Nashville Predators — Stats, Schedule & Insights

Team Snapshot

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Key Insight

The Predators finished with a negative goal differential despite an elite penalty kill because their goaltending collapsed catastrophically at 5v5. Juuse Saros posted a .894 save percentage across 82 games, costing Nashville an estimated 15-20 points and eliminating them from playoff contention in a season where their special teams should have kept them competitive. The contradiction between 5th-ranked penalty killing and 26th-ranked goals against reveals a team structurally sound defensively but fatally undermined by below-replacement goaltending.

Strengths

Elite penalty kill ranked 5th at 81.7%, allowing just 45 goals on 246 opportunities and preventing the defensive collapse from becoming historically catastrophic—without this unit, the Predators finish bottom-3 league-wide in goals against

Power play ranked 11th at 23.1% with 55 goals, providing the only consistent scoring mechanism and keeping Nashville within striking distance in one-goal games despite 5v5 offensive mediocrity

Third-period scoring totaled 88 goals, highest of any period, demonstrating late-game offensive capability that would translate to comebacks with competent goaltending support

Road record of 17-17-7 matched home performance proportionally, indicating no venue-specific systemic collapse and suggesting organizational issues rather than travel or lineup deployment failures

Risks

Goaltending ranked among the worst in the NHL at .894 save percentage, costing an estimated 15-20 standings points and serving as the single factor that eliminated playoff contention—this risk outweighs all others combined and defines the entire season failure

26th-ranked goals against at 3.28 per game despite elite penalty killing isolates 5v5 goaltending as an unsustainable structural flaw that no defensive adjustment can compensate for without personnel change

21st-ranked offense at 3.01 goals per game lacks the firepower to outscore goaltending deficits, creating a ceiling where even average defensive performance would leave the team bubble-bound rather than secure

First-period goals against totaled 82, forcing the team to play from behind in over half their games and negating late-period offensive strengths before they could influence outcomes

Last 5 Record

2W–3L

Avg Scored (L5)

2.8↓1.5 vs prev 5

Avg Conceded (L5)

2.6

The Predators scored 2.8 goals per game over their final five while conceding 2.6, a marginal defensive improvement that arrived too late to salvage the season. The 2-3 record and two-game losing streak to close the year confirmed offensive stagnation, as the -1.53 scoring trend reflects a team incapable of generating the goal-scoring surges required to overcome accumulated deficits. This late-season form projects to bottom-10 offensive output if sustained into next season.

Core Analytics

Core Performance

Offence

Nashville ranked 21st in goals scored at 3.01 per game, a mediocre output that became untenable when paired with league-bottom defensive results. The 11th-ranked power play at 23.1% provided occasional scoring bursts but could not compensate for 5v5 struggles, where the team's -1.53 scoring trend over the final stretch reflected offensive stagnation precisely when playoff positioning demanded surges. Third-period scoring led all periods at 88 goals, yet this late-game output could not overcome deficits created earlier.

3.01Avg 3.08

19th in NHL

Defence

The Predators ranked 26th in goals against at 3.28 per game despite operating the league's 5th-best penalty kill at 81.7%, an extraordinary contradiction that isolates goaltending as the primary defensive failure. Allowing 82 first-period goals created persistent deficits that forced the team to chase games, negating their structural discipline. The penalty kill's excellence—allowing just 45 goals on 246 opportunities—proves the defensive system functioned when goaltending was removed from the equation, making Saros's collapse the singular explanation for defensive rank.

3.28Avg 3.08

25th in NHL

Special Teams

Top Players

Filip Forsberg

Left Wing · #

PTS

Ryan O'Reilly

Center · #

PTS

Goals Scored — Last 10 Games

Scoring has dropped noticeably over the last 5 games — a 1.5 goal/game decline vs the previous 5 aligns with the recent dip in results.

Goals For

Goals Against

4–5

ANA

Apr 16

2–3

SJS

Apr 13

2–1

MIN

Apr 11