An overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs wasn't enough to impress as the Nashville Predators drop two spots this week in The Hockey News power rankings.

With an overtime win and a regulation loss in their two games this week, the Nashville Predators managed to drop two spots in The Hockey News' weekly power rankings. The Saturday night overtime win over Ryan O'Reilly's most recent former teammates from the Toronto Maple Leafs was a big victory for the Predators, but it was at times a "despite the stats and because of Saros" game. Tuesday night's rematch against the Vancouver Canucks was statistically a better performance for sixty minutes but still not enough to earn the Predators two points. 

This week special teams improved slightly as Nashville's struggling penalty kill went 2/7 in two games against the fifth and sixth best power play teams in the league right now. Statistics show the Predators' power play is finally gaining some momentum with a success rate of 22% in the games against Toronto and Vancouver. The Predators also generated eleven more high danger chances this week than their opponents. 

One area where Nashville didn't compete well was in the face-off circle, Ryan O'Reilly, Colton Sissons, and Tommy Novak took the majority of face-offs for the team, and losing those opportunities for possession affected the team's game plan to get and keep the puck. 

Nashville also struggled to get and keep a lead this week. Nashville only had a lead for about four and a half minutes out of a combined 122:13 minutes of game time. The Predators haven't scored the first goal in a game since Samuel Fagemo scored the opening power play goal against the San Jose Sharks on October 21. 

Missed opportunities haunted the Preds this week as they gave up two power play chances by committing penalties of their own against Vancouver and didn't convert on odd man rushes and a penalty shot. 

One of the early concerns THN had with Nashville continues to be an issue for the team. While the Preds are getting good goaltending from Juuse Saros and depth scoring from players like Colton Sissons and Tommy Novak, no one has stepped up to be the team's premiere scorer. Filip Forsberg or Roman Josi seemed the likeliest candidates before the season started, but neither player has more than one goal in the first nine games. Forsberg leads the team in points but hasn't found the back of the net since the October 19 win over the New York Rangers. The Predators need that high danger goal scoring, game changing player, and so far no one has taken those reins. 

Tonight the Predators will face the Seattle Kraken before heading to Edmonton to take on an Oilers team that has already defeated Nashville soundly in October. Nashville will play a struggling Calgary team Tuesday night before next week's power rankings come out on Wednesday.