from John Glennon of NashvillePredators.com,

... the team was 4-5-3 heading into Thursday's game against St. Louis - doesn't mean the sky is falling.

Would the Predators like to be in a better position, given the excitement surrounding the team following the acquisition of defenseman P.K. Subban? Absolutely.

But very few teams roll through an 82-game regular season without hitting rough patches. It's just a matter of when they occur, how long they last and how well teams emerge from them.

"I can guarantee you the team that wins the Stanley Cup this year will have gone 3-5-2 in 10 games - we just caught ours right off the bat," Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. "It could be us, it could be somebody else. [But] no team, rarely, goes through a year where they play every 10-game segment above .500."

What might be some of the reasons the Predators - who'd claimed at least a point in four-straight games going into Thursday - are still seeking to find a greater level of consistency?

One is that it may take some time for the Preds to adjust to different pairings on defense.

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