NASHVILLE, Tenn. — One thing you figure out about Roman Josi over years of Josi captaining and speaking for the Nashville Predators is that the message stays in a relatively confined emotional range — very little hyperbole, good or bad — but the eyes convey more concern than the words at times.
As they did often from around 2019 to 2023. On the early side of that, because the Preds were starting to slide from the upper crust of the league. On the late side of that, because they were closer to the bottom. Josi, the Preds’ eighth captain, took over after the 2017 Stanley Cup Final run, led a Presidents’ Trophy team right away and has been elite for the entire cycle leading to this old/young team with a first-year coach and GM that has the attention of its fans.
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So let’s go to the Preds locker room Tuesday night, moments after the horn sounded on a disappointing 3-0 loss to the Boston Bruins, which marked three straight losses for Nashville after a franchise-record points streak of 18 games. Josi stood there and analyzed it — good game that was scoreless well into the third period, 5-on-5 success for the Preds, more power-play failures and this parting shot: “I feel like our game is in order.”
His eyes said the same thing. His body language conveyed a confident shrug. Thirty-one seconds into the next game, he made a play that helped explain why — and why spring in Nashville feels different than it has in years. Josi took a perfect backhanded pass from Ryan O’Reilly at full speed out of the defensive zone, zoomed into a 2-on-1 opportunity, gave St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington enough of a glance left to force Binnington to consider the pass, then ripped one past him, five-hole.
THE CAPTAIN pic.twitter.com/LXXXXSmQKL
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) April 5, 2024
It was 1-0 Preds right away Thursday, it was 6-3 at the end to the delight of stuffed Bridgestone Arena despite a “B” game overall from the home team, and it’s a tiny bit of math away from being official: The Nashville Predators are going back to the playoffs after a one-year absence. This would be a surprise to most who evaluated this team on paper entering the first season with Andrew Brunette as coach and Barry Trotz as general manager.
This would be a massive surprise to anyone who lost contact with the outside world after watching the Preds on Feb. 15 — when they were destroyed 9-2 at home by the Dallas Stars to fall to 27-25-2, 14-15-0 at home. This should be no surprise to anyone who did the math on the points streak that immediately followed that embarrassment.
It lifted the Preds into strong postseason position — today they are 44-28-4, 22-16-1 at home, with a magic number of four points until clinching a spot and most likely to grab the top wild card and a series against the Vancouver Canucks – and it was all real, all substance, no smoke, no mirrors.
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They dominated possession during those games, which accounted for 22 percent of the season. They were tops in expected goals percentage in the NHL during those games, with the most high-danger chances and fifth-fewest allowed. They got Juuse Saros at his best after most of this season was far from that, but that also had to do with a team supporting him better as it gradually adjusted to a very different system, and that helps explain Josi’s second-half emergence as a viable Norris Trophy threat among other things.
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The Predators became, during that stretch, what they continue to be now that it’s over: the best Nashville Predators team since the 2018-19 version that won the Central Division and lost to Dallas in the first round. Also, the most exciting Preds team since the 2017-18 version that first-year captain Josi helped lead to the last playoff series win they’ve enjoyed.
The loss to Dallas five years ago was confirmation that things were going the wrong way. The 2021 six-game series loss to the Carolina Hurricanes was a strong performance for a team, coached by John Hynes, that also took late-season momentum into the postseason. But this team? This team actually looks like it could do something beyond staging a competitive series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
That’s because of the addition of veterans O’Reilly and Gus Nyquist, creating a formidable top line with Filip Forsberg — who got two goals Thursday to tie Matt Duchene’s single-season club record of 43.
🗣️ FILIP FORSBERG HAS TIED THE FRANCHISE RECORD FOR GOALS IN A SEASON pic.twitter.com/FaS4No63HS
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) April 5, 2024
It’s because of the other two stars who have endured through all of this, Josi and Saros. It’s because of emerging players such as Jeremy Lauzon and Luke Evangelista. And it’s much credit to Brunette, whose system automatically makes Predators hockey more entertaining and clearly works when players figure it out.
Brunette added emphasis on the power play after it bottomed out against Boston — barely able to set up, giving up a short-handed goal to break a scoreless tie in the third period. He tweaked it, too. Evangelista replaced Cody Glass on the top unit, and Anthony Beauvillier took Glass’ spot in the lineup. The power play scored two goals Thursday. Evangelista created an opportunity in front of the net that was buried by Beauvillier. There’s some coaching at work.
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And it’s a good thing because the Blues, desperate to stay in the race, controlled the 5-on-5 action and were all over Saros, who had 44 saves and had Brunette saying of him: “I don’t know if he’s played a better game all year.”
“We didn’t really have it, which was fine,” Brunette said. “We found a way. Showed the maturity of the group.”
And then we saw a glimpse of the fun the group is having when Forsberg — who has a nagging injury that hasn’t allowed him to practice in several weeks but hasn’t stopped him from being on a complete tear — made an Allen Iverson “We’re talking about practice?” in response to a question about his game-only status.
“We told him, ‘Maybe take the summer off and don’t practice,’” Josi joked of Forsberg. “He can stay off as much as he wants if he keeps scoring like that.”
The smile that accompanied those words did not look forced.
(Photo of Roman Josi, right, celebrating with teammates after his first-period goal: Christopher Hanewinckel / USA Today)
