With the Nashville Predators losing for consecutive games in the Western Conference Semifinals to Phoenix Sunday night, 5-3, a lot of the blame has been put on the shoulders of Predators goalie Pekka Rinne.  Rinne, who is a finalist for the Vezina trophy, the leagues’ best goaltender for the second year in a row, gave up 9 goals in the 2 opening games against the Coyotes.  He gave up the same amount in the entire 5-game series against the Detroit Red Wings.   Rinne has been to blame among many of the Predators fans and the media.  Regardless, he does deserve some blame.  After all, he is the last line of defense, but that defense he has anchored, has been anything but anchored down.

Let’s start with game number 2:  Rinne gave up a second period goal when Radim Vrbata of the Coyotes scored off a rebound.  But wait; there was no shot to begin with.  That’s because Predator forward David Legwand, the franchises’ leader, caught a dump-in by Phoenix.  When Legwand caught it, he threw it over the crease, nearly hitting Rinne, and causing Vrbata to score.  Rinnes fault? What about the 4^th goal the Coyotes scored?  Rinne took a shot point blank and gave up a rebound.  His defense just looked at the puck, (channeling the Tennessee Titans secondary) and Phoenix’s Antoine Vermette tapped the puck into the net.  Rinne should’ve controlled the rebound, so the blame could go 50/50.  Finally, after the Predators fought back to make it 3-2, a faceoff came after Rinne’s highlight save on the previous play.  On the faceoff, Vermette won it straight off the bounce and sent it to defenseman Keith Yandle at the point.  Yandle took a quick slapshot along the ice, directly at a wide open Shane Doan, eagerly at the net untouched.  Doan deflected the shot in for the game winner.

Game number one was well played for the most part by Nashville, but one main note was Ray Whitney’s OT goal.  Right off the faceoff (just like Doan’s game 2 goal) Whitney found the puck about 5 feet from Rinne and fired it home for the win.

What to do?  The Preds must make the most of their faceoff opportunities in their defensive zone to save any reckless scoring chances.  Also, Alexander Radulov has been NONEXISTENT (I can’t capitalize this enough) with his dangling on the rush, reckless turnovers, and lazy forecheck and backcheck. He must regain his KHL MVP status and contribute to the struggling offense.  One more thing as well: give the puck to defenseman Kevin Klein as much as possible.  He is invigorating the offensive attack that hasn’t been there for the most part.

One thing is for sure though.  The Predators must win on Wednesday if they want any possible chance to move on to the Conference Finals.  And Pekka Rinne must get it going like he did in the regular season and in the first round or Nashville will turn from predator to prey for the Coyotes.