The Nashville Predators lost to the Boston Bruins 5-2. This is their fourth consecutive loss, 10th straight road loss, and the Predators’ 21st game without Viktor Arvidsson (and boy, is it evident they need him).
Nashville Key Stats
Goals
Assists
Craig Smith, Roman Josi (2), Miikka Salomaki
Boston Key Stats
Goals
Patrice Bergeron (2), Brad Marchand, David Pasternak, Sean Kuraly
Assists
Charlie McAvoy(2), Brad Marchand, Danton Heinen, David Pasternak (2), Patrice Bergeron
What Happened
Bergeron, who hadn’t played since November 16th, scored the first goal. The Predators played sloppy defense in the defensive zone, and it cost them. Bergeron chipped the puck over Rinne at five on five, and the Bruins held a 1-0 lead at the end of one.
The Predators responded in the second period after a Boston goal was overturned. Josi carried the puck into the zone, Smith threw the puck cross-ice to Johansen, and Johansen beat Halak to tie the game at one. Extra curriculars after the buzzer gave Boston a five on three power play to start the third period.
Boston outscored Nashville 4-1 in the third period. Power play goals from Marchand and Bergeron, an even strength from Pasternak, and an empty net goal from Kuraly finished the Predators’ road trip on a very sour note. The final from Boston was 5-2.
Looking Forward
Going into Christmas, this is how Nashville stands statistically.
21 games without Viktor Arvidsson has taken its toll. In that span, the Predators have posted a 9-10-2 record, including ten road losses in a row. Their opponents have outscored them 60-55 in that span.
Filip Forsberg went down 11 games ago. Nashville has posted a 5-5-1 record without him, including five straight home wins. Their opponents have outscored them 31-28 in that span.
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To compare that when Arvidsson and Forsberg were both healthy, Nashville was 11-3-0 (Arvidsson missed three games before returning to the lineup against the Dallas Stars on November 10th), and outscored their opponents 47-33.
Neither Pekka Rinne or Juuse Saros has posted a shutout since November 3rd. Since that game, Rinne has stopped 432 of the 474 shots he’s faced, which rounds out to a .911% save percentage. On the other hand, Saros has turned away 130 of the 151 shots he’s seen, and that translates to .861% save percentage.
Since November 10th, Roman Josi has tallied 17 points, Colton Sissons has 10, Ryan Johansen has 16 points, Craig Smith has 12, and Ryan Ellis has 8.
P.K. Subban has also been missing in action since he left the San Jose game on November 13th. He had twelve points in 18 games this year. His traditonal partner, Mattias Ekholm, has twelve points in his absence.
Merry Christmas, Predators fans.
Also, Austin Watson has registered 56 hits since returning on November 15th. At least Nashville isn’t lacking from physicality.
-Jack Woods covers the Nashville Predators and the Central Division for FullPressCoverage.com and PenaltyBoxRadio.com. You can follow Jack on Twitter at @jack_woods15 and the Full Press Predators at @FPC_Predators
