Looking ahead to potential first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs matchups for the Predators, a few things could still happen over the final week-plus of the season that will determine what team Nashville will face to start the postseason.
The Predators clinshed one of the two Western Conference wild card positions Tuesday. The two wild card teams play the two division winners in the first round, with the division winner with the most points playing the second wild card team. The division winners will have home-ice advantage in the respective series, so the Predators will start the playoffs on the road.
Dallas led the Central Division and Vancouver the Pacific earlier this week, meaning one of those two teams are the most likely first round opponents for the Predators. Head-to-head this season, the Canucks swept the Predators in their three meetings, while the Predators and Stars split their four-game season series.
Interestingly, the road team won each matchup in games between the Preds and Dallas this season. The most memorable game of the series was Stars’ 9-2 drubbing of the Predators in Nashville Feb. 15 that immediately preceded Nashville’s 16-0-2 run.
In their playoff history, the Predators have played both Vancouver and Dallas once.
They met Vancouver in the Western Conference semifinal round in 2011, falling to the Canucks in six games. And in 2019, they lost to Dallas in the first round, also in six games.
Many of the players have changed teams since those series were completed, so, like the stock market, past performance is no indication of future results.
Colorado has a decent shot of catching and passing Dallas in the Central race, while Edmonton is also within striking distance of Vancouver in the Pacific, making those teams also possible first round opponents for the Predators.
One quirk of the NHL’s playoff format is that the teams are not reseeded after the first round and play in a bracket-style format. So should the Predators match up with the Pacific Division winner and win the first series, their second-round opponent would be the winner of the Pacific’s two-three seed series.
The NHL utilizes the 2-2-1-1-1 format for each seven-game series. From a travel perspective, staying in the Central and facing the Stars or Avalanche would be much more preferable to starting the playoffs and making up to three separate trips to Western Canada for just one series.
But no matter the opponent, the Predators would be making a postseason appearance that not many thought possible, even as recently as the middle of February.