The Nashville Predators lost to the Arizona Coyotes 4-1 tonight. It was painful to watch as Mike Smith made 42 saves, stopping the Preds at every turn. The Preds defense was terrible once again, letting a flurry of chances get to Pekka Rinne, with four of them going in the net
It was an eventful 1st period as the Coyotes scored two goals to go up 2-0, one by Alex Goligoski and one by Laurent Dauphin. After some inconsistent play by the Preds, Roman Josi finally got the gold team on the board with a shot that deflected off of a Coyote defender and in. It was 2-1 after 20 minutes.
In the middle frame, the Preds continued to attack consistently, but just couldn’t put anything by Smith. The Coyotes made it 3-1 after Brendan Perlini scored his first NHL goal. The Predators put 17 shots on net in the 2nd period but could not score.
In the 3rd period, the Predators tried several things, but nothing worked. Frustrations mounted, power plays came and went, new line combos didn’t work, and the Coyotes came out on top.
Welcome back to the part of the season where the Predators suck and no one has any fun.
Random Observations
- Oh good, its the World’s Best Goalie, Mike Smith
- I totally forgot Goligoski was with the Coyotes. And he just scored. Good, good.
- Now the Coyotes score again on yet another defensive breakdown. Ohh boy, here we go.
- Josi! 5 goals now. That’s more like it!
- Wow. Lawson Crouse runs Viktor Arvidsson and then has to answer to P.K. Subban. Kudos to P.K. for sticking up for Arvy.
- Predators are doing a lot of things well on the offensive end, just not so much on the defensive end.
- Speaking of, as soon a Coyote power play expires, the Coyotes score. Perlini with his first NHL goal and what a beauty it was.
- More pushing, more shoving, more penalties.
- This is looking like one of those games where nothing goes right.
- Preds are trying a lot of redirects in front. Defenders are taking angled shots from the point that are more like passes to the slot. Guys are there and deflections are being made… but no dice.
- Crazy start to the 3rd period. Fiala gets an early chance, then recovers nicely on defense to stop a breakaway. Then Shane Doan gets a breakaway, draws a penalty shot, which he misses. Preds are still down 3-1, but that stop by Rinne was big.
- Power play: 0-4, 8 shots
- Forsberg will never score a goal ever again. It is destined to be so.
- Every single loose puck finds the Coyotes. Every one. So frustrating.
- Coyotes make it 4-1. Game. /
OTF’s Super Duper Stars of the Game
- Roman Josi: 1 goal on 5 shots. Looked pretty good on offense.
- Viktor Arvidsson: he had some nice shifts
- P.K. Subban: landed a pretty mean punch on Crouse
Tweets of the Night
P.K. Subban and Lawson Crouse drop the mitts. Subban’s first fight as a Pred. pic.twitter.com/wIL5QNXonC
— Mark Harris (@MCHisTweeting) December 11, 2016
Someone find Ryan Ellis and just throw him on the ice
— Trevor van der Bort (@trevor_0) December 11, 2016