The waiting is (almost) over.
After a break for the Olympic Winter Games and a three-week hiatus in the NHL schedule, the Nashville Predators are set to resume their season on Thursday night when the Chicago Blackhawks come to town for the unofficial start of what the Preds hope will be a postseason push.
And they’re more than ready.
“It’s huge,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said Wednesday of the magnitude of the first game back from the break. “Coming off a break…you never know what to expect from the other team either. I think the team who’s more urgent and comes out harder always has the advantage, and we know where we're at. The Trade Deadline is close, so those are big games before [the deadline]. We want to make a push here and sneak into the playoffs.”
Only 25 games remain in the regular season for the Preds, but as Josi alluded to, just five contests stand between them and the NHL Trade Deadline, which comes March 6 at 2 p.m. CT.
That marker carries importance in this line of work, and while Predators players don’t control what happens between now and then in the front office, they do know winning games always makes a positive impact.
So, that’s exactly what they’re hoping to do, starting tomorrow night.
“We don't have the luxury of easing our way back into this,” Preds winger Luke Evangelista said Wednesday. “We need points right off the bat. We need to play our game right away. We have no time to come easy out the gate. We’re looking to have a good start and get some momentum under our feet right away, and kind of build for the few games before the deadline.”
The Predators find themselves four points of a Wild Card spot in the Western Conference at this juncture, but there’s confidence in what they’re capable of doing, especially considering the way this group worked their way back into the postseason conversation after a sluggish start.
Now, with a week of practices complete following 10 days off, the Preds are simply eager to get back to game action once more.
“The challenge is to be connected,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “Took us a little while to get there. We were there before the break, and our game was in a really good spot. Now, a challenge here coming forward is, can we get back there soon? It has to be quick. The margin of error isn’t going to be zero, but it's going to be tiny. We understand that, we understand where we are and we understand how hard [it was] to get here. So, we're in a position here that we've been trying to get to all year. Now, we're in it. Let's take advantage of it. We should be excited about where we're at and also understanding we've gone through stuff together, and we know how hard it's going to be. It’s going to be really hard starting tomorrow night.”
Pressure in the NHL is always present, and there will be no lack of it once the puck drops at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night.
But as far as the Preds are concerned? Well, there’s nothing better than the pressure that comes under these circumstances.
“This is where we want to be this time of the year,” Evangelista said. “If you asked us at the start of the year [where we would want to be], this is a great position. We're playing super meaningful games this time of the year. It's exciting for all of us. You can feel the atmosphere in the city, in the building at home, and it's awesome. We’re just looking to get that momentum going right away.”
