By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO
STATS Writer
November 3, 2010
The Nashville Predators have cooled off after an impressive start. The Phoenix Coyotes are struggling to even get going.
The Predators will try to re-establish their early season success by taking advantage of the struggling Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena on Wednesday night.
Nashville (5-2-3) captured 13 of a possible 16 points through the first eight games, becoming one of the surprises of the young season.
The Predators, however, have struggled since. They opened this five-game road trip with a 5-2 defeat to Detroit on Saturday after falling 3-0 to St. Louis two nights prior.
Giving up goals just before the end of the first two periods against the Red Wings was enough to put Nashville in position for its longest stretch of regulation losses since a five-game streak Jan. 18-29.
"To play well the whole period and then to give up a goal in the last three-four minutes is a real letdown," said defenseman Kevin Klein, who scored his first goal Saturday.
Getting Steve Sullivan to regain his scoring touch would surely help the Predators get on track. The left wing leads the team with four goals, but he's enduring a seven-game drought after doing all of his scoring in the first three games.
A visit to Phoenix (3-4-3) could spark Sullivan, who has nine goals and 14 assists in the last 15 games there.
Pekka Rinne has also enjoyed great success against the Coyotes. He's 4-1-1 with a 1.47 goals-against average in six games against them.
Rinne, though, hasn't been nearly that effective, posting a 4.00 GAA while losing the last two games after going 2-0-2 with a 1.58 GAA in his first four.
Despite Sullivan and Rinne's personal success against Phoenix, the Predators went 1-2-1 in last season's series and are 2-6-1 in the last nine visits to Jobing.com Arena.
The Coyotes are having a tough time building on their success from last season when they set franchise records of 107 points and 50 victories while snapping a six-season playoff drought. That success also included a 29-10-2 record at home, but they're 1-2-2 there this season.
Phoenix showed few signs of ending its struggles Saturday as it lost 3-0 to Tampa Bay. The club, however, isn't panicking yet.
"Obviously, we're not 10-0, so we have a great deal of work to do," defenseman Keith Yandle said. "The good thing being 10 games in is we have 72 games left where we can get better."
Ilya Bryzgalov may share that sentiment after going 3-2-3 with a 2.61 GAA last month following a 20-save performance Saturday. That's a vast drop from last season when he was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy after posting career bests with 42 wins and a 2.29 GAA.
Bryzgalov went 3-0-1 with a 1.68 GAA against Nashville in 2009-10.
The Coyotes are expected to have Martin Hanzal back after missing six games with a lower-body injury. The center has one goal in four games, but is known for his defensive play.
"His strong defensive game will help reduce our scoring chances against and give us a big body presence at the center position," general manager Don Maloney told the team's official website.
