By Zachary Harmuth
The Predators, excepting Team Canada’s Shea Weber, resumed practice on Tuesday and have more than a week to prepare for their next game (Feb. 27 vs. Tampa Bay) and the push they will need to make to move into a playoff spot this late in the season.
So far this season the 25-24-10 Preds have allowed the league’s eighth most goals against per game (2.9).
And its getting worse. Goalkeeper Carter Hutton let in 3.6 goals per game in his last six starts. In five of those six, he allowed more than 3, so it was not just one really poor game.
Fortunately, the team bobbed to 2-2-2 over that stretch, but only because the offense played like it wasn’t ranked seventh from last in the league in scoring.
Which, for the season, it is by averaging 2.5 goals per game. Over the last six games that ticked up closer to 3.
You don’t need a calculator to tell you that the Preds are lucky to not have gone 0-6-0. They need to stop allowing so many goals. Desperately.
So that Pekka Rinne, the Predators’ long injured star goalie, briefly surfaced before the Olympics in skates and pads to practice should excite long suffering fans. His hip, which became infected after surgery, has sidelined him since mid-October.
With less than a third of the season remaining, and four points out of the last wildcard spot, Rinne’s return could save the season.
But since doctors have no timeline for when he will be healthy enough play in an actual game, Rinne might be something more like a mirage than an oasis.
And very, very far from the ice.
Photo above from www.nhl.com
