As the Nashville Predators struggle to stop pucks, Yaroslav Askarov and the Milwaukee Admirals have won 15 straight games.
All is not well in Smashville.
The Predators are coming off a brutal and embarrassing beatdown at the hands of the Dallas Stars on Thursday where they were pelted for nine goals on 41 shots against.
Nashville has now lost five of their past six games and has given up a whopping 29 goals in that span, and 25 in their past five games.
28-year-old franchise goaltender Juuse Saros has been a shade of his Vezina-caliber self, allowing 121 goals against on the season with a 3.05 GAA and .901 SP, with a sub .500 win-loss record.
His tandem partner, Kevin Lankinen, has been equally off, with a 3.35 GAA and .889 SP through 15 games played in his second season with the Preds.
It should now be time for Nashville to once again summon red-hot goaltending prospect Yaroslav Askarov from the American Hockey League.
Askarov and the Admirals are currently in the midst of a franchise-record fifteen-game win streak.
The 21-year-old, who in two games with the Predators this season holds one win a 1.467 GAA and .943 SP (2.47 GAA, .914 overall in three NHL games), has been outstanding this season for the Admirals in his second year of pro-hockey.
Through 25 games Askarov has put up a masterful 2.17 GAA and .921 SP with 18 wins and three shutouts. He's riding a personal 11-game win streak with a .938 SP during that stretch.
With Saros clearly off his game and Lankinen offering little in the way of sturdy backup support, the Predators could, and perhaps should turn to Askarov or risk falling out of playoff contention entirely.
The Preds currently sit four points out of the final wild card slot in the west, directly behind the surging St. Louis Blues. They are 3-6-1 in their past 10 games, with a combined 177 goals against and minus 15 GF/GA differential on the season.
Something has to give, or smash, in Nashville.