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The Nashville Predators fell 4-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday (Jan. 15) in a sport that was nearer than the ultimate rating would point out.
Despite the top outcome, the Predators outshot, out-chanced and outhit the Golden Knights. Nashville had a 35-29 shot benefit, led with 57.75 percent scoring chances and introduced the growth with greater than twice as many hits as Vegas, led by a career-high 12 from defenseman Jeremy Lauzon.
Related: Predators’ Lauzon Is Earning the Respect – and Fear – He Deserves
“We played a pretty good game,” Predators captain Roman Josi mentioned following the loss. “I felt like especially in the first, 5-on-5, we played really well. Even the second, I liked our second. They made a bit of a push, obviously, because they’re a great team, so that was expected, but we kind of ran out of gas a little bit out there.”
Despite the ultimate rating, The Captain felt the crew carried out properly.
Full postgame interview with @LyndsayRowley 👇@PredsNHL l #Preds pic.twitter.com/L59hSDJUl7
— Bally Sports: Preds (@PredsOnBally) January 16, 2024
Josi isn’t incorrect; Monday was in no way a nasty loss for the Predators. It wasn’t even a nasty outing in any respect, actually – it was a strong efficiency by Nashville towards a strong efficiency by the reigning Stanley Cup champions. Still, although the previous performed properly and the latter was without its top scorer, the truth that Vegas received Monday’s matchup handily illustrated the disparity between this Predators crew and a legit Cup contender.
The Predators are a One-Line Team
In Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly, and Gustav Nyquist, Nashville has top-of-the-line ahead strains within the NHL. Among all strains which have performed a minimal of 100 minutes collectively this season, the Predators’ trio ranks in the high 10 in anticipated targets for (19) with an anticipated targets proportion of 54.3.
Related: Predators’ Filip Forsberg Named 2024 NHL All-Star
The Predators’ high line is definitely one among their strongest property. But their lack of constant depth scoring makes it far too straightforward for opponents to flip that asset right into a handicap. On Monday, the Golden Knights utterly neutralized the Forsberg-O’Reilly-Nyquist line, holding the trio to 32 % shot makes an attempt and 25 percent expected goals. The outcome? Rookie Luke Evangelista scored the Predators’ lone purpose in 35 whole photographs, whereas Vegas scored 4 targets with six fewer makes an attempt.
VANGE GOAL pic.twitter.com/lrvAKsqbGP
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) January 16, 2024
The Predators rely an excessive amount of on their veteran core to generate any form of consistency on offense, and it’s not sustainable. Josi led all gamers on each groups with 27:48 of ice time on Monday, whereas Forsberg, O’Reilly and Nyquist led all Nashville forwards with about 20 minutes every; it’s no surprise they “ran out of gas.”
The Predators Have a Talent Gap
Evangelista’s purpose towards Vegas was his second in as many games, and he and linemate Tommy Novak had been arguably Nashville’s finest gamers on Monday.
“He’s got some good consistencies,” Predators head coach Andrew Brunette said of Evangelista after the sport. “He’s been playing better and better each night. So, I was happy to see it go in for him. He’s had a little stretch where he was getting chances that weren’t going in for him. It’s a big goal for us. He made some big plays.”
The Predators confirmed robust hustle and good power towards Vegas, and the ultimate rating mustn’t replicate an absence of effort. They tried every little thing to break by means of, from stretch passes to dump-ins to carry-ins, however they couldn’t convert on any of their offensive zone probabilities as a result of Vegas shut down any and all paths to the online with their defensive construction.
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The effort was there for Nashville, however the polish was not. Players like Evangelista and Novak are nonetheless younger, with fewer than 200 mixed NHL video games between them. With their high line rendered successfully ineffective by the Golden Knights, it’s each unfair and unrealistic for the Predators to anticipate their younger, inexperienced forwards to carry the offense and generate high quality probabilities towards one of the defensively sound groups within the NHL.
The Predators’ expertise hole may very well be resolved by permitting extra time to let the younger forwards develop, including some new faces to the combination, or – extra realistically – a mix of the 2. No one anticipated this crew to become a contender overnight, however Monday’s sport was a superb illustration of the place they’re within the means of turning into serial winners – and the way far they nonetheless have to go.
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