Nashville Predators: How to Beat the Avalanche
By Jake Evans
With the President’s Trophy in hand, among other notable accomplishments, the Predators open the playoffs with the Avalanche on Thursday night.
It has been a season for the record books for the Nashville Predators. The team finished with 117 points, most in franchise history, and won their first Central Division and Western Conference trophy. Even further, they won their first ever President’s Trophy.
Pekka Rinne put up one of the best seasons for a goalie in Predator history. Viktor Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg both went over 60 points for the year. 13 skaters had double-digit goals. The list goes on and on. All those accolades and awards look pretty on paper, however, they mean nothing if that same dominant team doesn’t show up in the playoffs.
Nashville swept the regular season series over Colorado, by scores of 4-1, 5-2, 4-3, and 4-2. In those four games, the Predators dominated Colorado. Nashville tallied 4.25 goals per game, they were 4/15 on the power play, killed 19/21 penalties, and only allowed 2 goals per game.
For Colorado, all of those numbers were worse than their season averages. Something about Nashville just frustrated the Avalanche, and the Predators were able to capitalize off of that.
The Predators have already beaten Colorado 4 times this season, so who’s to say Nashville can’t add 4 more?