Nashville Predators Sweep the Four-Game Road Trip with a Shutout

There are season-defining stretches you look back on over 82 games and think, “That’s when this team showed they were for real”. It’s fair to say the Nashville Predators just quite possibly did that by sweeping a four-game road trip, and rather decisively for that matter.

The Predators defeated the New York Rangers 1-0 on Sunday behind a 32-save shutout from Juuse Saros, and a game that featured strong defensive play from the entire team. A total of 39 hits from the Predators, illustrating perfectly their style of play they want to be known for.

Philip Tomasino did the honors for the lone goal that ended up being enough for the rare 1-0 shutout win. It was his fifth of the season, and it really feels like he should have more:

Nashville Predators defied odds with this road trip sweep

This four-game road trip against the Detroit Red Wings, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers were all wins where the Predators didn’t back their way into a win. They earned all four of them with strong play true to their identity, and they were rewarded:

On top of the four-game sweep of the road trip, the Predators have won six of their last seven, while outscoring opponents 23-12. Although the 6-0 blasting of the Columbus Blue Jackets to start this last seven-game stretch skews it a bit.

Even in the 2-0 loss the Bruins, the Predators played well and just ran into a hot goaltender. Tip your cap and move on, which they did.

Be that as it may, the Predators are stringing together several games in a row where they’re playing very well, something that hasn’t been the case very often since Head Coach John Hynes took over in nearly two years ago. .

This entire road trip I was expecting the Predators to give us a dud or two and hopefully just split the four road games. The Rangers game in particular I didn’t feel strongly about their chances.

To add to the impressiveness of these four wins on the road, Matt Duchene was out of the lineup the last two games, while backup goaltender David Rittich had to start the first two games due to Saros having a non-Covid related illness to deal with.

Even more unbelievable is that Filip Forsberg managed just two points, and no goals, over the four-game road trip. And yet the Predators still found ways to win with everyone contirubiting to the cause.

It’s just a testament to the depth of this lineup that goes past just the NHL level. Duchene was out, and Matt Luff came in for his his first two games in a Predators uniform. He didn’t particularly stand out, but also did served his role while others stepped up, like Eeli Tolvanen and Yakov Trenin.

The week ahead will present tougher opponents

The Predators are now 17-10-1, which is much better than their 28-game pace last season when they were 11-16-1. They needed a wild and unprecedented late surge to even make the playoffs last season. Now the hope is that they can build themselves a cushion and not need to be perfect down the stretch run in March and April.

The Central Division remains clogged up as usual. The Predators sit in 2nd place tied in points with the St. Louis Blues, and with the Colorado Avalanche just one point behind.

Up next this week the Nashville Predators return home briefly for matchups against two strong contenders in the Calgary Flames and Colorado Avalanche. They’ll follow that up with road games against the Chicago Blackhawks and Carolina Hurricanes. Another challenging four-game slate.

The upcoming four games for the Nashville Predators comes against three perceived playoff teams, and also teams that feature elite scoring talent. No, I’m not talking about you, Chicago.