The Nashville Predators lost their fifth straight game on Thursday, and are now 6-11-3 in their last 20. For a team headed back to the playoffs for the first time in three years, that’s a troubling development -- and a “frustrating” one too, based on what head coach Peter Laviolette had to say last night.
An excerpt of his postgame presser...
Laviolette: We cruised for 35 minutes. It was not good enough. You’re trying to win a hockey game in the last 20 [minutes], you need to play a full 60.
Q: How frustrating is that?
Laviolette: It’s frustrating.
Q: Is there any single thing that you can pinpoint...
Laviolette: I just did.
Q: How surprising is it -- as well as this team has played all year -- to have a stretch like this now?
Laviolette: It’s frustrating.
Q: Is it surprising, though? I wouldn’t have suspected you saw something like this coming during the course of the season.
Laviolette: No. I don’t think anybody did.
Here’s the video. The excerpted portion begins around the 1:00 minute mark and Laviolette’s replies are curt, to say the least.
It’s easy to see why Laviolette’s frustrated. Even the lone positive takeaway from last night’s game -- Nashville clinching home-ice advantage in the opening playoff round -- was tempered by the club’s recent poor form; Nashville started the season 26-3-1 at Bridgestone Arena, but finished 2-6-3.