Experienced Bonino Knows Preds Equipped to Handle Playoff Pressure

Nick Bonino knows the promises - and perils - that sometimes come with expectations entering the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He's been on both sides of it.
The Nashville Predators open the first round of the playoffs in unchartered territory this Thursday when they host the Colorado Avalanche at Bridgestone Arena. For the first time in franchise history, the Preds enter the postseason as not only Central Division champions but the top overall seed as Presidents' Trophy winners.
A two-time Cup champion as a member of the perennial title-contending Pittsburgh Penguins, Bonino said regardless of team positioning, the most important approach to playoff hockey involves a narrow focus. Block everything out except the task at hand.

"We're just trying to stay in the moment, and I think that's the thing I stress the most when I play in my playoff games," said Bonino, an eighth-year NHL veteran who signed with the Predators this past offseason. "Stay in the moment and play the shift in front of you."
Three times in the previous four seasons, Bonino's teams entered postseason play among the Cup favorites with varying results. In each of the past two runs, his Penguins knocked off Presidents' Trophy-winning Washington in the second round to clear their path to the Stanley Cup. In 2014, it was Bonino's Anaheim Ducks that were toppled in Round Two despite home-ice advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs.
Of course, the Preds slayed a similar behemoth last year by upending Central Division winner Chicago in the first round before making their run to the Stanley Cup Final from the West's second Wild Card position. Nashville faces a much different road this time around, sitting in the driver's seat steeped in expectations.
Playing with that pressure at their backs can be a challenge, but Bonino said each team faces similar stresses come playoff time. Whatever the media writes and the fans shout from behind the glass pales in comparison to the internal pressures the players place on themselves.
"Maybe there's that newness to it, but we're just going to take it as it goes," the 29-year-old center said of Nashville's first playoff appearance as a division titleist. "It's a young franchise, but they've gone pretty deep with a really young team. Done it before, hope to get back there."