By Ron Wynn
NASHVILLE, TN — The Nashville Predators remain in the playoff hunt despite suffering a wave of injuries and a roster shakeup.
Over the past month the Predators have traded away four regulars and seen six others injured.
The latest and arguably the most critical was Saturday’s loss of team captain and leading scorer Roman Josi
Josi, leading the team in points, assists and ice time, went out after the first period Saturday against Winnipeg.
Nashville lost a tough 3-2 overtime game at home to the Jets Saturday.
Then they had to go to New York and play the Rangers Sunday with a deleted and tired team.
The Predators promoted some of their minor leaguers from Milwaukee to fill the roster slots, but they were outmatched against the Rangers.
Scoring almost at will in the first period, they took a quick 6-0 lead, scoring on six straight shots, and coasted to a 7-0 victory.
The Predators didn’t really anticipate beating a top team with a linep filled out by minor leaguers.
Their hope as they began the week five points out of the second wild card spot is to get some of the regulars back by the weekend.
They played Buffalo on the road Tuesday, then returned home. They have two critical home games against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday and Saturday.
