By the Numbers: Predators struggling to climb out of NHL’s basement
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After a banner off-season where big-ticket free agents Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei were added on long-term deals to revamp the franchise, the Nashville Predators haven’t been able to put it all together so far this season.
While some wrote off the slow start due to all the new faces in the lineup getting to know each other, it is now mid-December, and the Predators have yet to turn it around.
The Predators have the fewest number of regulation wins (seven) in the NHL this season and their 20 points lands them at 31st, just two points ahead of the last-place Chicago Blackhawks. They opened the season with five straight losses and the only time they’ve strung back-to-back wins together was back in October, where they won three straight games.
Nashville is winless in their past seven games, including dropping three consecutive games in overtime by a score of 3-2. Their last win was on Nov. 23, a 4-1 win at home over the Winnipeg Jets.
They’re coming off a 3-1 loss on Saturday to the Ottawa Senators, where they threw 38 shots at Linus Ullmark but were stonewalled.
“It’s tough. We’re kind of in one here right now,” said Predators head coach Andrew Brunette. “I thought the effort was there. A couple mistakes there in the second period, and when you’re not scoring goals, they’re hard to recover from. So, a little bit of a redundancy, the same old song and dance here a little bit, but you appreciate the effort. The effort is there. We’ll break free at some point.”
The team has struggled to score all season long as they sit 31st in goals for with 61.
Stamkos (seven goals and 13 points in 28 games), Marchessault (five goals and 13 points in 28 games) and Skjei (two goals and nine points in 28 games) are all off their scoring paces from last season.
Nashville is 12th in the NHL in shots on goal with 29.5 per game while the power play is 20th at 18.8 per cent. They allow an average of 29.9 shots against per game.
“It seems like a lot of the time we’re not giving up a ton,” Nashville defenceman Luke Schenn said postgame on Saturday. “It’s just, for whatever reason, we’re having a hard time putting the puck in the back of the net. Every guy in there is obviously frustrated.”
One of the few bright spots for the team has been the penalty kill, which is first in the NHL at 87.9 per cent. The play of goaltender Juuse Saros has helped the Predators in that department. In 23 appearances this season, he has a .910 save percentage and 2.66 goals-against average.
The Predators look to get things going in the right direction on Tuesday night at home against the Calgary Flames, but they too are eyeing a bounce back effort after a 6-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on Sunday.
“We fell asleep for five to seven minutes. They took advantage. I thought the first two periods, 5-on-5, we had some chances,” Flames foeward Jonathan Huberdeau said after Sunday's loss. “We just got to throw this one behind us and focus on Nashville.”