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| Their ugly yellow sweaters and unfortunate franchise location hasn't kept the Predators down. |
They rock the ugliest jerseys in the league. They play in Nashville, Tennessee. They've never won a division title, and are an ugly 1-5 in all-time playoff series. But this season the Nashville Predators are poised to obliterate their franchise history and maybe even take the Western Conference by storm.
When the Nashville Predators caught fire in the month of January winning 14 of 17, folks around the league started to raise their eyebrows. They have scoring balance, a monster set of blue liners and a goalie who has been an absolute warrior, playing 73 games and winning 43 of them. Shea Weber and Ryan Suter headline one of the best D pairings in the league and Martin Erat, David Legwand and Mike Fisher lead the team in the scoring department. Nashville was clearly a Western Conference playoff team, but what they did on the deadline transformed them from pretender to contender in a few short hours.
The Predators had to make major moves to take their status to the next level, and that's exactly what they did. Their go for it all attitude was made clear when they acquired wily veteran Paul Gaustad from Buffalo for a first round pick. It's questionable to say that the former Sabres face-off man was worth such a high price, but his worth was made clear with Nashville's Stanley Cup aspirations. Gaustad's game does fit perfectly for the playoffs as he wins face-offs and patrols the boards so we are talking about one of the elite grinders in the show. Nashville also acquired Andrei Kostitsyn, joining his brother Sergei to shore up scoring wing depth. The hockey world knew that the Predators were good, but these moves sent a clear message that it was cup or bust in the Music City.
Entering the playoffs as a four seed the Predators had the daunting task of unseating one of the NHL's greatest franchises and finest playoff teams, the Detroit Red Wings. But the deadline acquisitions the Predators made allowed them to match the veteran-nature of the Red Wings, and with Pekka Rinne carrying the entire city of Nashville on his back, Detroit just can't seem to find that killer instinct anymore. Nashville took a 3-1 lead last night with a solid two-way win, pushing the Red Wings to the brink. Heading home on Friday should help the Predators seal the deal and move on to the second round.
Nashville has taken on the dark horse role quite nicely. We understand their located in probably the most non-hockey town in the entire United States, but their management has shown over the years(especially this year) that they are among the elite in the league. No hockey purist wants me to sit here and rave about a team located in the South, or a team that rocks a hideous yellow sweater at home, but the Predators are for real. Let the Sharks, Blues and Kings soak up all the Western Conference spotlight, Nashville will just keep steady on it's goal of sipping Jack Daniel's from Lord Stanley's chalice.
I don't know if I like the Predators against the likes of the Rangers, Flyers or Bruins, but I see them as a serious threat to take home Campbell trophy. So cringe all you want at their screaming ugly yellow jerseys, they'll just respond with a W.
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