MEET THE QUIET PREDATORS MAKING NOISE IN PLAYOFFS
You know Subban, Ellis and Rinne, but a host of others have been outstanding, too
Welcome to the Stanley Cup final, Nashville.
It’s been 19 long years, but the franchise GM David Poile built — right down to picking the bright yellow colour scheme — is finally at the big dance. If you don’t already understand how the eighth-seeded Predators swept the Blackhawks and streamrolled past the Blues and the Ducks, you’re about to find out.
Hockey fans already know about P.K. Subban, acquired from Montreal last year for Shea Weber. And if you watched any of the first three rounds, you are probably familiar with forward Filip Forsberg, who leads the Predators with eight goals and 15 points; defencemen Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis, who have combined for nine goals and 21 points, and Conn Smythe Trophy favourite Pekka Rinne, who leads the playoffs with a 1.70 goalsagainst average and a .941 save percentage.
But a lot of players on this team fly under the radar — or they have until now. The spotlight is about to shine on a honky-tonk-turned-hockey town.
From Colton Sissons replacing Ryan Johansen as a No. 1 centre to Viktor Arvidsson coming out of the minors to play the hero to a crowd that spends the hockey game standing and breaking into soccer-style chants, here is what’s making noise in Nashville.
COLTON SISSONS
When Nashville lost centres Ryan Johansen and Mike Fisher after Game 4 of the Western Conference final, it looked like the Predators were toast. Then Sissons stepped up — out of nowhere — and picked up his first assist of the series in Game 5 and scored a hat trick in Game 6. He already has as many playoff points (10) as he did in the regular season. Not bad for a player who spent most of the last three seasons in the AHL and was a healthy scratch in March.
THE FANS
This isn’t a hockey town? Really? Tell that to the crowds packing Bridgestone Arena and the thousands watching on a giant screen outside. Predators fans are more like European soccer fans. They don’t sit down. And when a goal is scored, they go through the same singsong sequence of jeering the goalie’s name, followed by, “You suck!” They then chant, “It’s all your fault! It’s all your fault! It’s all your fault!” No wonder the team has only lost once at home in the playoffs.
VIKTOR ARVIDSSON
The diminutive winger, selected in the fourth round of the 2014 NHL draft, scored eight goals and 16 points as a rookie. But in his second season, Arvidsson tied for the team lead in goals (31) and points (61) — only Connor McDavid had a bigger year-to-year increase — and has supplied 10 points in 16 playoff games. He’s also the poster boy for the Predators’ attacking style, buzzing around the ice like a water bug on the forecheck.
THE 1-3-1
Nashville likes to play a system where one forward attacks and three players line up at the red line. It might sound like another neutral zone-clogging trap, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Predators want to lure teams into a run-and-gun game by forcing their opponents to dump the puck in deep. Rather than have the defenceman retrieve the puck with two opposing forwards giving chase, the team relies on goalie Pekka Rinne to start the breakout. “It’s like having an extra defencemen back there,” coach Peter Laviolette said.
PONTUS ABERG
The son of a carpenter and a women’s handball player, the 23-year-old spent most of this season in the minors, where he led the Milwaukee Admirals with 31 goals and 52 points in 56 games. But he was called up at the start of the playoffs and played the hero in Game 5 of the west final, where he scored the winner on a Bobby Orr-esque leap and moments later was pulled off the ice by a concussion spotter for losing a tooth on the previous play.
MATTIAS EKHOLM
On a team with Roman Josi, P.K. Subban and Ryan Ellis, it’s easy to overlook Ekholm’s contributions. But the 6-foot-4, 215-pound shutdown defenceman is a big reason Subban has looked so comfortable in his first season in Nashville. Ekholm, who has no goals, eight assists and a plus-10 rating this post-season, is more nasty than flashy. There isn’t an opposing forward who hasn’t been marked up by his stick.
AUSTIN WATSON
When the Predators selected Watson with the 18th pick in 2010, there were expectations that the 6-foot-4, 204-pounder would develop into a power-scoring forward. It’s taken seven long years, but Watson is finally demonstrating the hard-nosed game Nashville has relied on in the playoffs. The 25-year-old has four goals and two assists, but it’s his ability to block shots, finish checks and play a power game that has impressed.