Luke Evangelista is growing into a top-six playmaker for Nashville Predators

You're going to have a hard time finding a more elite power move and finish at the net from a Nashville Predators player in recent memory more so than what Luke Evangelista displayed in last night's thrilling 5-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Aside from Filip Forsberg, I can't think of any Predators skater scoring a goal like this basically all on their own. You can include Roman Josi in that category, but after that, you have to go pretty far back to find a player scoring a goal like this one skating through multiple defenders.

Luke Evangelista is growing into an exceptional top-six playmaker for the Nashville Predators

A looming storyline heading into the regular season was if Evangelista would be able to live up to the expectations after holding out through training camp. It sent negative vibes throughout the preseason and put a lot of pressure on the 23-year-old winger.

Evangelista's highlight reel goal against the Maple Leafs is simply the style of goal that the Predators have been starved for going back to last season. They just don't get these types of goals from their skaters very often, and instead usually have to depend on gritty goals.

They all count the same, but you really can't appreciate enough this goal from Evangelista, which put the Predators ahead 3-2 at 9:18 of the third period in a win over the Maple Leafs with what I would call one of the better home atmospheres at Bridgestone Arena that the Predators have had this season.

Of course there were plenty of Maple Leafs fans in attendance, and we were sure to deliver them an entertaining hockey game despite their team taking the "L".

Where to even begin on this beauty of a play. Evangelista was on a pure mission to make a play starting all the way back at the red line. He breaks into the neutral zone with speed and spectacular stick handling, and then finishes with a crossover style move to finish on his backhand.

And there's the best word for the Predators, which is "finish". Evangelista did all of that work to get to the net and even if he would've missed the net, it would've still been a great move. The fact that he found a way to beat the goalie on his backhand while wiping out is going to probably go down as goal of the year for the Predators. It's going to be really hard to top that one for the rest of the season.

I've been praising Evangelista for most of the season for his play driving ability and just making his linemates around him better. He's piling up the assists, now with a team-leading 19, but an uptick in his goal scoring is the next step to putting him on another level.

Evangelista's shooting percentage is still way down at 5.8 percent, and if that efficiency can even slightly increase, then suddenly he can become a point-per-game player very soon. He is third on the team in shots on goal with 69, so it's not as if he's shying away from offense. This is actually a good sign that the goal scoring is going to eventually come.

The Predators, winners of 8 out of their last 12 games, have seen a modest increase in their goal output. They're up to 24th in the NHL at 2.82 goals per game. Evangelista is part of the most productive forward line for the Predators when he plays alongside Steven Stamkos on the other wing and Ryan O'Reilly at center.

As for last night's win over Toronto, Evangelista moved all over the lineup but played most of his time on a line with Michael Bunting and Erik Haula.

Evangelista is now up to 24 points in 33 game, which is good for third on the team behind O'Reilly and Forsberg. He's only 15 points shy of his career high for a season in points, which is 39 points in 80 games back in 2023-24. He's also just five assists shy of setting a new career high.

If Evangelista can stay on this heater and the Predators offense keeps finding some life, then they have a good chance to hang around in what is a jumbled up mess in the wildcard race in the Western Conference.

Entering Sunday, the Predators are in a crazy four-way tie for last place in the West with 32 points, but only five points back of the final wildcard spot. We're still seven games shy of officially reaching the halfway point of the regular season, so needless to say there is a lot of time left.

For now, let's enjoy watching Evangelista grow into a dynamic offensive player that deserves those top-six minutes. His average ice time is up over two minutes per game compared to his last two seasons.