Predators’ painful playoff defeat not the only storyline of a transformative season

By John Glennon

    We’ll get the ugliness out of the way up front.

    Twice in three nights, the Predators headed into the third period of a playoff game with a one-goal lead -- a chance to take a series lead over Carolina in Game 5 on Tuesday, and a chance to extend the series to a winner-take-all in Game 6 on Thursday.

    Twice they failed to hold the advantage, succumbing in those situations as many times in consecutive postseason contests as they had the entire regular season.

    In the third period of the playoff finale at Bridgestone Arena, the Predators saw disaster stem from both a teamwide lack of pushback and a lack of attention to individual detail.

    Examples?

    The Preds had no collective answers for the Hurricanes’ surge in the third period, as Nashville was outshot 16-5 and outchanced 14-3. Carolina is one of the NHL’s most talented teams, so it was no surprise to see the Hurricanes take their play to another level as they tried to rally. But the Preds were plagued by poor break-out passes and sloppy neutral-zone turnovers as well.

    “They turned it up for sure,” Predators center Ryan Johansen said. “But I think . . .

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Author: John GlennonMulti-media journalist with extensive expertise covering the NFL, NHL, professional soccer and more, including the Tennessee Titans and Nashville Predators for The Tennessean with articles, videos and podcasts. Strengths include the ability to write quick, concise and thorough analysis, as well as the ability to uncover unique human-interest stories. In working as a reporter, John developed skills that extend beyond the sports journalism world. An efficient and effective communicator, John is confident, calm and productive under deadline pressure and knows the power of the written word. John brings to Broadway Sports a work ethic second to none, an intellectual hunger, and an ability to inform and entertain readers, viewers and listeners. Reach out directly to John at: