Jets Shoot down the Predators 3-1

The Nashville Predators faced the Winnipeg Jets in a game that they needed to win to remain relevant in the playoff chase. The Predators gave it a good shot, in fact 40 of them, but could only get one past Jets netminder Ondrej Pavalec in a 3-1 loss at Bridgestone Arena.

The Predators used their power play unit to capture a win in their previous game, going 3 for 4 with the man advantage.

Tonight, the power play was 0-6 as the jets used their number one ranked road penalty kill to throttle the Predators.

And that points out the major weakness of this team.

They are not good enough to consistently score at even strength.

Now there is no doubt Pavalec played an outstanding game, but often the Predators had quality scoring chances they could not finish.

And that is the story of their season.

The Jets scored first when the defensive coverage lost Olli Jokinen and he skated in on predators goaltender Carter Hutton and roofed a shot over his shoulder to make it 1-0 at 5:02 of the second period.

The Jets made it 2-0 as Andrew Ladd re-directed a Zach Bogosian shot through traffic past Hutton at 18:18 of the second period.

Simon Moser made it 2-1 at 9:11 of the third period as he re-directed a shot from Mickael Del Zotto  and (finally!) past Pavalec and gave the Predators some life.

That flicker of hope was snuffed out as Blake Wheeler beat Shea Weber down the boards and put a shot on net that Hutton kicked out. Devin Setoguchi snapped a shot past Hutton to make it 3-1 at 16:08.

The Predators could not get any pucks past Pavalec even with the extra attacker for the final 1:40 of the game, and a must win game became a crippling loss.

Some observations:

• Moser's goal was his first in the NHL. I like his hustle and his play, and hopefully this will be the first of many goals for him.

• Roman Josi seems to grow in confidence and his play improves every game. Josi is one of the better puck handlers- if not the best- on the team. he makes good decisions with the puck and is a confident and smooth skater. He also plays a ton of minutes, usually against the top forward line of the opposition. Tonight, he had 27:44 TOI.

• Michael Del Zotto picked up the primary assist on the goal by Moser. I like MDZ's game and I think as he continues to settle in with the team, he will prove to be a valuable addition.

• David Legwand just looks disinterested to me. He is not strong on the puck and their is not a bit of offensive creativity or jam in his game.

• The Predators put 40 shots on Pavalec and he made some outstanding saves. The fact is though, that the Predators have to finish some of those chances, and as long as they continue to struggle at even strength their chances of sneaking into the playoffs is virtually non-existent.

This was a game the Predators had to win to make of ground on a team that is just in front of them in the standings. The opportunity was lost, and possibly the post season.

The effort and hustle by the team was good, but the lack of finish doomed them.

Now they have to respond and bring this effort on Tuesday against the Penguins.

And finish their chances.

My three stars:

1. Ondrej Pavalec

2. Andrew Ladd

3. Simon Moser

Predators Waste a 2 Goal Lead, Fall to Thrashers in OT 3-2

The Nashville Predators went to the overtime session for the tenth time this season in their contest with the Atlanta Thrashers, falling 3-2. This is a disappointing loss for the Predators as they failed once again to hold a lead going into the third period.

Nashville opened the scoring at 8:39 of the first period as Colin Wilson took a nice drop pass from Sergei Kostitsyn and buried a quick wrister past Atlanta netminder Ondrej Pavalec.

Colin Wilson would whistle a hard wrist shot at the net at 11:39 of the period. Steve Sullivan was parked at the net and tipped it past Pavelec to make it 2-0 Predators.

The Predators controlled play for much of the first period as they were skating hard and forechecking aggressively. They managed to keep the Thrashers back on their heels for much of the period and the play in that period was dictated by the effort of the Predators.

The momentum in the game would start to swing in the second period. Atlanta came out more aggressively and started to out skate the Predators. Ominously, the Predators could not win faceoffs and allowed the Thrashers to control the puck off of draws in both zones. This would come back to haunt the Predators in the course of the game.

Atlanta cleanly won a draw in the Nashville zone and slid the puck back to the point. Tobias Enstrom unleashed a rocket at the net that was tipped by Jim Slater and past Nashville goalie Anders Lindback at 14:25 of the period. Lindback was helpless on the redirect of the puck, and the Thrashers had new energy.

Nashville generated a quality chance while on the penalty kill as Joel Ward was alone in front of the net with Pavelec out of position. Amazingly, Pavelec got his stick on the shot to deny Ward.

The Thrashers came out energized in the third period and generated several quality chances. Lindback had to make some big saves to keep the Birds off the board. This game had the appearance of heading to overtime as the Predators were back on their heels for much of the period.

The premonition about the game being tied and heading to overtime came to fruition at 6:49 of the third period. Shea Weber was in the box for boarding, and Andrew Ladd was able to gather in a rebound of a Dustin Byfuglian shot and put it past a sprawling Lindback. The Predators had killed off 37 straight penalties to that point, including three in this game against the number one power play unit in the NHL in the form of the Thrashers. Unfortunately for the Predators, they played with fire one time too many as the Atlanta power play finally connected.

The Predators has a glorious scoring chance on a give and go with Steve Sullivan and Cal O'Reilly, but Pavelec denied the scoring chance by O'Reilly. This was the last good scoring chance for the Predators in the period.

In overtime, Kevin Klein lost his stick at the blue line and could not clear the puck. Ben Eager controlled the puck and slid a pass to Zach Bogosian, who drilled a shot past Lindback glove side to end the contest at 2:11 of the overtime session.

Once again, the Predators disturbingly failed to show any killer instinct, letting a team up off the mat and blowing a two goal lead to lose the game. The inability of this team to close out an opponent demonstrates a lack of mental toughness, and this is disappointing. The Predators cannot keep giving away leads- and games- and remain in the playoff hunt.

After outshooting the Thrasher 12-7 in the first period, the Predators were outshot 14-7 in the second; 14-9 in the third; and 2-1 in overtime. This is unacceptable. The effort, the aggressiveness of the first period slowly disappeared as the game went on. The Predators were guilty many times of sitting back on their heels, and this style of play came back to bite them.

It's time to stop squandering leads. It's time to stop sitting back and letting the opponent dictate play.

It's time to go balls to the wall for 60 minutes boys.

My three stars:

1. Ondrej Pavelec

2. Zach Bogosian

3. Colin Wilson