Until this season, the team had appeared in 7 of the last 8 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The lone miss was the 2008-09 season when the team finished in 10th place in the West, 3 points out of the final playoff spot.

In this lockout-shortened 48-game season, however, the Predators were never able to string together anything resembling consistency. They were only able to string together consecutive wins on 3 occasions, with the 3 streaks being 4 games, 3 games and 2 games. On 9 different occasions, Nashville was shut out – 3 times the number of shutouts that the team experienced in the full 2011-12 season.

When the dust settled, the Nashville Predators were on the outside looking in. In fact, they were well on the outside, finishing with the NHL’s 4th worst record.

“It was just a very difficult, unique year,” head coach Barry Trotz said. “With the injuries compounding on that, it became a little bit of a train wreck from a competitive standpoint. We played hard, but at the end of the day, we didn’t have enough bullets. We went into a fight – we had a knife, they had a gun. Unless we snuck up on them, we were going to lose that one.”

To say that injuries affected the team would be an understatement. Two of Nashville’s top 3 goal scorers – Mike Fisher and Gabriel Bourque – missed significant time on the season. Both Bourque and forward Colin Wilson suffered season-ending injuries – Bourque’s occurred while he was leading the team in goal-scoring, Wilson’s as he led the team in overall scoring.

In all, the team was so injury-plagued over the season that only 3 players – Roman Josi, David Legwand and Shea Weber – played in every game. In addition to Bourque, Fisher and Wilson, Paul Gaustad, Hal Gill, Patric Hornqvist and Brandon Yip each missed over 10 games due to injury. Defenseman Scott Hannan, who was traded at the trade deadline, also missed significant time with an injury.

However, the injuries affected the team beyond game production. In a season in which practice time was already limited, injuries would affect the personnel that Nashville had available to practice. Because of the condensed schedule, even players who appeared in more games would sit out practices so that they could be game-ready.

“We were coaching off of the seat of our pants,” Trotz said. “There were injuries – we’d get to practice and our trainer would come in and go, ‘You’re not going to have this guy tonight, you’re not going to have this guy.’ We would  go to players and say, ‘We’ve got to be honest – if you can’t practice, you shouldn’t practice because something is ailing you.’ We had a lot of guys who blocked shots and their foot would be swollen the next day and we’d be okay, let it settle down the following day instead of practice, get hit with another puck and just let it affect your performance.”

According to Trotz, at some practices the coaching staff would literally have to change the entire schedule for the day on the fly because there would not be enough players available to work on drills that were planned.

At the conclusion of the season, not only did the Predators finish in last in the Central Division, they finished tied for last in the league in scoring, second to last on the penalty kill and last in the league in shooting.

After Nashville lost to Columbus in their season finale, the team appeared to feel more of a burden on their shoulders than a relief of the end of a difficult season.

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Going into Saturday night’s season finale against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena, the Nashville Predators goaltender was 1-6-1 with a 3.97 goals against average and a .852 save percentage through 10 games in his return to Nashville. In addition, the Predators had only won 16 of their 47 games.

However, Mason was given the start against Columbus on Saturday night.

Through the first two periods, he was perfect. The Blue Jackets registered 22 shots on goal in the first two stanzas – Mason made 22 saves.

It was quite a turnaround from his performance on Thursday night in which he gave up 5 goals in 38 shots.

“I felt great tonight,” Mason said. “You get a couple of games and you get that feeling of playing games again, you get a little bit of a comfort zone and I felt pretty good tonight.”

Mason had only played in 10 of Nashville’s 48 games prior to Saturday night. Mason admits that he was not at his best and that – despite the loss on Thursday – the game experience helped him prepare for Saturday. He rode a 1-0 lead going into his last period of the season.

“It helps a lot just to have game time,” Mason said. “I’ve said it a million times – there’s no duplicating games. You can try to do it in practice, but until you get in there and get the traffic, get the bad angle shots and everything else that goes with the game, it’s tough to recreate. Having played a game in the last little while definitely helped me feel a lot better tonight.”

Unfortunately for Mason, Columbus’ Brandon Dubinsky scored a power play goal at 10:09 of the third period. Five minutes later, the newly energized Blue Jackets scored again to take a 2-1 lead. Columbus needed a win to have a chance at the playoffs. Nashville had been eliminated for a while.

In all, the Blue Jackets peppered Mason with 25 third period shots. Unfortunately, the only 2 that he missed made the difference. Columbus added an empty net goal at the end for insurance and the Blue Jackets took a 3-1 win to keep their playoff hopes alive. Ultimately, the night would end poorly for Columbus, as well, as both Detroit and Minnesota won, leaving them on the outside looking in as the season came to a close.

“Obviously, you don’t like losing, but sometimes you play hard and you end up losing games,” Mason said. “You saw a desperate team there. That’s the way they’ve been playing all year. They never give up. They scrap and claw. They threw everything at us in the third period. They won the game and did their part and I know now they probably need some help from other teams, but they did all they could and that’s what they’ve been doing all year.”

Mason stopped 44 of 46 shots in the game, but was still saddled with the loss.

“It’s tough,” Mason said. “I don’t know if it’s an awkward situation, but they had so much to play for, but standings-wise, we had nothing to play for. You just saw the desperation that they had been playing with and they’ve been doing that for the last month-and-a-half here. They just kept it at a level that we really couldn’t keep up with the whole game. That’s just the way it goes. We really would have loved to win that game, but in all honesty, they deserved to win that game.”

“(It was) maybe his best game of the year,” Nashville head coach Barry Trotz said. “He was as good as he’s been all year. I wish we would have got at least a point for him, maybe two for him. He had some huge saves.”

Mason agreed that the game was one of his better performances on the season, despite the loss.

“I haven’t played a lot,” Mason said. “I had a couple of good games to start the year and then I had a couple of not so good ones. Tonight was definitely one of the best.”

Chris Mason will be a free agent in July. He has played for Nashville on numerous different occasions since the team’s inaugural season. Saturday may have been his last game ever in a Predators jersey.

“One of the things I can say about Chris Mason – and I’ve had Chris a couple of times – he’s as good of a pro player as you’re going to find,” Trotz said. “When you talk about a pro player on and off the ice, I think he has a great work ethic. I believe he has some hockey in the future as a player or development coach or goalie coach. He’s going to be in the game. He’s a bright young guy who has a tremendous work ethic. It’s been a pleasure to be with him all the times we’ve had him.”

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Photo Credit: Sarah Fuqua

Fifteen years later, he is the only player left from that inaugural season who has been with the team for the duration of their existence.

Thus, it serves to reason that the longest tenured Predator would be the first one to reach several franchise milestones along the way. He leads the franchise in games played, assists, points scored and, of course, goals scored.

With his first period tally on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena, Legwand became the first Nashville Predator to score 200 career goals.

“I took a shot to the net and got it through his legs there,” Legwand said. “(Calgary goaltender Miikka) Kiprusoff’s obviously a tough goalie to beat and you have to beat him with traffic in front of the net and I think we did a good job of that tonight.”

Legwand admitted that he was unaware that his 200th career goal was imminent.

“I try not to think about it, but obviously it’s been 4 or 5 games since I got one so it was nice to get it here,” he said.

Nashville rookie Austin Watson scored his first career goal in the same game that Legwand scored his 200th.

“Congrats to Leggy,” Austin Watson said. “That’s something pretty incredible. 200 goals – it felt hard enough to get the first one. It’s an awesome milestone for him and nice to share a moment here.”

Losing Streak Snapped: With a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames, Nashville snapped a franchise-record 8-game skid. The streak started at Bridgestone Arena on April 4 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Six of the 8 losses during the streak came at Bridgestone Arena and all but the last one at Chicago were in regulation.

Goo Goo-less: Nashville never managed a “Goo Goo Goal” in the 2012-13 season, failing to register a goal in the final minute of the second period in any game at Bridgestone Arena to earn fans a free Goo Goo cluster.

First Point: In addition to Watson, Filip Forsberg recorded his first career point, an assist on Legwand’s 200th career goal. Forsberg, the 11th overall pick in last year’s NHL Entry Draft, was acquired at the trade deadline from the Washington Capitals in exchange for Martin Erat and Michael Latta.

Spaling Scores: While Nashville is no longer undefeated at Bridgestone Arena when Nick Spaling scores, they do have a fairly stellar record. Spaling scored a power play goal in the second period to tie the game. With Nashville’s victory, the Predators’ record at Bridgestone Arena when Spaling scores is 16-1-1.

Quote of the Game: “We won the game. We hadn’t won in a while. We weren’t quite sure what to do.” – Predators head coach Barry Trotz

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PuckScene Three Stars

1. Austin Watson – Watson’s first career goal gets an automatic vote as the First Star of the game.
2. Shea Weber – Had the first assist on 2 goals on a night that the Predators broke a long losing streak.
3. David Legwand – Scored career goal number 200, provided an answer to Calgary’s early goal.

“It was incredible,” Watson said. “I wasn’t sure – I shot it through a screen, so I didn’t really know and just based it off of the fans’ reaction, but it’s exciting. It’s a milestone and it’s great to experience here at home.”

At 3:17 of the third period in Nashville’s game against Calgary on Tuesday night, the rookie Watson found the back of the net for the first time in his young NHL career. On a night when the Predators were playing their home finale at Bridgestone Arena in a season in which the playoffs have long been out of the picture, Watson gave the sellout crowd something to smile about.

“It’s incredible,” Watson said. “We gave the fans something to cheer about at the end of the game. They’ve been supporting us and they’ve been incredible, which I’ve seen since I’ve been here.  To see how excited they were for a great win tonight was pretty special.”

“I didn’t know what to think. It was kind of crazy. I kind of blacked out a little bit and got pretty excited. It’s one of those things that I’ll never get to experience again, so it was pretty awesome.”

The goal came on a play that was initiated by forward Craig Smith, who earned the first assist on the goal, which beat Calgary netminder Miikka Kiprusoff.

“It was a great look,” Watson said. “He sucked in the 2 d and popped it over to me. If that doesn’t happen – and Klein driving the net, too – if those two things don’t happen, we don’t get a shot there.”

Watson’s goal gave the Predators a 3-2 lead. Nashville would extend the lead to 4 and hold on to snap a franchise-record 8-game losing streak by defeating the Flames 4-3.

“It was huge for us and it was great to contribute to a win,” Watson said. “That was awesome to have in front of fans on the last home game.”

Drafted in the first round by the Predators in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Watson made his NHL debut on April 7 at Chicago. The Michigan native skipped the NCAA route and played 4 seasons of Major Junior in Canada before joining the Milwaukee Admirals this season. In his five NHL games prior to scoring his first goal, Watson had just two shots on net and had yet to register a point.

While he obviously wanted to contribute to the team’s scoring sooner rather than later, Watson had to remind himself to be patient.

“‘Stay the course’ is the biggest thing,” Watson said. “It’s not going to come if you start pushing for it too hard and start getting frustrated. We just wanted to play a good solid game and be good defensively and whatever happens that we can create offensively would happen.”

Since coming to the NHL, Watson and a few other eligible players have been shuttling back-and-forth between Nashville and Milwaukee. Unlike the Predators, the Admirals were in a playoff push and have qualified for the AHL postseason. Watson has not only appeared in 6 NHL games since April 7, he’s also appeared in 4 AHL games. That’s 10 games in 17 days. It would be easy to understand if his play was somehow lethargic, but he is not.

“I have a little bit of an adrenaline rush right now,” Watson said. “We’re happy with the win, obviously. Personally it’s an exciting moment and we’ll get ready for Detroit (on Thursday).”

Essentially, Watson is playing for two teams right now. He’s trying to close out the season with the Predators and when the season ends Saturday, he will help the Admirals in their playoff matchup against the Texas Stars.

“The systems are fairly similar,” Watson said. “There are changes here and there, but it’s about playing hard and playing wherever you’re at. We’ve got a good group of guys here that help us out, the guys who are coming back and forth. We’re just trying to make a difference in both places.”

Nashville’s David Legwand scored his 200th career goal on a night when Watson scored his first. The veteran forward was optimistic about what Watson will bring to the table for Nashville in coming years.

“He’s a big strong kid,” Legwand said. “Shooting pucks and getting pucks to the net is a big thing and he did a good job of that tonight.”

“Getting pucks to the net and playing a simple game is what he’s going to bring to the table for us,” he added.

As for the puck itself, one of Watson’s teammates snagged it from the net.

“I think Clune grabbed it and that’s a nice gesture by him,” Watson said. “Everybody has been great here just helping me to try to get comfortable.”

In the end Watson’s goal was the first of what Nashville hopes will be very, very many in the future.

“It’s something you dream about and it’s even better than the dream when it finally does happen,” Watson said.

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Photo Credit: Rachel Rosato

For the first time in franchise history, Nashville had lost 7 consecutive games in regulation.

In those 7 games, Nashville has only managed to score 8 goals. Two of those goals came off of the stick of Bobby Butler.

Butler, claimed on waivers earlier this season, is not only playing to break the losing streak – he’s playing for a contract. While Nashville is officially out of the playoff hunt, there are still several young players fighting for jobs. After being bought out by one team and put on waivers by another in the last year, Butler is definitely one of them.

“It’s good to get a couple, but I’ve got to keep working hard,” Butler said. “Everyone’s in the same position. I just wish we could get some wins.”

While the Predators went down 2-0 to Vancouver early on Monday, they rallied in the second period. Butler’s goal at 11:40 of the second period tied the game at 2. It was his 2nd goal with Nashville and his 6th point in 16 games as a Predator. He has scored at a higher rate in Nashville than several players who have been with the team for the entire season.

“I just got a great pass from Bartley up the boards,” Butler said. “I saw a chance to kind of cut it to the middle and take a shot and it got through.”

“It was good to tie it up,” Butler said, “but then they came back and got three on us, so it’s never fun when you lose.”

At 17:02 of the 2nd, Vancouver’s Jason Garrison scored a power play goal to put the Canucks back in the lead for good. The Canucks then tacked on 2 more goals for good measure, giving Vancouver a 5-2 win.

With 38 points and just 4 games left, Nashville has officially been eliminated from making the playoffs. Detroit, currently in the 8th and final Western Conference spot, has 47 points. The most the Predators can earn is 46. In fact, Nashville is only 3 points out of the last place spot in the Western Conference, a position they have not finished in since the 1999-2000 season.

The 7-game losing streak ties the worst losing streak in franchise history, matching a stretch from November 20 through December 2, 1999. However, during that stretch the Predators managed to take the St. Louis Blues to overtime. This current losing streak is the longest in franchise history consisting of all regulation losses.

With the team mired in a franchise-record losing streak and with the playoffs no longer in the picture at all, the team has still been very vocal about continuing to put forth an effort in every game. Despite the effort, the losses keep coming. Butler, however, was not about to admit that he was content to lose.

“You just have to worry about the next game,” Butler said. “You do the best you can to prepare and try to get the win.”

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Photo Credit: Sarah Fuqua

Through 43 games, the Predators have been shut out 9 times. In last season’s 82-game schedule, the Predators were only shut out 3 times.

The 9 shutouts rank as the 3rd most in a single season in franchise history behind the 2000-01 team, which had 12, and the 2002-03 team, which was shut out 10 times. Remember, both of those teams played in 82 games. If the Predators were shut out at the same pace over an 82 game season, they would be shut out in 17 games.

Of the 9 times the Predators have been shut out, 5 have come on the road and 4 have been at Bridgestone Arena. Only the Detroit Red Wings’ Jimmy Howard has shut Nashville out twice, while the Blues, Red Wings, and Blackhawks all have multiple shutouts on the team.

Perhaps a harbinger of things to come, on January 28, the Predators were shut out by Chad Johnson of the Phoenix Coyotes. Johnson, who had not appeared in an NHL game in over two years, had only one NHL win to his credit prior to the game.

In addition to the 9 shutouts, the Predators have also only scored 1 goal in 7 games. That means that in 16 of the 43 games that the Predators have played, they have scored 1 goal or less – that’s 37.2%.

Given the large percentage of shutouts, it’s not surprising that the Predators are in last place in the league in scoring with just 2.23 goals per game.

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Photo Credit: Sarah Fuqua

In a trial-by-fire of sorts, Predators head coach Barry Trotz sent Forsberg onto the ice for his first NHL shift against the Detroit Red Wings’ top line – Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and – for Sunday night – Justin Abdelkader.

“I was just going into the game and giving him an opportunity,” Trotz said. “I know it’s a big task – you think I’m always protecting guys. I had a ‘plan b’ in place if he was not going to be able to handle those guys and he seemed to be okay.”

At 18 years, 244 days, Forsberg was the third-youngest player ever to play in a game for Nashville. Only Scott Hartnell (18 years, 171 days) and teammate David Legwand (18 years, 243 days) were younger when they first appeared with Nashville.

Despite his youth and inexperience, the young Swede had 18:37 in his North American debut, a 3-0 loss to Detroit. Forsberg also managed 2 shots on net, 1 hit and had a takeaway during his inaugural game.

“He’s going to be fine,” Trotz said. “I mean, he’s 18 years old and he’s playing against Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Franzen. We’ve been playing these guys for 14 years and it’s hard to find guys who can play against those guys night-in and night-out. I thought he did a fine job.”

“I like to play a lot,” Forsberg said. “I made some good things (happen) and had some bad things (happen), too. Hopefully, I can step things up a bit before the next game.”

Forsberg was acquired by Nashville in a trade on April 6 that saw long-time Predator Martin Erat head to the Washington Capitals with Nashville prospect Michael Latta. Drafted 11th overall in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Forsberg was a highly regarded Swedish prospect who has been playing against adults in Sweden’s professional system since he was 16 years old.

Despite his experience playing in Sweden, Forsberg admitted that the NHL was an entirely new experience.

“It is a big difference from where I’ve played,” Forsberg said. “Of course the players have so much more skill than I am used to, but it was high tempo out there.”

With Nashville mired in a 6 game losing streak and out of the playoff picture, Forsberg’s debut provided a rare bright spot for the team.

“He played well. He’s a young guy,” Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne said. “He played with energy and you can tell he’s a good player.”

“He made all the good plays,” Trotz said. “In the first period, he made a couple of really good plays on the power play. He has a real poise. I like his intelligence. He sees the ice well. He’s not rattled.”

“He was good,” Nashville captain Shea Weber said. “Obviously, he is very nifty and good in small areas with the puck and made a couple of quick plays and almost scored in the second. He is going to be a good player.”

After Sunday night, Forsberg has very little time to catch his breath with the Predators playing the second half of back-to-back games at Bridgestone Arena on Monday night against Vancouver.

However, with one game under his belt, the teenager did not seem to be over his head in the slightest.

“He doesn’t seem fazed,” Trotz said.

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Photo Credit: Sarah Fuqua

On the other hand, he’s also been on a few teams that failed to make the playoffs, including a Boston team in 2000 that finished with just 73 points.

He’s been at the top and he’s been at the bottom.

Right now, he’s with a team that’s out of the playoffs and they are reeling.

With a 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars at Bridgestone Arena on Friday night, the Predators find themselves mired in a 5 game losing streak. The team has won just 2 games in their last 10 outings.

Nashville only has 6 games on the calendar and – while not mathematically out of the race – they sit closer to last place in the league than they do to the final playoff spot.

“It’s a tough situation to come in and it’s hard to play when the wins don’t mean anything, but you go out there and have pride,” Gill said. “Once you get into the game, you give everything that you’ve got and you want better than that.”

Gill stressed the need for the team to play with pride despite the fact that the outcomes of the games do not matter. It was a sentiment matched by Predators captain Shea Weber.

“Guys need to have pride in this room,” Weber said. “We need to play hard and it is not over for us either. The season is still going. We have to play desperate. Obviously they are fighting for the playoffs, but guys are fighting for sports in here for next year, for contracts, for whatever it may be. Like I said, the biggest thing is pride and not to quit and especially not quit on each other.”

After Friday’s loss, SportsClubStats.com gives Nashville a 0.009% chance of making the playoffs. If they somehow manage to win their last 6 games, they will still only have a 1.7% chance of making it. The team has resigned to the fact that they will not make it.

“It’s tough,” Gill said. “It is about pride and there are a lot of guys fighting for spots. You want to win that game; you want to get that next goal; you want to do something good. You want to feel good as a team and it is tough when you go out like that and not get the job done.”

As Weber and Gill both emphasize, there are several players who are utilizing the last few games as an audition of sorts. With Gabriel Bourque, Mike Fisher, Paul Gaustad, Colin Wilson and Brandon Yip out with injuries, there is now room on the roster for players like Daniel Bang, Taylor Beck and Austin Watson to showcase their abilities in the NHL. In addition, players like Bobby Butler and Matt Halischuk now have more chances to play without being healthy scratches.

In all, 10 skaters who played on Friday night for the Predators had appeared in the AHL at some point during the 2012-13 season. The games may not mean anything on paper, but for many of those players, their performance could be the difference between riding the bus and taking charter flights.

“Whether it means something or not, you still want to win,” Gill said. “There’s a lot of guys fighting for jobs, fighting for spots and showing what they can do. It’s a tough situation, but like I said, there’s a lot of pride. We want better than that.”

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 Photo Credit: Sarah Fuqua

On Tuesday night, the Predators were shut out for the 8th time this season after being shut out just 3 times in the 2011-12 season.

In fairness to Nashville, the team has been decimated by injuries. Ten players who suited up for Nashville on Tuesday have seen ice time in the AHL this season. In addition, four of their top 6 scoring players this season are either injured or have been traded. Needless to say, Nashville has had trouble finding the back of the net – with 2.29 goals per game, the Predators sit 28th out of 30 teams in goal-scoring.

“It’s just excuses,” Nashville captain Shea Weber said. “We’ve got guys in here playing and we have to do a better job. We have to get some sort of production one way or another.”

With 38 points in 41 games, the Predators sit in 13th place in the Western Conference with just 7 games to go. After going to the playoffs in each of the last 3 seasons, the Predators would not only need to effectively win out to make the playoffs, but the 5 teams in front of them would have to suffer a monumental, simultaneous collapse.

More succinctly, SportsClubStats.com has Nashville’s playoff chances after Tuesday’s loss at just 0.3 percent.

“I think this whole year has been frustrating,” Weber said. ”It’s tough, we’d like to win more games, but we’re not winning. It’s tough to lose game after game and try to come up with something positive.”

“I’m happy and proud that we’re working so hard and that we’re still giving everything we’ve got right now, but things are hard,” Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne said. “It’s hard and goals are hard to come by right now. Obviously, I wish that it would be a little bit smoother and we could give ourselves a chance. With other teams’ help, we could have a chance, but now it’s pretty much gone. It is tough when you prepare for the season and you have a situation like this.”

While the Predators may have all but conceded the fact that they will not be playing in the postseason, they are not ready to pack it all in and move to the offseason quite yet.

“Everybody’s realistic,” Nashville head coach Barry Trotz said. “Everyone has to be. I think the thing we have to hang our hat on right now is trying to win some hockey games. To win we have to play extremely hard – we have to play within the system and be committed. We don’t want quit from anybody – it’s not a part of our culture.”

“You still have to find a way to show up every night,” Rinne said. “We have a lot of guys here that in the future are going to play a bigger role.”

“You have to play with pride,” Weber said. “You have to look at yourself in the mirror and say that you gave it all you had every night. And that’s it. That’s all we can ask from each other and that’s what we have to do.”

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Photo Credit: Sarah Fuqua

The Predators managed to hold the NHL’s top team to just 1 goal, but for the 7th time in 39 games, Nashville was shut out.

“It’s disappointing,” Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne said. “It’s a tough loss. We played well. It’s tough when you’re not finding the back of the net. It’s not like we’re not trying – I think the guys are doing a really good job. We’ve been getting chances and had enough power play time to put a couple in there. Obviously, there’s a lot of good goalies and a lot of good defensemen. As a team, I think we played pretty solidly. It was a good effort, but at this point in the season, you can’t help but being disappointed and frustrated.”

A long shot, to be sure, Saturday’s loss officially eliminated the Predators from the Central Division race, with Chicago sitting 22 points out, while the Predators have just 18 more possible.

At the conclusion of Saturday’s games, Nashville sits in 12th place in the Western Conference. They are 4 points behind St. Louis for the 8th and final spot. In able to make the playoffs, they will need to not only catch St. Louis, but also pass Phoenix, Edmonton and Columbus.

“Obviously, you know the standings and everything, but you try not to look at it right now,” Rinne said. “You try to focus on one game at a time. Now it’s tomorrow night. It’s not going to get any easier. We have a pretty big task in our hands if we want to make it in. We have to start winning some games here.”

All 4 of the teams Nashville needs to leapfrog in order to move into 8th have games in hand on Nashville. The Predators have 9 games remaining, while Phoenix, Edmonton and Columbus have 10 left. St. Louis still has 12 games left to play. During that run, the Coyotes face the Oilers once and the Blues once, while the Blues also face the Blue Jackets.

Nashville, meanwhile, has a game left against both Columbus and St. Louis. They also have a two games left against Detroit – the Red Wings sit 5 points away in 7th.

To make matters even more confusing and frustrating for the Predators, they sit 1 point in front of the Dallas Stars, but Dallas has 2 games in hand on Nashville. The Stars make a trip to Bridgestone Arena next Friday.

It could be easy for the Predators to get discouraged and to look ahead to next season – to roll into a game and feel like the mountain to climb is simply too big. However, Rinne says that isn’t the case.

“I don’t think it’s hard to get ready for the games,” Rinne said. “It’s always fun and it’s always a challenge. Especially this year with the kind of schedule we are facing. It’s tough not to look at the standings. It’s tough not to follow the other teams and how they are doing. It’s part of your job. You have to be aware of what’s happening around you and around the league. We still have 9 more games to go and there’s a lot more points on the table.”

With 18 points still available, theoretically, Nashville could still catch 7 of the 8 Western Conference teams. However, the games are not played theoretically. Realistically, the 8th place spot is likely Nashville’s last hope of making the playoffs.

Edmonton and Columbus have 39 points, while Phoenix has 40 and St. Louis has 42. Nashville has 38. Dallas sits on Nashville’s heels with 37.

In order for the Predators to catch these teams, the teams in front of them (and the one directly behind them) also have to lose.

Technically, the Predators still need 5 points to even have a chance of the playoffs, as they do not have the regulation-and-overtime-win (ROW) tiebreaker against St. Louis. Mathematically, the best-case scenario remaining for the Predators is that the Blues finish 0-12, the Coyotes finish 1-9 (with a win over the Blues), the Blue Jackets finish 1-9 (with a win over the Blues), the Oilers finish 1-9 (with a win over the Coyotes), and the  Stars finish 2-8 (with wins over Columbus and St. Louis). In this scenario, St. Louis and Phoenix would be tied at 42. Nashville would need a minimum 43 points to get into the playoffs.

Realistically, the teams Nashville is battling are not going to finish 5-47 to close out the season. That’s a given.

However, with 3 games on the horizon for the Predators in the upcoming week, including 2 “4-point” games against St. Louis and Dallas, Nashville should discover fairly quickly where they stand in the playoff hunt.

“We need to be winning these games,” Predators forward Mike Fisher said after Saturday’s game. “There is no doubt we are digging ourselves a hole.”
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Photo Credit: Sarah Fuqua