Paul McCann: Game Four - Turning Point?

Must win game for the Preds.

If Winnipeg goes up 3-1 in the series I can't see Nashville beating them 3 straight.

Winnipeg is too good!

Wish I had some witty comment or back handed insult but you guys are still in the playoffs and have outplayed the Jets for all but 2 periods of this series.

Nashville doesn't have the best fans in hockey. That is a statment from a blind homer. Mostly every team has fans like that when they are excelling. Preds have been in the league for 20 years. Be humble and accept that they are still light years behind many franchises. They are great, no doubt, and their fans are passionate, but there is no such thing as the best fans. A writer should be more professional than to spew nonsense like that.

I have been harping on this the past 3-4 months, but what I am seeing from this Preds team is a lack of leadership. Josi is a great player. He's a top-10 caliber defenseman. But something is lost in the leadership department since he has become the Captain. I am not sure it's necessarily his style or what, but this team absolutely lays down for periods at a time. That cannot and should not happen in the playoffs.

Now, the Preds could get away with a bad period here and there when 50% of their regular season games are against non-playoff teams. But when you're playing the #2 team in the entire league in a series, you cannot afford to take one period off. It's frustrating to watch as a fan. The defensive play in this series has been atrocious. The Jets are a great team, and you are not going to hold their top 2 lines down for long. But the Preds are giving up turnovers and prime scoring chances to the Jets 3rd and 4th lines as well. It's maddening.

Tonight might as well be an elimination game. Anything can happen in the playoffs, but like a previous poster said, this Jets team is too good to lose 3 straight games. Look, the Preds were going to lose at least 2-3 games in this series. Even the homiest of homers saw it going 6 or 7 games. But the choke job way they lost game 3 is the point of concern. They have gotten up off the mat all season after being knocked down. Do they have anything left after Tuesday night's gut punch?

Kudos for not mentioning the Ref's at all in this article!! I absolutely hate when fans or media from ANY team complain about reffing after a loss, it's a 100% guarantee that some fans will no matter what and I hate it! and I'm not talking about just Preds fans, Jets fans to! Even I have been roped into commenting and engaging the topic in here and I need to ignore and move on. no one will remember the reffing when handshakes are happening.

It is funny that everyone and I mean everyone said this series will go 6 or 7 but some fans seem to panic or celebrate after every win/loss like their team is about to win/lose 3 straight.

the only truth is, It will be truly sad to see either team eliminated after this round.

Today @ 10:54 AM ET
Nashville doesn't have the best fans in hockey. That is a statment from a blind homer. Mostly every team has fans like that when they are excelling. Preds have been in the league for 20 years. Be humble and accept that they are still light years behind many franchises. They are great, no doubt, and their fans are passionate, but there is no such thing as the best fans. A writer should be more professional than to spew nonsense like that.

Paul is a professional PA announcer, not a professional writer. This is a blogging website. He works for the organization and blogs about the same team. What is he suppose to say.

Paul your blog sheds no light on the glaring problem or adjustments that need to be made. You do make one good point, Scott Hartnell is needed.
To start with i hope i'm wrong with this but i'm afraid i'm not. The Preds are done, rarely does a team recover after a collapse like the Preds suffered in game 3. When the horn sounded in game 1 the tv camera showed the Nashville bench and they were smiling high fiving one another, they were up beat, when the horn ended game 3 the same camera went down the Nashville bench and their faces told another story, a beaten team of confusion.
See Paul either you don't know alot of the problems or you don't feel compelled to share for one reason or another. But here they are.
1. the Preds can't engage heir defense in the offensive zone against the Jets because every time they do its leads to a scoring chance for the Jets and Pekka is not coming up with the timely saves the Preds need. So this is a huge problem. if we don't engage the D to protect Pekka that kills our offense. If we do engage the D the Jets are pretty much are scoring at will.
2. Icing the puck is killing the Preds. Not just when the Jets net is empty. But more so when our defensemen get the puck behind Pekka and stand there for 15 seconds and shoot the puck down the wall and ice the puck. This happens about 50% of the time.
3. penalties- enough said
4. Not keeping James Neal is killing us in this series....size and grit...... this is the worst move Polie will ever make as a GM
5. Honestly the Jets are simply just a little bit better than the Preds in 2018
6. Its time to sit Pekka, He is amazing, he has been the heart beat of this team, but he simply isn't playing well. He has allowed at least 2 soft goals a game and against this team you'll get beat doing that. Its time for Jusse to play, He was playing better than Pekka at the end of the season, both games in the playoffs Pekka got pulled, Jusse was perfect. This would also give the Preds a shot of confidence, which they need. It would also give them a chance to engage their D in the offensive zone and when the Jets counter give Jusse the chance to make a timely save which this team hasn't had in this series.
Look i don't think Lavy starts Jusse, Pekka has earned a long leash, and i also know from years upon years of watching pro sports that teams almost never recover from collapses such as game 3.
All of the above is why i feel the Preds will be lucky to win another game this series, i hope i'm wrong and with that being said i paid $400 today for 2 tickets for me and my son for game 5 at smashville, win or lose i'm a Pred to the day i die....GO PREDS
BTW....i don't need a thanks Paul for writing the blog you should have

Game 4's are always pivotal ... you can win it all or lose it all ... you can turn the series into a best of 3 ... or you can be pushed to the ledge or do the pushin

Make no assumptions - even if our Jets go up 3-1, it ain't over ... case in point:

1990 Jets were up 3 games to 1 on the hey-day Oilers ... local Manitoba kid, Bill Ranford, was filling in for inured Grant Fuhr ... during that series he went from back-up to premier tender and played 6 more seasons with Edmonton ... that playoff year, Oilers also won the Cup

It takes 4 wins to take a series and 16 wins to take the Cup

Ya gotta find a way to rest your top 4 Dmen

I trashed several columns yesterday, everyone I wrote just didn’t hit what I was looking for… so I decided to just forget it and move on...
- pmccann

You should do this more often.

The biggest piece… the biggest learning has got to be on the discipline side.

Do you really think they're going to learn that? A team that led the league in PIMs for the year and was bad in the Avs series obviously isn't going to figure it out in 2 days.

You should do this more often.
- bcallaway

Seriously don't know why you even read Paul's blog??? Just to be an idiot????

Seriously don't know why you even read Paul's blog??? Just to be an idiot????
- SouthNash

I love fiction.

Paul is a professional PA announcer, not a professional writer. This is a blogging website. He works for the organization and blogs about the same team. What is he suppose to say.
- benderboots

Paul and the word "Professional" do not belong in the same sentence. His antics are ECHL quality at best....You know you have a poor PA announcer when he's screaming at the top of lungs on EVERY announcement! He drowns out the play by play man! I think he really wants people to see him as the cartoon character he tries to portray.

He adds very little objective insight....and calling the Press the "best fans" is laughable....but consider the source.

So while the Jets will move on to play the Sharks/Knights, at least Nashville fans can continue to pound on a Cesna....which BTW is not a Jet!

Reality check... we are only down one game.. we can win tonight or in game 6 and recapture home ice advantage.... I get it the Preds have pissed the bed all playoff series long, but the reality check of not being entitled to win should have sunk in Tuesday Night, if not then well they are screwed. Either way we are in better shape than 24 other teams...

Don't read this blog if you don't like it. I have a feeling some respondents just have the need to complain. "Personality" shows through.

Paul and the word "Professional" do not belong in the same sentence. His antics are ECHL quality at best....You know you have a poor PA announcer when he's screaming at the top of lungs on EVERY announcement! He drowns out the play by play man! I think he really wants people to see him as the cartoon character he tries to portray.

He adds very little objective insight....and calling the Press the "best fans" is laughable....but consider the source.

So while the Jets will move on to play the Sharks/Knights, at least Nashville fans can continue to pound on a Cesna....which BTW is not a Jet!
- jockitch

Look buddy, Paul just isn’t into you. Hats off on your relentless efforts but he isn’t biting. Coming to grips with unreciprocated love can be tough, but I have faith you’ll survive. There’s lots of male bloggers out there to choose from. You’ll find your Paul one day, I promise.

Paul and the word "Professional" do not belong in the same sentence. His antics are ECHL quality at best....You know you have a poor PA announcer when he's screaming at the top of lungs on EVERY announcement! He drowns out the play by play man! I think he really wants people to see him as the cartoon character he tries to portray.

He adds very little objective insight....and calling the Press the "best fans" is laughable....but consider the source.

So while the Jets will move on to play the Sharks/Knights, at least Nashville fans can continue to pound on a Cesna....which BTW is not a Jet!
- jockitch

Huh? Our PA sits between the two penalty boxes alongside the ice-level NHL officials. (PA stands for public address in case you are too busy scratching your itchy crotch while your pathetic 'hawks run around like chickens with their heads cut off.)

Also, since you appear to be clueless, play-by-play and color announcers (TV and radio) are at the top of the arena in the press box. The public address system is not part of any TV or radio network or feed. It is an in-house address system - get it? PA?

And, for what it's worth, Paul is an excellent PA announcer as are most of the other PA announcers in the league who, by the way, all employ similar styles - that's their job. It's what they were hired for. Are you really that clueless or do you just enjoy making a fool of yourself?

You need to take your pathetic trolling back to whatever gutter you live in and get off this blog.

Paul and the word "Professional" do not belong in the same sentence. His antics are ECHL quality at best....You know you have a poor PA announcer when he's screaming at the top of lungs on EVERY announcement! He drowns out the play by play man! I think he really wants people to see him as the cartoon character he tries to portray.

He adds very little objective insight....and calling the Press the "best fans" is laughable....but consider the source.

So while the Jets will move on to play the Sharks/Knights, at least Nashville fans can continue to pound on a Cesna....which BTW is not a Jet!
- jockitch

TRASHVILLE ARENA is Bush league at best, Where is that HILLROD VOPATSRASH???
Rinne sucks A$$....JETS in 5
Pred will choke and will not meet expectations
TRASHVILLE TRASHVILLE TRASHVILLE.... YOU SUCK!!!!!

Byfuglien just did exactly what Subban does every game. thats why people hate Subban

Good gawd these ncbsn announcers are doing everything but blow the jets during the telecasts...

TRASHVILLE ARENA is Bush league at best, Where is that HILLROD VOPATSRASH???
Rinne sucks A$$....JETS in 5
Pred will choke and will not meet expectations
TRASHVILLE TRASHVILLE TRASHVILLE.... YOU SUCK!!!!!
- BGKarras

Why don’t you tell us how you really feel

Byfuglien just did exactly what Subban does every game. thats why people hate Subban
- BluesDroogie

The level of crying about Subban is something else.

The guy loves it anyway.

Why don’t you tell us how you really feel
- PREDX1

BTW your Uniforms are just disgusting!!!
VopatsRash you dipstick. #HILLRODS