Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard, center, covers the puck during the third period of his team's 3-2 win Tuesday night against the Predators in Nashville.NASHVILLE - The Nashville Predators' sizzling 13-3 start to this NHL season is a distant memory.
The 2018 Presidents Trophy winners with last season's best regular-season record, they have lost three straight games overall and seven of their past 11 on their home ice at Bridgestone Arena, popularly known as Smashville.
Part of their problem is only their top line is scoring with any regularity.
It's enough to possibly force general manager David Poile into another big move before the NHL's trade deadline on Feb. 25. Nashville fans are lighting up social media, wanting something to change to snap the Predators out of struggles that have dropped them to eighth overall in the league standings. After winning the Central Division a year ago, Nashville is second with 71 points - four behind the Winnipeg Jets, who eliminated the Predators in the second round of last years playoffs.
Veteran goalie Pekka Rinne remains optimistic about the Predators' potential.
"I feel like everybody feels the urgency and desperation ," Rinne said Wednesday. "I mean, you look at the standings and we're still up there, but you don't want to feel comfortable in our division.
"We've just got to play better. That's the bottom line. Get results and individually we all need to be just consistent, myself included, but it's going to come. And hopefully we can look back in a little bit and (see) that we grew from it and we learned from it."
The Predators dropped their third straight game Tuesday night, 3-2 to the Detroit Red Wings, who came in next-to-last in the NHL in points this season. Coach Peter Laviolette put the Predators through practice Wednesday working on a few concerns, including a power-play game that has produced just three goals in 49 opportunities over the past 14 games. Nashville also has allowed the first goal in 31 of its 59 games in 2018-19.
Detroit Red Wings center Andreas Athanasiou shoots against Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne during the first period Tuesday night in Nashville. The Red Wings won 3-2.Still, Laviolette said he liked how the Predators played their past couple games, with a 5-4 overtime home loss to the St. Louis Blues on Sunday followed by the loss to Detroit. Nashville's first loss in the current slump was Saturday at St. Louis, 3-2.
"There's 10 different things that could've helped us or made us better," Laviolette said. "It could've been a face-off, it could've been a power-play, a penalty kill, a better third period. An opportunity that goes in the net instead of not going in the net. There's a bunch of little things I think that can happen. We did a lot of good things in the last two games, and the results didn't come our way."
The Predators could use more production beyond the top line of center Ryan Johansen and wings Viktor Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg. Johansen leads Nashville with 52 points in 57 games, while Arvidsson leads the team with 25 goals in just 35 games. Forsberg is second with 20 goals in 42 games because of injuries. Arvidsson has been on a tear since returning from a broken thumb, scoring 11 goals in 11 games along with an NHL-best 17 goals since Dec. 31.
There's a drop-off after that. Craig Smith, who has not missed a game this season, ranks third among the Predators with 16 goals this season.
"It's a work in progress," Smith said. "I think we're doing a lot of the right things. We get a bounce here and there to feel good. But it's all about the process. Right now we like the way we work the details of the game, we're doing a lot of the right things."
Nashville has 23 games left in the regular season, starting Thursday night at home against the Montreal Canadiens. The Predators lead the third-place Dallas Stars by eight points in the division and know other teams, including St. Louis and the Minnesota Wild, are pushing as well.
"Consistency is something that we need to work on," Forsberg said. "But at the same time, we've seen our highs. If we can keep going, I think we'll be fine."