Predators Stayed In Special Teams Mediocrity & Fit Trend of First Round of Playoffs

One of the Nashville Predators' weaknesses in the regular season was special teams, both power play and penalty kill. These didn't necessarily hurt them all the time as they were in the middle of the pack, but it didn't help them either.

They didn't stack up to most of the playoff teams in special teams heading in, and it was one of the biggest downfalls for them in the first round loss to the Vancouver Canucks.

The Predators lost the special team battle against the Canucks, both in power-play percentage and penalty kill percentage. Nashville went 9.1% on the power play while the Canucks went 15.4%. As for the penalty kill, that means the Predators went 84.6% (which is good and was 5th/16) and Vancouver went 90.9%.

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Though it was only six games and a smaller sample size in the playoffs, during the regular season the Predators were 16th on the power play at 21.6% and 22nd on the penalty kill at 76.9%. Every team that won the special teams battle in the first round won the series, meaning the Predators fit right into the trend and couldn't overcome losing an important aspect of every game.

The Predators came into the playoffs with the 12th best power play amongst the 16 teams and were tied with the 14th best penalty kill, so they would've had to exceed expectations to have a better chance at winning the series against the Canucks.

The combined special teams for Nashville during the regular season was 94, but the team stepped it up to 98.5 in the playoffs. Anything under 100 is below average and not generally good enough to get the job done.

The star power wasn't necessarily there on the Predators like it was for many other playoff teams, so it is more understandable that the power play wasn't amazing. But seeing as the Predators have the pieces to be a very strong defensive team, it was rightfully solid in the playoffs even though the team struggled in the regular season.

The Predators are going to have a good amount of money to address some holes and needs in the offseason, so it is expected that they do so to adjust for what happened to cause the first round loss this season. In the end, the Predators exceeded expectations and this shouldn't be considered a loss of a season.

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