Predators’ road to the finals impressive

Ten years ago the Nashville Predators scooped up future Hall of Famer Peter Forsberg at the trade deadline and finished with the NHL’s third-best record. A deep run seemed inevitable. Instead, the Preds were bounced in the first round and failed to win the first playoff series in team history for another four seasons.

This spring, with the worst record of the 16 playoff teams, the Preds have advanced to the first Stanley Cup final in team history.

How did they do it? Here are a few reasons:

PEKKA RINNE

The 34-year-old has sizzled with a .941 save percentage in 16 postseason starts. He was especially superb against Chicago in the first round — stopping 123-of-126 shots — and then again more recently as the Preds closed out the Ducks in the Western Conference final.

Rinne, interestingly enough, hasn’t always been the most effective playoff performer. He posted a less-thanimpressive .906 save percentage in 14 games last year, including 12 goals against on 71 shots (.831) in the final three games of a second-round loss to San Jose.

None of that matters now.

DEFENCE

The engine of everything Nashville is a topnotch defence, fronted by the imposing four-some of P.K. Subban, Mattias Ekholm, Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis — each of whom is averaging more than 24 minutes this spring.

The Preds have gotten 11 goals and 42 points from the defence in these playoffs. But it’s not only about offence. Nashville is an elite puck possession team.

FORSBERG

Filip Forsberg has been pretty good for a while now with an average of 30 goals and 62 points in his first three full NHL seasons. He’s added another eight goals and 15 points in 16 games in these playoffs.

DEPTH

A must for any Cup contender, the Preds have found meaningful contributions from everywhere. Notable among them is Colton Sissons, who notched a hat trick in Game 6 against the Ducks and has five goals on 14 shots this spring.

Sixteen different players have scored for the Preds in the post-season.

COACHING

The Preds fired Barry Trotz, the only coach in franchise history to that point, after missing out on a second straight postseason in 2014.

Enter Peter Laviolette, who won a Cup with Carolina in 2006 and went to the Cup final with Philadelphia in 2010.

Laviolette got Nashville back into the playoffs in his first season, into the second round in his second and into the first conference and Cup final for the franchise this spring.