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.

The former 2012 second-round pick has as many points (10) in 16 playoff games as he had in 58 during the regular season.

Selected 13 spots before Sissons in 2012 was Pontus Aberg, who scored the eventual Game 5 vs. Anaheim and posted a 56 per cent possession mark for the series.

Then there’s Austin Watson, a meat-and-potatoes former firstround pick who scored three in the last two games of the conference final.

He’s dished out a team-high 81 hits in the playoffs and blocked 21 shots.

Sixteen different players have scored for the Preds in the postseason, including fourth line tough guy Cody McLeod.

Nashville notably closed out Anaheim without Ryan Johansen (done for the year with a hip injury), captain Mike Fisher or Kevin Fiala, an emerging former first-round pick. that point, after missing out on a second straight post-season in 2014.

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

Pushing an up-tempo brand of hockey, 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.

“Our coaching staff has developed the philosophy that has allowed a lot of players’ games to improve and really develop,” Ellis said.

“It’s something we didn’t really get so much before. Now it’s more of a five-man attack and everyone contributing at both ends of the ice which has been instrumental for not only myself, but guys like Mattias, (Josi), and various different players.”