Number 4: Preds Defeat St. Louis in Game Six to Advance to Western Conference Finals
Nashville opened up their playoff run by sweeping their division rival, The Chicago Blackhawks. The Predators would then find themselves in somewhat familiar territory, competing for a spot in the Western Conference Finals for the second year in a row, and fourth time in team history. The opponent this time was another division rival, the St. Louis Blues; however, this was the first time these two teams met in postseason history.
Nashville and St. Louis fought hard as both Pekka Rinne and Jake Allen performed tremendously for their respective teams. Four out of the six games were decided by one goal, which was just another testament of how well the goaltenders performed in this series. In the end, as we all know, Pekka Rinne got the better of his counterpart when the series shifted back to Nashville for game six.
Its how you finish
Game six did not start as planned, though. St. Louis scored the first goal of the game just two minutes in, catching the Predators on their heels. Nevertheless, the Predators would not falter and stormed back to tie the game off of a Roman Josi one-timer in the second period. Next, with the momentum back in their favor, Viktor Arvidsson and Ryan Johansen combined for one of the greatest single plays of the playoffs. Arvidsson took advantage of the out-of-position Blues’ defense and skated the puck up the left side of the ice. Just before Jay Bouwmeester was able to make a play on the puck, Arvidsson sauced a perfect pass to the blade of a streaking Johansen, who proceeded to deke Jake Allen and bury the game winner. Calle Järnkrok later added an empty netter, and the Predators went on to win by a final of 3-1.
The Nashville Predators advanced to Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history, forever cementing their names in the history books. If not for what else was accomplished in the playoffs this moment would be much higher on the list, but this moment was only the beginning.