Despite stellar statistics, losses are personal for Rinne

Goaltender Pekka Rinne is a fan favorite among the Predators faithful. The Finnish native has quite literally stolen games, and therefore valuable points, away from opponents. For a team that doesn’t score a lot of goals, it is a lot of pressure to be near perfect every night.

Losing is personal for Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne (Photo: Yardbarker.com)

Yet, Rinne doesn’t see the team’s lack of offense as adding any additional pressure on his game. “Not on my shoulders,” he said when asked about feeling the pressure. “I think last year was the same thing. We kind of went through stretches where we would score a lot of goals and then we’d go through a few games where we don’t really score goals. That’s how it seems to go right now.”

Visiting Rangers give credit to Predators work ethic, Rinne

Ever wonder what the visiting team thinks of the Nashville Predators?

What better team to ask than the New York Rangers? The Rangers are a storied franchise, a member of the NHL’s Original Six. They play at the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. They are coached by the Stanley Cup winning John Tortorella and their General Manager is the legendary Glenn Sather of the 1980’s Edmonton Oilers fame.

So when the Rangers visit the Bridgestone Arena once every second season, the history and excitement surrounding New York is enough to make the game a good one to attend. Saturday night, however, a sold out Smashville crowd went home disappointed as the Predators outplayed the Rangers for most of the night but left with only one point in a shootout loss.

Defensive forwards keep Predators in games with lack of power play

In the NHL, teams can win games on the strength of their power play. The penalty kill, likewise, can keep a team in games. For the Nashville Predators, while their penalty kill has improved steadily from the start of the season, the power play has gone in the other direction. Through 21 games, Nashville has scored 9 power play goals in 78 opportunities — but two of them came Friday afternoon when the team was already losing 4-0 in the third period to the Wild.

Jerred Smithson is defensive forward producing offensively lately. How much longer can Nashville rely on the defensive players for its offense? (Photo: Yardbarker.com)

It is too early to know if the late efforts from Nashville on Friday will act as a turning point in sparking the Predators offense. But one thing is for certain, when you struggle to score goals at even strength, the man advantage can be a real difference maker. And the Predators have struggled to score goals as of late, scoring just 3 times in the last three games.

When asked about the Predators scoring woes, Coach Barry Trotz said “One of the biggest mistakes that the Nashville Predators make is when we say well we got to score lots of goals. All of a sudden we are not Nashville Predator-like and therefore we will lose 6-4 or something like that. That’s not the way we play. Our team identity is that we play solid team defense as a group and piggy back some of our offense off of that.”

O’Brien trade most important off-season move for Predators

Just four days before the puck dropped on the Nashville Predators 2010-2011 season, first round draft pick Ryan Parent and Jonas Andersson were traded to the Vancouver Canucks for Shane O’Brien and minor league player, Dan Gendur.

O’Brien has been a welcome addition to Nashville’s blue line. (Photo: Yardbarker.com)

Nashville fans are used to General Manager David Poile signing players and making trades at the end of the off season. Take last year for example. On August 20th, 2009, Marcel Goc signed a one-year deal with the Predators after spending four seasons with the San Jose Sharks. Francis Bouillon came to training camp on a professional tryout after Montreal chose not to offer the 5’8 defenseman a contract. Bouillon didn’t sign his one-year deal with Nashville until September 30th, just days before the start of the regular season.

Hornqvist not afraid of occasional goaltenders high-stick

In 15 games, Patric Hornqvist has 5 goals and 3 assists for 8 points. He averages 16:43 minutes of ice time per game. On most nights, you can find Hornqvist parked in front of his opponent’s goalie. Hornqvist sets up screens, so shots will get by the goalie. Hornqvist ties up defenders, opening up space and potential shooting lanes for teammates. And of course, you can find the Swede looking to tip in shots or fighting for rebounds to stuff in the back of the net.

(Photo: Yardbarker.com)

Head coach Barry Trotz says that “his competitive nature is tremendous.”

It is easy to assume that playing against Hornqvist can be a source of frustration for opponents, when asked if he thought Hornqvist got picked on a little more than usual Saturday night, Trotz was clear that his player doesn’t get hassled by opponents.

With attendance up, is Nashville slowly becoming a hockey market?

The Nashville Predators have always been considered a part of a “traditional” hockey market of sorts. It’s a tradition for the media to group struggling hockey cities together, suggesting they be relocated to Winnipeg, Quebec City, Hamilton or even Kansas City, Las Vegas or Seattle.

Nashville Predators game attendance is up so far during the 2010-2011 season (Photo: Yardbarker.com)

Always on the move

It seems every other month Ken Campbell from The Hockey News has the Predators on the move. Either Nashville is looking for investors or are about to be sold and moved to Kansas. Just last March, Campbell’s rumor was that the “Nashville Predators have reached an agreement with the Metro Sports Authority to keep the team in Nashville for at least another two seasons, but the deal has yet to be signed and there are rumblings Kansas City is making a serious push for the Predators to relocate there.”

New role for Tootoo leads to more confidence, patience on ice

This year marks Jordin Tootoo’s 7th campaign in the National Hockey League. At the start of the season, Tootoo was on the Predators’ fourth line, used as an agitator, the spark of the energy line. Tootoo played 9:18 in the home opener against the Anaheim Ducks, 10:59 against Chicago on the road and then 8:32 against the Blues back home in Nashville.

Tootoo has stepped up the offense this season with 4 points in 10 games. (Photo: Yardbarker.com)

During the fourth game of the season, Marcel Goc got injured against the Washington Capitals. Goc suffered a separated shoulder on a hit by Niklas Backstrom. With Goc out, the lines had to be reshuffled, especially with other injuries at the position of forward plaguing Nashville. Center Matthew Lombardi has been out since after the Chicago game and Martin Erat was just returning to action after missing a couple games with back spasms.