The Nashville Predators’ Fatal Flaw

 

Yes, I’m sure the Star Wars nerds among you will be quick to argue that it was poor shooting accuracy that led to the Stormtroopers losing in six to the Rebel Alliance. But can we be so sure? I mean, maybe it was some Jedi mind tricks that caused all those blaster shots to go astray. Even half-way through the series, Alliance GM, Obi-Wan Kenobi still thought pretty highly of their accuracy:

However, from that point forward there was clearly some manifestation of the Force at work preventing them from hitting their targets. You can’t blame the Stormtroopers for that. No, their true fatal flaw was that hideous uniform design. How many times did the protagonists either escape from or sneak into a highly secure facilty just by dressing up in one of those uniforms? So yes, poor shooting was definitely an issue for the Stormtroopers, but they still could have overcome it with some simple design changes, like a clear face shield for starters.

But I digress.

Despite the god awful yellow uniforms, it was indeed the Principle of Evil Markmanship that brought down the Nashville Predators. Of their 248 unblocked shot attempts against Phoenix, only 64% were on net. Their regular season on net percentage was 75%. And when you look at their Fenwick shooting % (goals / shots + missed shots), they dropped from 7.6% in the regular season to 3.6% against Phoenix. You have to think that another 9.8 goals over those five games would have helped the Preds chances.

But it looks like Predators’ GM David Poile fell victim to one of the three classic blunders:

He might also have considered keeping his enigmatic bounty hunters out of the Mos Eisley Cantina at 3:00AM.

Just kidding. I mean, there’s been waaaaaay too much talk this past week about enigmatic Russians and their unwillingness to contribute in the playoffs. Why are we still debating this? The evidence is in and it is quite clear:

Finally, I should probably say a word or two about that ragtag bunch of misfits from the desert. It appears that a sale of the Coyotes franchise is imminent and in a strange case of continental drift, Phoenix is getting farther away from Quebec City (shamelessly stolen from a @BobMackin tweet):

That’s it for this week. Thanks to @camcharron for the Stormtrooper tweet. And if you’re especially creative, loyal readers, I might just steal one of your tweets next week!