Some quick thoughts from the NHL on TSN panel on Friday night.
I think the Phoenix Coyotes played a great road game in Game 4, especially once they got the lead on the very fortuitous bounce. So often they took a little bit of time or space that just made the Nashville Predators adjust their shooting angle, made them hurry to get a shot off or the shot was outright blocked.
For the Predators, they got shut out and they're going to get killed for making the decision to sit forwards Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn because the team didn't score a goal. But what we don't know is maybe they would have lost the game 2-0 if Radulov and Kostitsyn where playing. They're turnover machines quite often.
While there will be a lot of pressure on head coach Barry Trotz and general manager David Poile for the decisions that they made, the guy behind the bench knows his team better than anybody else so I'll generally err on giving him the benefit of the doubt. But the Predators are in a deep hole and if they are in deep, I think it goes back to those two players that put them in the hole and put them in the position of doing that.
You can criticize the coach or general manager all you want, but this one falls back on the players. I do, however, believe both Radulov and Kostitsyn will be back in the lineup for Game 5.