Predators' Excellent Penalty Kill Has Kept Team Afloat
The Nashville Predators' penalty kill has been at at elite level to begin the 2024-25 season.
Predators' Excellent Penalty Kill Has Kept Team AfloatThe Nashville Predators are quickly on the right track to turning their season around after a five-game losing streak to begin the season. The team has won three games in a row and a big reason why the Predators have stayed afloat is because of their excellent penalty kill.
Nashville has been shorthanded 26 times in eight games, but have allowed just two goals against on those opportunities. More impressively, the team has scored one shorthanded goal as well.
The Predators are 92.31% on the penalty kill this season, which is good for second in the league to only the Dallas Stars. Nashville's net penalty kill is 96.2% though. That is typically better than the actual PK% because the Predators have been able to score while on the penalty kill.
The penalty kill success of the Predators is very much a team effort, but there have been two standouts in particular. The defense pairing of Alexandre Carrier and Jeremy Lauzon average 2:54 and 2:49 of ice time per game on the penalty kill, but haven't been on for a goal against. Ryan O'Reilly and Gustav Nyquist are the only other two players on the team that average more than 50 seconds killing penalties per game without being on the ice for a goal against.
It is more of a team effort by the Predators to be as effective as the team has been because 11 players average 50 seconds or more per game on the penalty kill. Players like Colton Sissons, Mark Jankowski, Michael McCarron, Cole Smith, Brady Skjei, and Roman Josi all average over 1:50 of ice time on the penalty kill as well.
For the most part, players have more defined roles. The more offensive players can focus on scoring and the power play while it appears as though the majority of the depth players and more defensively skilled members of the team are tasked with keeping the puck out of their own net.
While the offense is starting to pick up and the season is turning for the Predators, the penalty kill has to remain a bright spot for the team as it kills the momentum of the other team most times. If the Predators can even keep a penalty kill percentage over 85%, it will do them a lot of good over the course of the season.
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