Roman Josi blames himself for Preds' awful loss to Vegas on home ice
In case you missed it, the Nashville Predators played one of their worst games in a long time last night at Bridgestone Arena. With the Vegas Golden Knights in town, and with the Preds needing every point they can get in their final 34 games, Nashville put up on 17 shots on goal and lost […]
In case you missed it, the Nashville Predators played one of their worst games in a long time last night at Bridgestone Arena.
With the Vegas Golden Knights in town, and with the Preds needing every point they can get in their final 34 games, Nashville put up on 17 shots on goal and lost 5-1 on home ice.
It was an abysmal performance, especially in the offensive end.
Nashville managed only 17 shots on goal in the end, but they had only six shots through two periods. For much of the night, many wondered if the Preds would break their record for lowest shot total in a single game (9 shots, set back in 2001). They managed 17 shots, mostly because Vegas sat back in their own zone with a comfortable four goal lead.
The biggest issue offensively was missed shots. The Preds finished with 53 shot attempts in the game, but only 17 of those made it on net. Shots went high and wide all night, plus there was considerable "over-passing" in the offensive end, with attackers trying to make a perfect play instead of getting pucks on net.
But offense wasn't the only issue.
After jumping out to a quick 1-0 lead thanks to a goal by Matt Duchene, the Predators quickly saw their lead evaporate. Michael Amadio tied the game on a scramble play in front of Juuse Saros, and then two crucial mistakes by Nashville Predators' captain Roman Josi helped Vegas gain the lead.
First, as Josi tried to gather the puck on the blue line in the attacking zone, he flubbed the puck, turning it over to a streaking William Carrier, who scored to give Vegas a 2-1 lead.
Then just five minutes later, Josi misread a passing play that lead to another scramble in front of Saros. It was Carrier again who got the better of Josi, though this time it was Phil Kessel who finished the job, scoring to give Vegas a 3-1 lead.
After the game, Josi was the first to blame himself for "giving them two easy goals" and placing most of the responsibility for the loss on his own shoulders.
"We had a good start," Roman Josi said after the game, "but we gave them two easy goals. It wasn't good enough, obviously. I've got to be better, I pretty much gave them two easy goals in the first. We still thought the game was in reach, we just couldn't get enough going."
Whenever a loss as bad as last night happens, you always want your top players to take responsibility. While Roman Josi wasn't the only player at fault here, it is good to see the leadership of the team owning up to what happened.
The Nashville Predators will need to shake off this loss as soon as possible. They head to Philadelphia this Saturday to take on the Flyers and need to bounce back with two points over a bad team.
— Featured image via Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports —
