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Nashville Predators: Ranking the Biggest Wins of the 2020-21 Season

By Chad Minton

Nashville Predators right wing Eeli Tolvanen (28) is congratulated by Nashville Predators center Ryan Johansen (92) and teammates after a power play goal during the first period against the Chicago Blackhawks at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Nashville Predators right wing Eeli Tolvanen (28) is congratulated by Nashville Predators center Ryan Johansen (92) and teammates after a power play goal during the first period against the Chicago Blackhawks at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nashville Predators
Mathieu Olivier #25, Colton Sissons #10, Mattias Ekholm #14, and Yakov Trenin #13 of the Nashville Predators (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /

How the playoff push started

Most of us had the Predators dead in the water heading into their March 15 tilt with the Tampa Bay Lightning. They had just lost rather embarrassingly to Tampa Bay in the game before to the score of 6-3, and the Predators were in a slump of losing six of their last seven games.

This was the time when I was actually worried the Predators might finish in last place in the division. I felt they were playing the worst hockey in the division and that even the Red Wings had a chance to pass them up.

But to the credit of the Predators, they didn’t fold. They didn’t pack it in on the season and they kept pushing. They got this gritty win over the Lightning thanks to 38 saves from Pekka Rinne and a four-point effort from Calle Jarnkrok.

The Predators were fortunate to face Curtis McElhinney over Andrei Vasilevskiy, but we won’t go there. A win is a win, and the Predators needed that one badly at the time to stop some of the bleeding.

There was no looking back after that. The Predators would go on to win 13 of their next 16 games and become one of the hottest teams in the NHL.

Tolvanen crushes the Stars in overtime

We won’t worry about the fact that it’s taken overtime or shootouts to beat the Stars in every win against them this season. I’m going to take those four wins over them and run with it, and hopefully add another one this Saturday to the collection.

This moment for Eeli Tolvanen was the single most exciting moment of the season so far for me. Another game that was highly physical and evenly-matched.

First off, I have to give some love to Calle Jarnkrok for getting the tying goal to make it 2-2 in the third period. It was his 11th goal of the season on a wrist shot to beat Anton Khudobin.

Overtime came as the teams as Dallas had already amassed 35 shots on Juuse Saros, and he had held strong to only surrender two goals.

Another Chapter in the Growing Rivalry with the Dallas Stars. light. Related Story

The overtime goal came thanks to Alexandre Carrier getting the play started to find Viktor Arvidsson, then Arvidsson made the gorgeous set-up to find Tolvanen skating down the middle. The rest is history as Tolvanen, with ice in his veins, scored on the backhand for what was his 9th goal of the season at the time.

For your enjoyment and to refresh your memory, here’s the Tolvanen goal that buried the Stars to another overtime loss:

Another massive win over the Stars, albeit in overtime, to strengthen their playoff chances. One more game left in this series on Saturday night, and it will take more heroics to get these two points.

If the Predators win on Saturday, it’ll no doubt be the new No.1 on this countdown of top wins of the 2020-21 season.

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