Nashville Predators: Top Individual Playoff Performances in Team History
5. Joel Ward Surprises Everyone, 2011 Playoffs
It really doesn’t feel that long ago when the Nashville Predators broke past the first round barrier and got their first series win in franchise history by defeating the Anaheim Ducks in six games.
A key piece to the first-ever playoff series win for the Predators was Joel Ward, who always knew how to show up in clutch moments. He knew how to find that back of the net when his team needed a goal.
Ward was in his final season with the Predators after playing three seasons with the franchise. He made a name for himself league-wide in this 2011 playoff performance that included seven goals and six assists in 12 playoff games that year.
However, Ward’s goal-scoring surge didn’t stop in the first round. The Predators wanted more as they were getting a taste of the second round against a loaded Vancouver Canucks team.
Ward would score four goals in a three-game stretch against Vancouver to push it to six games, including the game-winner to push it to Game 6.
Although the Predators lost that series, Ward was a major catalyst with his goal scoring. He only had 10 goals in 80 regular season games before tallying those seven goals in the playoffs. Pretty remarkable stuff and shouldn’t be overlooked in Nashville Predators playoff history.
4. Forsberg has arrived, 2015 Playoffs
Fresh off his impressive rookie campaign that had him finish fourth in the Calder Trophy voting, Filip Forsberg did everything he could to push the Nashville Predators past the vaunted Chicago Blackhawks.
Despite the Predators losing in six games in a hard-fought series, Forsberg showed the fans he’s going to be something special for the franchise for years to come.
Forsberg tallied four goals in six games, racked up 22 shots on goal for a 18.2 shooting percentage. He also logged over 20 minutes of average ice time as he was already playing a primary postseason role at age 20.
If you really want to deep dive into that series performance by Forsberg, just look at his possession metrics. Over a 58 Corsi-for percentage while also managing to get the majority of his shots on net and not blocked.
Even though it was a first round exit, I remember coming out of that playoff series very hopeful about the future thanks in large part to the up-and-coming Forsberg.
3. Team Rallies Around Johansen, 2017 Playoffs
We’ll always be left wondering what kind of a difference Ryan Johansen could’ve made if he wasn’t injured before the Nashville Predators reached the Stanley Cup Final. They certainly missed his impact in the lineup against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
Johansen was fueling what was a magical and unexpected run through the 2017 postseason. He was just coming off his first full season with the Nashville Predators and was bringing instant returns to a team that always lacked an elite top line center.
In the opening round sweep heard around the world of the Chicago Blackhawks, Johansen played a role in getting his linemates involved with five assists and a goal as well.
The next series against the St. Louis Blues, Johansen would add another three points to his playoff campaign, with the big goal coming in Game 6 to eliminate the Blues. A two-point night as the Predators were heading to their first Western Conference Finals.
In a grueling and physical series against the Ducks, Johansen continued his strong postseason with four points in the first two games of the series.
The brutal, and downright scary, leg injury that Johansen took in Game 4 is a story you should go back and read hearing him describe the whole situation and having to get surgery.
The team rallied around Johansen to knock out the Ducks in six games, and maybe the most incredible part of this unfortunate injury is that Johansen actually finished the game before eventually having to get “emergency surgery”.
2. Colton Sissons Hatty in 2017
I mean, how could I leave out the infamous Colton Sissons hat trick in Game 6 of the 2017 Western Conference Finals that propelled the Nashville Predators into the Stanley Cup Final?
I’ll never forget where I was watching, who I was with and what happened in the streets of downtown Nashville after that electric performance from Sissons and the entire team grueling out the victory and avoiding going back to Anaheim for Game 7.
Sissons was already having a solid postseason campaign with two goals in the Chicago series, and three assists in the St. Loius series. Turns out he still had a whole other gear to kick it into.
The Predators would pad their lead after Sissons’ first goal in this game and would head into the 1st Intermission up 2-0. The Ducks would get on back and really heighten the nerves of the Predators faithful.
That is until once again Sissons would score to pad the two-goal lead three minutes into the third period. This is when it really started to get real that our Nashville Predators could actually end up pulling this off.
Then things got really dicey as the Ducks would storm back to tie it at 3-3 with still over half the third period remaining. Sissons yet again scored to put the Predators ahead for good. Check out the original call from SportsNet and try not to get goosebumps:
Sissons only has one hat trick since then and has never really evolved into the prime goal scorer that some may have expected after this Game 6 hatty. However, he’s evolved into a critical all-around player to the current Predators.
1. Pekka nearly takes Nashville all the way, 2017 Playoffs
First off, before you come after me about Pekka Rinne being on this list because of what transpired against Pittsburgh, just think about the fact that the Nashville Predators wouldn’t have made it that far without him.
In astounding fashion, Rinne became one of those star goaltenders that “got hot at the right time” for the posteason. We hear it thrown out there all of the time. You just need to get into the playoff field and anything can happen, especially with a hot goaltender.
Rinne set the tone for the 2017 playoff run by shutting out Chicago in Games 1 and 2, and eventually totalling 123 saves on 126 shots faced for a .976 save percentages. Yeah, you read that right.
Everyone was worried that Rinne would become streaky and fall flat in the following series against St. Louis, but he held it together for another incredible series of 151 saves on 162 shots faced for a .932 save percentage.
dark. Next. Projecting the 2022 Offseason for the Nashville Predators
And then even though the team in front of him scored some critical goals to push past the Ducks, Rinne was also solid in that series with a .925 save percentage.
Rinne’s struggles at Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup Final doesn’t just erase the other three amazing series performances he had. Much less in Game 6 Rinne was shutting out the offenisvely loaded Penguins until the final minute when Patric Hornqvist scored on a fluky goal.
It’s going to be hard to ever top Rinne on this list, but if the Nashville Predators do indeed make it into the playoff field for 2022, then I’ll throw Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg has prime candidates that will need to live up to their superstar status.
Honorable mention players that have had strong postseason showings for the Predators are James Neal in 2015 through 2017, Colin Wilson in 2015 and Paul Kariya in 2006.