Ouch.
The Nashville Predators blew a 3 goal lead last night… then they blew a two goal lead before falling to the Minnesota Wild 6-4 in a game that shouldn’t have been close.
It has been an underlying concern for this team over the first six weeks of the season that got stuffed down in the midst of a five game win streak… that concern finally came around and bit the Predators last night… and bit them hard. This is a team that needs to develop the right killer instinct. Not to be indelicate… but one that drives them to step down when you have your skate on the opponent’s throat.
The Predators came out flying last night, destroying Devan Dubnyk’s shutout streak in less than a minute as Ryan Johansen finally busted through for his first goal of the season. Johansen has been finding his groove and looks to finally be on track as the JoFA line was dominant for long stretches of the game.
A couple of goals in the first half of the second period had the team up by three and the Xcel Energy Center crowd silent... The Predators, inexplicaby then let off the gas and the Wild got to work, chopping away until finally getting on the board with a blast from Matt Dumba which fired up the Wild to draw within one as Nino Niederreiter who had a goal waived off a few minutes earlier, got a power play marker with :39 seconds remaining in the second period.
There is a reason they call those last minute goals back breakers.
But the Predators hit the ice for the third period determined to extend the lead, Viktor Arvidsson and the JoFA line struck early, putting the Preds up by 2 :57 seconds into the final stanza. Pred Nation relaxed a bit… but unfortunately, so did the Predators, again. And the Wild made them pay... again... scoring four goals in the last six minutes and taking a well-deserved win over a Predator team that needs to learn two lessons…
You gotta play sixty… and when you have your opponent down… press harder.
No reason for a freak out… the team is overall playing well, which makes games like last night even more jarring. The Predators are home for the next three, tomorrow night against Colorado, Monday against Winnipeg and Thanksgiving Eve versus Montreal.
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