Nashville Predators: Ranking the Top Goals of 2019-20 Season

Turris’ game-winning goal

It’s always fun when you beat the defending Stanley Cup champs. It may have been a frustrating season for the Nashville Predators, but they can say they swept the regular season from the St.Louis Blues.

This game-winner from Turris came on February 16th at home, and completed the four-game season sweep:

If you watch the development of this play, you first can’t overlook the awesome body check from Forsberg. He kept the puck in the offensive zone, and Turris finished it off.

With this goal, this is what I’ve wanted to see more of from Turris. We know he’s capable of this, but it needs to be seen on a more regular basis.

This cracks the list of top goals of the season because it basically clinched the season sweep of the Stanley Cup champs and came in a physically brutal battle.

It also came at a point when the Predators were starting to find their footing under John Hynes and get back into the thick of the playoff race and give us hope. Huge win and huge goal from Turris.

Granlund sinks Winnipeg

Another big division win in this goal that comes in at No.4 on the list. It was no secret that Mikael Granlund didn’t live up to expectations up until midway point of this season.

Then some sort of fire was lit under him after Peter Laviolette was fired. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but either way, Granlund began hitting his stride.

This goal came in early February following a disappointing shutout loss to Vegas the game before. Here’s the goal from Granlund to get the road win north of the border:

This is the product of a full line effort in the overtime frame. Matt Duchene makes the initial play to get puck possession, gets it to Mattias Ekholm and the rest is history.

John Hynes had been head coach for nearly a month at this point, and the Predators were clinging onto life. That’s when some key players, like Granlund, started catching fire.

Granlund gets credit for the game-winner, but his was a team goal. Ekholm set him up beautifully, and the Predators got a massive division win to stay firm on the playoff bubble.

This was just Granlund’s 11th goal of the season. He’d score six more goals before the season was put to a pause with 13 games left to play.

Time doesn’t matter

What an insane goal that puts a whole new meaning to leaving your seat too early. Granlund literally scored the tying goal with less than a second on the clock.

This kind of stuff happens in basketball regularly, but not in the NHL. It’s usually not feasible. But somehow the Predators dug in deep, and Granlund slammed it home:

One of the last epic memories we have of this current season that’s in doubt to be completed. This is a product of another team goal. Everyone was crashing in to get the tying goal, and Grandlund capped it off.

I’ll be the first to admit I thought this game was over. Forgive me for that. It once again just reaffirmed that you never know what you’re going to get from the Predators, even during the course of a small portion of the game.

This completed an insane three-game season series between these two clubs. The Flames took the Predators down on Halloween night by scoring three unanswered goals in the third period to eventually win 6-5 in overtime, while the Predators won earlier in February by a final score of 3-2.

Safe to say this would be an intriguing playoff matchup.

Forsberg goes lacrosse style

We’ve always known Forsberg has this incredible skill level to handle the puck and create scoring chances. He finished it off in this instance against the Edmonton Oilers.

Forsberg has plenty more epic goals in his future, and hopefully with the Nashville Predators. This goal came in a loss, but you can’t leave it off:

This goal came at a time when the Predators were in serious disarray. It was just the fourth game with John Hynes as the new head coach.

No matter the circumstances, this goal by Forsberg was so amazing to witness. The amount of skill it takes to lift the puck up and fool the goaltender is astounding. And normally this attempt just doesn’t work.

As great as these types of goals are, it’s time for Forsberg to maximize his potential and be a 40-plus goal scorer. There’s still time for him to achieve that, but this goal was a glimpse of the talent level that’s clearly there.

Goaltender goal!

I went back and forth between Pekka Rinne’s goal and the Forsberg goal, and then quickly came to my senses. First off, could it happen to a better person?

And it’s not just that he simply scored a goal. It’s how he did it and who he did it against. The Chicago Blackhawks:

The way Rinne lines it up and buries it is something I’ll never forget as a Predators fan. And then the embrace by all of his teammates and the pure joy on his face.

Couldn’t happen to a more classy and better person.

This also came at a rough patch in the team’s season. Hynes was behind the bench for his second official game, but more like his first game after participating in a team practice.

No matter the end result to the 2019-20 Nashville Predators season, we have the Pekka Rinne goal to forever lock up and remember. Now let’s get him a Stanley Cup.