![]() But that was due in large part to the phenomenal season of Saros, who started 67 games between the pipes, more than any other goalie in the league.Īnd there’s a huge dropoff when you get to the backups on this team. Almost no one had them in the 16-team postseason at the beginning of the year, yet here they are. The Predators also made fools of the prognosticators this season just by making it to the playoffs. They swept the top seed Blackhawks, then defeated the Blues and Ducks in six games each to reach the Stanley Cup Final, where they ultimately fell short against the Penguins in six games.īut that run was buoyed by goaltender Pekka Rinne - the franchise’s best player - playing at an other-worldly level. Back in 2017 - the last time they were the final seed in the playoffs - the Predators embarked on the deepest playoff run in team history. Nashville’s proved the experts wrong before. One predictive measure gives the Avalanche a 29% chance - nearly one in three odds - to sweep the series. The Preds were going to be sizable underdogs against either of the Western Conference’s top teams, but without Saros no one - I mean NO ONE - is giving them a chance. Now they will be facing the conference’s top seed in a best-of-seven series with either Rittich or 25-year-old AHL call-up Connor Ingram as their starting goaltender for however long Saros is out, if he’s even able to make it back to play in the postseason. 1 Wild Card spot in the Western Conference and a first-round matchup against the Flames instead of the 119-point Avalanche. That dropped point ultimately cost the Predators the No. Just how important is his presence? His replacement David Rittich gave up an improbable game-tying goal with 00:00.1 left in regulation, and then surrendered a soft game-winner that squirted between his elbow and his pads and over the goal line in overtime. Nashville was leading by a goal when the Vezina Trophy candidate hobbled to the bench and down the tunnel in the waning minutes of the third period. ![]() Saros suffered what appeared to be a left leg injury last Tuesday in a game against the Flames. But their chances of sticking around took a big hit Monday with the official announcement that star goaltender Juuse Saros will miss at least the first two games of the team’s first-round series against Colorado. (WTVF) - For the eighth consecutive season, the Predators reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs. ![]()
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