PredHead

Nashville Predators vs. San Jose Sharks
Game 5, Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs
Gaylord Entertainment Center – Nashville, TN
Faceoff at 7:30 PM CDT

Here it is, folks. It’s make it or break it time.

The Predators have found themselves in a 3-1 defecit to the San Jose Sharks in the series, but after the phenomenal finish the Preds added to game 4, things have begun to look up.

Now, how, after such a long time of barely scoring, did the Preds gain 3 goals right at the end of game 4? Very few penalties in the final 10 minutes of the 3rd period. Penalties have been severely hurting the Predators in this series. Coach Barry Trotz has addressed the importance of this to his team since game 1, but it has not shown any change until the final minutes of game 4.

This streak of 3 unanswered goals showed the Sharks that the Predators are down, but not out. They are not the 4th seeded team in the Western Conference for no reason.

Predators fans have blamed much of this lack of success on the referees of the past 3 games, but it is not all their fault. The team has struggled in the last few games offensively (scoring only 6 goals leading up to game 4) and defensively (allowing 17 goals in 4 games).

Goalie Chris Mason has been doing his best against this high-powered San Jose offense, but even his best is tough with light defensive play by the Predators.

Game 5 is this (Sunday) evening at 7:30 PM. Tickets looked to have been very slow on sales, but it has picked up and looks to be sold out.

We here at PredHead feel that the Preds still have a shot. We just have to go one shift, and one game, at a time.