The NHL Playoff Bracket has the Nashville Predators as the top team in the Western Conference’s wild card race. Yet regardless of who wins the Pacific or the Central Division, depending on what the final standings ultimately look like, nobody will find playing Nashville in the postseason to be an easy task should the Preds keep winning.
Nashville hasn’t lost in regulation since February 15th, so if you’ve been keeping track, they have been winning consistently or losing the occasional game in overtime for over a month. The Predators have been solid statistically, standing 13th in the league in goals for and goals against, and this well-balanced team seems to have attained a good deal of chemistry as the season progressed.
Right now, the Winnipeg Jets are that unlucky team. However, since Winnipeg is tied with the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars but remains in first place thanks to tiebreakers, their current position in the standings may change by the end of the week. But Winnipeg has outstanding goaltending, so perhaps the Predators will finally stall if everything holds as is and they end up playing the Jets.
Nashville Predators remain the top wild card in the NHL Playoff Bracket
The Predators, however, could have the momentum should they keep playing the way they are until their final game of the season in mid-April. This doesn’t mean they need to win all of their remaining games or lose only in overtime, as that would be impossible to maintain. But if they keep playing at an elite level, they will give a team like Winnipeg or whomever a solid series and perhaps even make a deeper run in the postseason.
It is worth noting, however, that the Dallas Stars were the last team to beat the Predators in regulation in a 9-2 blowout. They haven’t played Dallas since, so perhaps the Stars would make for the toughest matchup should the two teams meet in the playoffs. But as of right now, that opponent is Winnipeg, a team the Predators recently got the best of.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)