Nashville Predators: Ranking the Best Moments in Franchise History
By Chad Minton
Playoff victory at last!
It took the Nashville Predators five seasons before finally getting over the hump and into the playoffs in 2004. They were lucky enough to draw the Detroit Red Wings first, and that’s me being very sarcastic.
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The Predators were the big underdog in this matchup with Detroit, and had been mostly pushed around in the series since 1998.
If you were there in the early days, Red Wings fans took over Predators home games in the first couple of years.
That made the disdain for the Red Wings pretty easy if you were a diehard Predators fan from the start. It wasn’t fun seeing them already have the vastly more talented roster, and also have their fans take over your home arena.
This series saw Detroit win the first two games in the Motor City, and then the Predators finally tasted some playoff victory.
Scott Hartnell, who was a fan-favorite and in the early part of his career, gets credit for salting this one away with less than four minutes in regulation.
The Predators were already up 2-1 on the scoreboard, but I remember being so nervous that the Red Wings would figure out a way to make the comeback and steal it away. Hartnell’s goal made it a reality that the Predators could hang with the big boys.
It’s worth mentioning that another big goal was scored in this game as David Legwand, the franchise’s first draft pick, scored a shorthanded goal to score the first home playoff goal in team history.