Nashville Predators: Handing out awards for the First Round victory

The Nashville Predators overcame a feisty Colorado Avalanche team to move on to the second round. We look back at the best moments.

Let’s be honest. The Nashville Predators weren’t perfect in the first round. They failed to show up at the beginning of the first three games. They let up at the end of a couple of games. The Colorado Avalanche gave them a good fight & have reason to believe they can get deeper into the playoffs sooner rather than later.

At the end of the day, the Predators were the better team. They move on to a highly-anticipated second-round matchup with the Winnipeg Jets. We’ve been waiting for the Predators vs. Jets playoff series since early in the regular season. It’s going to be a war.

Before we get there, let’s look back at the first round.

Best Goal: Filip Forsberg, Game 1

We’ve been waiting for more of Filip Forsberg’s shots to find the net. They’re starting to get there. Forsberg co-led the Predators with four goals during the first round. There were a couple that were just too pretty for words, including this one from Game 1.

Samuel Girard had to miss a couple of games due to injury after Game 1. It may have taken a few days for his ego to recover after that one.

Best Hit: Ryan Johansen on Tyson Barrie, Game 1

This one helped lead to the rough stuff kicking up throughout the series & earned Ryan the nickname of “The Ripper”.

To be fair, Tyson Barrie‘s flip through the air reminds me of the bump that WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi would take off of a clothesline. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt though. I’d let the hit slide too, as Johansen seems to be aiming for the shoulder from my vantage point.

Best Denver Media Troll: Mark Kiszla

The world is full of people with divergent opinions. Not everybody is going to appreciate the Nashville Predators. There’s a pretty good chance that some of them will have jobs as opinion columnists in NHL cities.

Mark Kiszla earned the disdain of Nashville fans with a column he wrote after Game 1. He continued to produce drivel throughout the series taking shots at the Predators & passing it off as Avalanche coverage. It’s a classic media trick. The only real problem with it is that he admitted his game.

Admittedly, I have no room to talk here. However, if the Colorado Avalanche are going to be a thing moving forward, what’s Kiszla going to do to get attention? He’s already admitted that his idea of journalism is to troll people in other markets. If Colorado ends up playing Nashville again, Predators fans will already be on to him.

My advice to Nashville fans is to not waste time getting mad at these gasbags. Be pickier with who you follow for coverage of other teams. I missed out on most of the Predators/Avalanche Twitter drama because I didn’t go out of my way to find ornery beat writers & overexcited fans. Lauren Gardner was the only person I needed to follow for Avalanche coverage. Anybody else seemed like a waste of time. Now I need a Winnipeg version of her.

Best Comeback: Andrew Hammond

Andrew Hammond may have been a stranger to the NHL in 2017-18, but he was no stranger to late-season heroics. Back in 2014-15, the man that became known as the Hamburglar went 20-1-2 down the stretch to get the Ottawa Senators into the playoffs. With Craig Anderson firmly in the starting role, there was no place for Hammond long-term.

He wound up part of the deal that sent Kyle Turris to Nashville & Matt Duchene to Ottawa. Turris had a solid regular season for the Predators & solidified their top six, but Hammond ended up having a bigger impact on this series. His forty-four saves in Game 5 got the Avalanche a rare win for the road team inside Bridgestone Arena.

Hammond had us all worried for a minute. Was he about to go on one of his hot streaks? He wasn’t. Game 6 saw a better performance from Nashville’s offense. He still had a chance to get some eyeballs on him for his upcoming free agency. I can appreciate an underdog, even if they’re going up against my team.