The first home game 7 in Nashville Predators team history got off to an, uhh, inauspicious start in which the home team went down two goals 10:47 in to the Winnipeg Jets.
Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne pulled from game 7 against Winnipeg after letting in 2 soft goals early on
An abysmal start to a pivotal game saw the Predators make a drastic change.
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Tyler Myers opened the scoring on an absolutely bonkers opening goal. Defensemen are typically deft on the blue line, but Myers showed what he can do on the goal line.
For the Jets this season, they rarely even attempt shots from this angle, much less see them go in. This heatmap by hockeyviz.com shows where Winnepeg sees a bulk of their shots attempted from.
It was a soft and inexcusable goal to give up by Pekka Rinne, a typically reliable netminder. Then the night got worse when he let in a second goal 2:02 later, this time to center Paul Stastny on a second-chance attempt.
Rinne was swiftly pulled for Juuse Saros, and it’s the third time this series Saros has come on in relief when Rinne has been leaky.
Per NBC Sports, Rinne has a 5.26 goals against average in Nashville losses this series and 1.75 in wins.
P.K. Subban would get a goal back for Nashville 15:54 into the first period, but there is still work to do for the Predators. They’ll be doing it without their starting goalie after the disastrous start.
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