Next step for Preds: getting beyond second round
Now that they’ve swept the Western Conference’s top seed out of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Nashville Predators want to continue making history by finally advancing beyond the second round.
The Predators have been around since 1998-99 but never have won a second-round playoff series. They came close last year before losing a seventh game to the San Jose Sharks.
Then again, the Predators also had never recorded a playoff sweep or had won a postseason series with the Chicago Blackhawks before this week.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said after a 4-1 victory that completed the stunning sweep of Chicago. “It’s such a long process. I promise you this, the next round will be harder than this one. That’s not to disrespect (the Blackhawks). It’s just the way the playoffs go. It gets harder in the second round. It gets harder in the third round. And when you’re in the Finals, it’s lightning speed and ridiculously hard. That’s the nature of the Stanley Cup playoffs.”
The Predators next face the winner of the St. Louis BluesMinnesota Wild quarterfinal, a series St. Louis leads 3-1.
“Right now, I don’t really care who we play against,” goalie Pekka Rinne said. “If we can keep this up, I feel really confident facing anybody.”
Rinne has reason to feel confident after allowing just one even-strength goal during the series with Chicago. The Predators got peak performances up and down their roster in outscoring the Blackhawks 13-3 and avenging 2010 and 2015 firstround playoff losses to Chicago.
This marked the first time a No. 1 seed has lost in the opening round since the Los Angeles Kings knocked off the Vancouver Canucks on their way to the Stanley Cup title in 2012. The Predators became the first team to sweep a No. 1 seed in the opening round since the NHL adopted its current playoff format in 1994.
“We always had confidence in this locker room,” defenceman Roman Josi said. “Even the years before when there wasn’t much attention on our team, we always had confidence, and I thought we played really well toward the end of the season. We had our struggles early on in the year, but toward the end of the season we played more consistent, and we carried that into the playoffs.”