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Predators devour Penguins

October 23, 2016, 11:26 AM ET [70 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
It wasn't a pretty sight for the Penguins faithful. The Nashville Predators lived up to their namesake and devoured the Pittsburgh Penguins last night by a score of 5-1. After scoring less than one minute into the contest to take the lead the Penguins were held scoreless the rest of the way.

Pittsburgh played well in the first period out attempting the Predators 27-18 at even-strength but were unable to generate goals. The second period Nashville flipped the script on the possession front and they did make the most of their opportunities to the tune of four goals.

Marc-Andre Fleury had his first clunker of the year. A few of those goals he was isolated in one on one situations with the shooter while his defenders were in place to defend the pass and he just didn't come up with the save. When you literally play every game for your team one of these performances is always lurking around the corner.

If you are looking for positives from the game Patric Hornqvist had another solid outing earning an assist on the Penguins lone goal and driving play with 20 shot attempts for and only five against when he was on the ice.

Scott Wilson's early returns this year are positive. He has scored two goals in his last two games and is one of the better players on the Penguins possession wise so far this year at 56.4%

Fortunately for the Penguins Matt Cullen decided to come back because he leads the Penguins in possession (62.07%) and is also tied for the team point lead with Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist at five points apiece

So in short the Wilson-Cullen-Hornqvist line are doing some nice things out there.

On a night where most Penguins players score-effected their way to impressive possession numbers Eric Fehr turned in yet another subpar performance. He has a team low shot attempt percentage of 35.7% at even-strength this year.

Trying to analyze the team right now is proving difficult considering they've only played six games and are playing without Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang at the present moment. The team having a 3-2-1 record isn't all that bad considering the injury issues the team has dealt with early on.

Thanks for reading!
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