Nashville Predators aim to level series against Los Angeles Kings -NHL Playoffs Game 4 Preview
Nashville had a huge comeback against Phoenix Coyotes after Predators went down 2-0 in the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Western Conference Playoff Semi-Final series.
Predators rebounded with a 2-0 shutout win to get back into the series as the semi-finals came to the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, and now as Game 4 approaches, they are hoping to level it out now and force a guaranteed Game 6.
Going down 2-0 is never easy for any team, especially when it comes to the latter parts of the postseason along with having high hopes invested in the team. Nashville proved that they could play hockey as an elite team even though they were without two of
their top players, Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn, who were suspended for misconduct of team rules.
Now, head coach Barry Trotz might not even want to include them in the line-up seeing how his team managed without them.
"I know it is going to be very tough if I do anything," Trotz said Thursday after practice. "I thought everyone was pretty committed. So I can't give a definite decision right now because I don't have that. The guys that were in got the job done, and they
played very hard. It would be very difficult for me to give you an exact lineup for tomorrow."
Veteran Predators’ goalie, Pekka Rinne, played in desperation mode and it definitely showed as the player scrambled to save every single Phoenix shot on his net. Continuing with that same mindset is something he plans to do going into Game 4 because it just
would not be better any other way.
"We played desperate hockey and showed a lot of character when we faced maybe some adversity," Rinne said. "That was nice to see."
Levelling the series and eventually winning it would set new standards for the Nashville team and would definitely help them in their run for a first franchise Stanley Cup, but underestimating Phoenix could be fatal.
Coyotes certainly have changed their strategy going into Nashville for Game 4 on Friday, May 4, making it a must-see matchup.
Game 4 will begin at 7:30 PM ET.
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