Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The Avalanche Bury The Predators, Extending Their Losing Streak To Five Games

Pred Killer Wojtek Wolski

Tonight, the Nashville Predators extended their losing streak to five games with a 2-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. Eventually something has got to give. In Barry Trotz's post-game interview, he seemed optimistic about the future and how the team is going to handle this slump claiming "A slump like this can either make or break a team".

The return of the rookie Ryan Jones gave the team, what it seemed like, an extra spark. Ryan Jones marked the first and last goal of the game for the Preds at 7:30 into the game. Jones jammed the puck into the net off of a rebound from a J.P. Dumont's shot for the game's first score. At 14:25 into the first, a defensive meltdown led to the Avalanche's first goal of the night. A odd chain of events in the neutral zone led to a 2-on-1 break in the Nashville zone. Milan Hedjuk came storming into the Nashville zone and centered the puck for Wojtek Wolski, who snapped it passed Pekka Rinne.

The tie was broken late in the second period, with 4:13 remaining. Another sloppy defensive mistake in the Nashville zone led to Wolski getting his second goal of the night and what ended up being, the game winning goal. The goal was very similar to the Avs first goal with Hedjuk breaking up the left side and centering a pass to Wolski who backhanded it in.

We had so many opportunities all throughout the game. Colorado's defense was really solid all game long. We had a total od 70 shots that were official shots, blocked or missed. We just could not find the back of the net tonight.

The Predators have only scored seven goals in the past five outings. The Preds have never had a scoring drought of this magnitude in the 10 years of existence. We can't just wait around praying that Steve Sullivan will come in and take the wheel from here on out. We need to look at people like Jason Arnott, Martin Erat, J.P. Dumont, and David Legwand, who haven't been producing like they should be. We need to get our money's worth out of these guys. The vets need to pick it up.

I know that I have expressed my dislike towards Greg deVries in the past, but I've decided to throw in the towel on that whole deal. Greg has been around the league a long time and I need to give him a break every once in a while. I still believe that he will be be traded.

Our next game is on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens snapped their four game losing streak Tuesday with a win over Atlanta.

Jackson Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

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