the shootout that season.

 

[Mass]

This team is quite able in other areas to be able to prevent so called "dooming," as evidenced by their position in the standings. Whether it can keep up for another 62 games and against high level teams in a possible playoff series is another thing.

50 shots is 50 shots though, and the team has continued to show elite even strength play, and has improved puck possession by quite a bit given shot totals in the last month or so. Not worried. Pekka is Pekka and the top pairing is the top pairing. Tonight is an exception to the rule.

 

[drwpreds]

I'm with 101 on this one. We played well for 59 minutes, blew chunks for that last minute, and then survived for five more.

Two-goal leads are the most dangerous in hockey. We proved it.

Thank God for FF9 and Pekka Rinne.

We "survived" for 5 more in OT???

The shots were 5-0 in OT- we dominated the OT just like 59 minutes of regulation- not sure how that is surviving

 

[hockey diva]

The pp is terrible. It is so frustrating to see it just fail time after time, when we have the talent to do better. I don't get what the coaches want. It makes no sense. The biggest problem I saw was no player movement And very passive passing. The old "passing practice" thing.

And that last minute was awful. Just flat out awful.

We seem to be wining in spite ourselves

 

[Mass]

The pp is terrible. It is so frustrating to see it just fail time after time, when we have the talent to do better. I don't get what the coaches want. It makes no sense. The biggest problem I saw was no player movement And very passive passing. The old "passing practice" thing.

And that last minute was awful. Just flat out awful.

We seem to be wining in spite ourselves

To those with selective viewing, sure.

 

[drwpreds]

Laviolette after the game- said he was 100% happy with the teams play and that he looks at the game as nothing but positive..

I agree with him 100%- he is a no nonsense guy and has no reason to say it if he didn't believe it- he realizes how flukey that final minute was, which I guess many on here disagree with.

The only negative for me in this game was the 5 on 3 PP- now that WAS awful- no arguments there- other than that a great effort...

 

[Masta Class]

he (Lavy) realizes how flukey that final minute was, which I guess many on here disagree with.

Yeah I think a big part of that second goal can be put on rinne imo. Should of just stayed in the net. After he played the puck and Florida jumped on it (very quickly I might add) he just never really got set. He scrambled back to the crease, lost track of the puck for a second, and then was digging it out of the net with his stick in disgust.. Solid game from Rinne as always though and definitely made up for it in the shootout (flying poke check!), but it was a fluky ending to regulation which you see sometimes.

 

[I Will Son]

Laviolette after the game- said he was 100% happy with the teams play and that he looks at the game as nothing but positive..

I agree with him 100%- he is a no nonsense guy and has no reason to say it if he didn't believe it- he realizes how flukey that final minute was, which I guess many on here disagree with.

The only negative for me in this game was the 5 on 3 PP- now that WAS awful- no arguments there- other than that a great effort...

Agreed. He's right.

And I agree with you also, the PP is the only negative. IM not worried about those 2 goals at the end. **** like that happens over 82 games and I'm glad it happened against an Eastern conference team late enough in the game to bring it to OT. Plus we still managed to get the 2nd point

 

[tampa pred]

This is one of those games that despite dominating, we almost lost due to a hot goaltender. Sometimes goalies steal games; Lou did last night. Luckily, we still managed to come out with two points. Giving up the loser point to an Eastern conference team doesn't hurt us. The biggest negative is that we lost a regulation win. No harm, no foul.

 

[Phototropic]

Agreed. He's right.

And I agree with you also, the PP is the only negative. IM not worried about those 2 goals at the end. **** like that happens over 82 games and I'm glad it happened against an Eastern conference team late enough in the game to bring it to OT. Plus we still managed to get the 2nd point

I also agree with both of you. Outside of special teams, this team has completely controlled 5 of the last 6 periods plus the OT. If they continue to play this way the wins will keep coming assuming the special teams can improve.

 

[Drake744]

Preds win 4-0, unless Luongo is a total wad about things and pulls one of those 50 save nights out of his ***.

Welp.....

 

[101st_fan]

We "survived" for 5 more in OT???

The shots were 5-0 in OT- we dominated the OT just like 59 minutes of regulation- not sure how that is surviving

If we dominated in regulation, the game wouldn't go to OT. If we dominated in OT, the game wouldn't go to a shootout. Domination doesn't result in two goals against in the span of twelve seconds. We controlled the play for most of the game, generated some chances, got some puck luck (see Jussi Jokinen's pipe to pipe shot at the net) ... there is a difference between that and dominating.

When diva and I agree that the team is winning in spite of itself ... that in itself is revealing of the true condition of play.

 

[Masta Class]

If we dominated in regulation, the game wouldn't go to OT. If we dominated in OT, the game wouldn't go to a shootout.

Domination and perfection aren't the same thing. You can dominate, and still lose.

 

[101st_fan]

Domination and perfection aren't the same thing. You can dominate, and still lose, it's called hockey.

If you lose, you didn't dominate ...

 

[Adz]

Well, the pie's ready. I took it out about one minute early so it's not perfect but it's still sweet.

 

[StarvinArvyn33]

If you lose, you didn't dominate ...

A better representation of what most are trying to say here is that we were dominating the play, which we did. A team can dominate the play and still not win. It happens all the time.