The Nashville Predators are 60 minutes away from elimination as they take on the Arizona Coyotes in what is literally the make-or-break game of their best-of-five Stanley Cup Qualifier series. Puck drops at 1:30pm Central and below are three things to watch for in Game 4.
PERIOD 1: Will the Real Matt Duchene Please Stand Up?
Three games, 1 assist, an unnecessary holding penalty, a team-worst minus-4 rating and a mental error that cost his club possibly a strangle hold on the series. That’s Matt Duchene’s resume in these Stanley Cup Qualifiers. The two-time 70-point scorer has a world of potential to offer his squad but he’s not shown that potential nearly enough this week.
Nashville is 60 minutes away from all the training camp efforts and trip to the Edmonton bubble being a complete waste of every player’s, staff’s, and family member’s time and effort, but it’s not because their opponent has been the better team. The Preds have out-played the Coyotes for most of this series but are sitting on the brink of elimination because of two things: Arizona goaltender Darcy Kuemper and mental mistakes.
Don’t take my word for it. Listen to the national writers and publications.
Games 1 and 2:
The Coyotes had been beaten in five out of six periods, basically, entering this game. They had one path to victory in this series: Kuemper and their few offensive weapons firing. Kuemper was awesome. Hall had two points, Garland scored. One win away from advancing. Wild.
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) August 5, 2020
Game 3:
Arizona shouldn't have won this game, but they did – that's hockey.#Yotes #Preds pic.twitter.com/HaAuipg2tV
— The Commute Sports (@commute_sports) August 6, 2020
And my personal favorite:
Hockey is dumb. pic.twitter.com/13vq0kZugg
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) August 5, 2020
The top line of Ryan Johansen, Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson are doing their job which means Arizona’s top shutdown blueliners and most defensively responsible forwards are focused on them. That should open things up for the second line. If Duchene, Kyle Turris and Mikael Granlund can take advantage of that, the Predators can be one of the more dangerous teams still alive.
PERIOD 2: Defend Better
After the go-ahead goal by Kyle Turris was called back due to Duchene’s mental lapse of going offside without being pressured, Conor Garland put the Coyotes up 2-1. Here’s why he scored.
Duhene’s inexcusable gaffe may have cost the Predators the game but this uncharacteristic mistake by usual-stud Mattias Ekholm immediately afterward basically broke their backs in Game 3.
PERIOD 3: All the Cliches
“Play a full 60.” “We can’t do anything about the past.” “Leave it all out there.”
Whatever saying comes to mind that applies to the present, it’s true. If the Predators are going to continue their season, they need to subscribe to, commit to and believe in all the cliches.
The good news is there’s no reason to think this team can’t win and force a Game 5. They’ve clearly been the better team for the majority of the series but have shot themselves in the foot with costly turnovers, the occasional bad defensive play and undisciplined penalties. If they can remain the better team — and be relentless in their illustration of that — they’ll be successful.
I believe they’ll be playing on Sunday. But do they?
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