Did Nashville Predators' win vs Edmonton Oilers wake up NHL's second-worst offense?
The Nashville Predators have spent the better part of this season trying to find the right buttons to push.
Losing streaks, such as the five-gamer early this season and the recent six-gamer, in which the Predators scored nary a power-play goal can do that to a team.
The Predators, captain Roman Josi said, need to mostly avoid one button – the one that reads "panic."
“There’s times you have to push it a little bit ,” Josi said Monday morning, ahead of the Predators' 4-3 overtime victory against Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the score-happy Edmonton Oilers at Bridgestone Arena.
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“Sometimes you have to be like, ‘Enough is enough.’ We’ve had those points this year.”
When it comes to points, though, the Predators haven't mustered enough thus far to even come close to a playoff spot. Their 74 goals are second fewest in the league. The power play sits in the same position at 15.1%. They’re scoring 2.47 goals per game, which is third worst in the league.
That what they hope is a slump-busting triumph occurred Monday against the Oilers, to whom the Predators had lost eight in a row dating to February 2019, may just be the antidote they’d been looking for.
That it pushed them to 9-1-4 in one-goal games this season seemed apropos going into Wednesday’s game in Chicago against the Blackhawks.
That Matt Duchene ended the scoreless power-play streak at 21 was refreshing for Nashville.
But living so close to the scoring edge carries with it the possibility of going over it.
“We all know we have to score more goals," Josi said. “You don’t win a lot of games with just one goal or two goals. You have to find a way to score. That’s our league.”
The Predators can ill afford more such losing streaks. Good news for them is there’s plenty of season ahead, beginning with the Blackhawks.
Predators coach John Hynes said his team will continue to try to find those correct buttons, all the while trying to avoid the one that reads “panic.” Adding the Predators try to tow the line between being too up when things are going well and too down when they're not.
“When … you’re going through a touch stretch, the most important thing is you come up with a solution together,” Hynes said. “You can’t draw apart; you can’t hit a panic button. Panic and frustration doesn’t really do anything.”
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Did Nashville Predators' win wake up NHL's second-worst offense?
