In something that seemed highly improbable just weeks ago — and almost laughable a month and a half ago — the Nashville Predators have won the 2018-19 Central Division championship with their 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Their opponent will be the Dallas Stars and the official schedule can be found here.
Thanks to their 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres in upstate New York on Tuesday and then their come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, the Preds controlled their own destiny when they took on Chicago in the season finale. With a win, they would win the division regardless of what Winnipeg did against the Arizona Coyotes and St. Louis did against the Canucks. Dante Fabbro, Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson, Colton Sissons and Nick Bonino all scored and Pekka Rinne made 31 saves as Nashville handed the Blackhawks their 34th loss of the season and claimed top spot in the Central.
Nashville started off the campaign 16-5-1 and appeared poised to show the world that they were ready for a heavily-anticipated rematch with the Jets, the team that ended their season in seven Western Conference Semifinal games last year. Then the injuries started to pile up and the team never really found it’s stride again. Former Norris Trophy winner PK Subban, consistent 50-point center Kyle Turris, two-time 30-goal scorer Filip Forsberg and future All-Star Viktor Arvidsson (among others) all missed significant time. Once they were all back in the lineup, however, things just seemed off. Not totally out of balance but more “slightly off kilter.” The NHL’s worst power play certainly didn’t help things either.
The issues were so noticeable that, in an effort to find chemistry and consistency post-injury plague, General Manager David Poile made multiple trades around the deadline acquiring Brian Boyle from the New Jersey Devils, Mikael Granlund from the Minnesota Wild and Wayne Simmonds from the Philadelphia Flyers. Of that group, only Boyle really made a consistent impact before the tail end of the regular season.
When I interviewed him for my piece on how a struggling power play doesn’t necessarily indicate playoff doom, former New Jersey Devil forward and current NHL Network analyst Mike Rupp had something interesting to say (that didn’t make the original article) about teams that know they’re playoff-bound.
“I think there’s an element to that,” he said when I asked him if good teams “get bored” during the long grind of an 82-game season. “But I think it’s more so with teams that have had deep runs in the playoffs. And I would put the Preds in that mix. When you experience pressure-packed situations and you learn from the losses and you feel the success of those big moments, how do you fabricate a big moment when it’s game 57 against a non-conference team that’s out of the playoffs? That’s tough.”
But, as Rupp said, that’s still not an excuse.
“That’s all part of being a pro and doing what you have to do no matter what the circumstance is,” he continued. “Look at the Blackhawks when they were coming off their three Cups in six years. There was always this thing where this team thinks they can just flip a switch. The Los Angeles Kings [after their two Cup wins] you thought of that way. Pittsburgh Penguins you think of that way now. Well, they’re not intentionally doing that but how do you really say ‘Alright, boys, we gotta turn it on!’ ‘No we don’t. It’s January and we know who we are as a team.’ It’s really tough to do that but the good teams do it and they find a way to do it.”
Now that the regular season is over and the playoffs are on the immediate horizon, it’s time for Nashville to prove Rupp’s theory.
As far as scheduling, Musical act 2 Cellos is playing Bridgestone Arena on Thursday, April 11 so Game 1 will be on Wednesday, April 10. The surprise comes with Game 2. Instead of being on Friday, April 12 due to the customary day off in between games the NHL traditionally uses, it’s actually on Saturday night with everything moving to Dallas on that following Monday.
Regardless, the Predators have won the division, have home ice throughout the first two rounds and will play the top wild card team, Dallas, in a preview of the 2020 Winter Classic. Nashville was 3-2-0 against the Stars this season but just 1-2-0 against back-up goaltender Anton Khudobin at Bridgestone Arena. Ben Bishop is obviously the starter in Big D but does head coach Jim Montgomery at least think about giving Khudobin a start against a team he’s owned this season?
We’ll find out April 10.
