Predators, Coyotes Having Issues With Special Teams

The Nashville Predators aren’t the only team that can’t make special teams click

The Nashville Predators and the Arizona Coyotes used to be dominant on the power play.

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The Predators led the league on the PP in 2011-2012; the Coyotes, in contrast, were near the top early on this season, despite the shaky start the squad got off to on even strength (and, being honest, in the final score).

Now, though, both teams are struggling to make things happen on the man advantage.

Nashville is 22nd in the league with a 22% effective power play. The Coyotes, who have had a whole myriad of opportunities over the past few games, have failed to score on the five-on-four in the past twenty opportunities…. consecutively.

Luckily, both Western Conference franchises have managed to compensate for this with even strength goals and stronger defense- but the Preds are having struggles with the penalty kill, and the Coyotes are losing games by single goals right and left.

What could be happening? Nashville’s coach, Peter Laviolette, has promised that the team is working on fixing what used to be a strong special teams group, while Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett has alluded to some ‘personnel changes’ on the man advantage roster.

Hopefully, both teams can step it up before winter hits- the Western Conference looks as competitive as ever, and it doesn’t seem like any playoff spots will be guaranteed without one hundred percent effort.

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