Preds Prey: First Half Headlines

The Nashville Predators are just past the midway part of the season, and are sitting in a nice place in the standings despite the rough first half.

There are many headlines to choose from for the first half for this team, but here are the five that stood out the most, in no particular order.

Injuries to Key Players

The Predators were hit hard by the injury plague in the first half of the season, and it hit a lot of important players in the lineup. In the month of November, they were particularly hit hard with three key players heading to the injured reserve, some are back, but others are still waiting to rejoin the team. On Nov. 10, the team took its first hit with, forward Viktor Arvidsson being placed on injured reserve. Then three days later, defenseman P.K. Subban was injured and the team learned that he would be joining Arvidsson on the IR. The team thought they were in good shape, but on Nov. 30, Filip Forsberg was injured and placed on the IR. 

Arvidsson and Subban made their return to the lineup on Dec. 27 at home against the Dallas Stars. Forsberg is still on the IR, but is expected to return to the lineup sometime in January. They were just the three major injuries so far this season, but there have been plenty of other ones. Kyle Turris, Colton Sissons and Yannick Weber are currently out of the lineup with no exact date for a return to the lineup. 

Rough Times on the Road

The Preds started the season by going 8-0-0 away from Bridgestone Arena, but then mid-November came and they couldn't but a win on the road. They went 0-8-2 over their next 10 road games, but are somehow sit just two points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the lead in the Central Division. They ended a six game losing streak overall with a win against the Washington Capitals on Dec. 31. The win also ended a 10-game road losing streak. It seems like the road struggles kind of coincided with the loss of Subban and Arvidsson to injury.

During the 10-game road winless streak, the Predators only score the first goal of the game once and that was on Dec. 18 when they were facing the Chicago Blackhawks. During the eight game win streak on the road to start the season, they scored the first goal in every game except two. Another part of the road problem, has been Pekka Rinne, who is much better playing on home ice. During the eight game win streak, the Preds only gave up three or more goals a total of four times, but they did it six times during the winless streak. The opposition managed to score five goals in a game a total of four times, and that can't happen if they want to get some points and climb the standings.

Power Play Struggles

The Preds' power play has been anything but lights out this year. They have chances on the man advantage, but they can't seem to cash in on them. The team had 139 power play opportunities in the first half and only managed to score on 21 of them. They also gave up five shorthanded goals against, and finished the first half ranked 27th.

The Predators can get into the offensive zone and setup on the power play, but the problem begins after that happens. They tend to look for the perfect play and are really pass happy. If the shot is there with no one in the lane and some traffic in front then just get the puck on net because you never know that can happen. They need to stop looking for the pretty or perfect play and make the right one. The Predators have zero power play goals in 24 games played, one power play goal in 11 games played and have only scored two power play goals five times this season. 

Pekka Rinne

Rinne put up some solid numbers in the first half, but they could have been even better. In 29 games, he was 15-10-1 with two shutouts to go with a 2.25 goals against average and a .920 save percentage. He got off to a great start, but his numbers have slipped since then and a major reason for that was his play on the road. In October, he was 3-1-0 in give games with a 2.11 goals against average and one shutout. During November he was 7-3-1 with a 1.74 GAA and had another shutout. In 12 games during the month of December, Rinne was only 5-6-0 with a 2.87 GAA and zero shutouts.

Rinne has solid numbers at home this season, but has somewhat struggled on the road. The goalie's road numbers aren't terrible by any means, just not up to his numbers on home ice. In 16 games at home, he has a record of 11-5-0 with a 2.01 GAA and two shutouts. In 13 games on the road, he is only 4-5-1 with a 2.60 GAA. The team as a whole has struggled on the road and that played into his rough road record in the first half. Despite his poor road record, the team would not be in the race to win the Central Division again.

Ryan Johansen and Roman Josi

Johansen and Josi had to pick up the point pace with Forsberg, Arvidsson and Subban out of the lineup at the same time. Johansen finished the first half with 35 points including seven goals and 28 assists. The totals could have been higher if the Predators had any kind of power play in the first half of the season. Johansen can agitate the opposition and is good at face-offs winning over 53% of them taken.

Josi needed to step up his game with the loss of Subban due to injury. He had seven goals, 22 assists and 29 points in the first half of the season. The defenseman will join the play in the offensive zone and make the first pass to help his team get the puck out of their own zone. He added two game winning goals and averaged 25:24 of ice time per game.