Year one under general manager Barry Trotz and head coach Andrew Brunette is halfway through as the Anaheim Ducks visit the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.
A 22-17-1 record for the Predators is good for fourth in the NHL’s Central Division while also clinging to the first wild card spot in the Western Conference. However, one theme that Brunette has discussed ad nauseam is consistency and playing better in Bridgestone Arena.
“Pleased with the growth for the most part. I thought we left a lot of points on the board at different times,” Brunette said of being halfway through the season. “Some growing pains and adjusting to my expectations or the way we want to play I think we went through that a little bit. We came out of that pretty good, we had a good stretch there from the end of November and into December. Then we’ve just been okay as of late.
“Our home record has been a little bit disappointing. I think if you look at the big picture halfway through the year I wouldn’t think we’d struggle at home like we have.”
While it may be a blanket statement for his hockey team Brunette has a clear vision for the Predators to be more consistent moving forward.
“I think it’s doing the right things continuously,” Brunette said. “I think for a little bit the momentum swings if you could handle them better because in hockey there’s never going to be a perfect game. There are going to be ups and downs times you’re in your own end and times where you have to find your game.
“We’ve done a better job in the last 25 games of handling those kind of swings. Early on they were kind of catastrophic at times, we’re still not great at them but we’re getting better at them and understanding them and hopefully, Saturday night was a step in the right direction.”
Losing games where being down or ahead 2-0 is something Brunette and his skaters want to nip in the bud as a more challenging slate of games is right around the corner. Just this month the Predators have four of their next 11 games this month in Nashville, with the emphasis coming on winning in their own barn.
One of the more noticeable aspects of the Predators this season is seeing the same plan of relying heavily on goaltender Juuse Saros. He’s 16-14-1 so far with a goals against average of 3.01 and a save percentage of .901.
His counterpart Kevin Lankinen is 5-3-0 as he just picked up a win over the Stars. Forward Filip Forsberg said Lankinen is “definitely not a backup goalie, let’s put it that way” after the 4-3 win in Dallas.
Lankinen has not started in more than 20 games in one season since he was last a member of the Chicago Blackhawks for two seasons before joining Nashville.
Brunette said when his team is chasing games they’re leaving Saros hung out to dry in some games where it looks like the goaltender struggles. It’s been the self-inflicted wounds when Saros and Lankinen have been exposed in Brunette’s eyes.
As for self-infliction, the younger skaters on the roster have been acclimating to playing a full season in the NHL through the
Centerman Cody Glass has missed the most time (24 games) among the players in that category, in part due to being injured and regaining his confidence.
Brunette called it lip service but his younger players have to find their own way to pick up the same style of confidence.
“There’s just so much more attention on social media, there’s just so much noise around everything,” Brunette said. “They want to get to the top of the mountain sometimes instead of putting the work in to climb it. The view isn’t that spectacular unless you climb it. We’re climbing with a lot of guys and there’s been ups and downs for all of the young guys. I think if we can get through that hump and we continue to climb we’ll get there.”
With the pressure mounting on the future players of the franchise Brunette said the hardest thing to do is finding the confidence to play in the NHL. He was 25 years old when he played in the Predators’ first season and has been through various experiences himself to regain his confidence in the NHL.
“In my personal journey, I found the way is that I enjoyed the game and found little parts that made it fun. Then I was able to find my confidence,” Brunette said.
Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter/X: @KieserNick
Photos courtesy of Nashville Predators
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