NHL

Next home defeat! Unease at the secret favorite

Early in the NHL season, the secret favorite Nashville is in trouble. The Predators lost for the fifth time in their seventh home game in a 5-1 defeat against the understrength Edmonton Oilers. 

Despite - or perhaps because of - prominent summer signings such as Jonathan Marchessault, Steven Stamkos and Brady Skjei, Nashville failed to live up to the great ambitions with which the team started the National Hockey League just under a month ago.

Oilers superstar missing
Five defeats at the start, then three wins, now two defeats again. Against the Oilers, the opponents were also missing superstar Connor McDavid, who will miss the next two or three weeks due to an ankle injury. But Germany's Leon Draisaitl helped tear Nashville apart with two goals and an assist.

"We can't do that"
"We're still not playing our game. We want to be dominant. We're not doing that. We can't always say: 'We haven't found each other yet, the chemistry in the lines isn't right yet'," said Swiss captain Roman Josi. "The season is now 10 games old. We have to play well from now on." The Predators are second to last in both the Central Division and the Eastern Conference with seven points.