Predators need to bury their chances in front of net
“What did you think, Adam?” P.K. Subban said as he walked out of Bridgestone Arena on Friday night, Lindsey Vonn at his side.
The star Predators defenseman, apparently now power-coupled with Olympic gold medalist skier Vonn, paused before heading into the Nashville night because he wanted to know if Tennessean beat writer Adam Vingan agreed with his assessment – that Winnipeg’s 4-1 win in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals was actually one of the Predators’ best games this season.
Vingan did agree, though at the risk of speaking for him, there was a “Yeah, but ...” in his tone.
That’s the right tone, for anyone who watched the Predators outshoot the Jets 48-19 and play offense for about three-quarters of Game 1, and who wondered what Sunday’s Game 2 would bring.
Yeah, the Predators dominated possession, shots on goal and shot attempts (87-39!), but this wasn’t Connor Hellebuyck doing outlandish things.
Yeah, the Jets played defense way more than they want to play defense, but they did it the way they want to do it. If that makes sense. They counted on Hellebuyck for the first save and then did all they could to prevent follow-ups.
“I think they were trying to get pucks to the net and trying to get bodies to the net,” Jets forward Blake Wheeler said of the Predators. “When a team is trying to shoot everything from everywhere, there’s only so much you can do. I think your goal then is to have your three guys down low be really strong. I think our three guys were excellent boxing guys out and limiting their secondchance opportunities. That can be a frustrating game; it’s an analytical nightmare. That’s why we’ll take guys like Patrik Laine and Mark Scheifele, who only need one shot. It is what it is. That’s going to be the rhetoric from last night, but we feel real comfortable.”
Yeah, the Jets got a couple of good bounces and the Predators got a couple of bad ones – Roman Josi unable to control a puck with a wide-open net in front of him, then Filip Forsberg surely marking a post when presented with a prime opportunity to cut the lead to 2-1 on a second-period power play.
But the Jets capitalized on their chances. The Predators didn’t. And that’s where Subban’s post-game assessment really fell short. Yes, in some ways this was as overpowering as the Predators can be.
But Subban said this: “It’s not even about being opportunistic. I don’t think that’s how you win championships in professional sports. You play the right way, and I think we played the right way tonight.”
No, you need both. You work and execute to create opportunities. And then you gather that puck and bury it. You grip that stick with the proper amount of strength and hit that huge target after perfect puck movement on the power play. You get your body in front of the net as often as you can; you pay with the hits and slashes it will bring; and you finish. Or you don’t win.