Nashville Newcomers Impress In Debut, Set Tone for Preds Identity

If first impressions are everything, Nashville's newcomers didn't waste any time making a good one.
Each of the key offseason acquisitions the Predators made over the past few months that were in the Opening Night lineup during
Thursday's 3-1 win over Columbus
had a notable impact in the victory, and it was exactly what the organization was hoping for.

To start, Luke Kunin scored his first goal as a member of the Preds. Erik Haula and Brad Richardson each picked up a primary assist. The defensive pairing of Mark Borowiecki and Matt Benning combined to block five shots and were each +2 on the night - plus, Borowiecki was also credited with a helper after the fact on Friday morning. And finally, Nick Cousins, who has been voted both one of the best and worst trash talkers in the NHL, had three shots on goal and seemed to be in the middle of just about everything.
Other than that, nothing much to report.
"Our new guys really showed off in a really good way," Preds defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. "Kunin scored that big goal and…our third pair did an unbelievable job out there playing solidly. I thought the whole team played really good in front of [goaltender Juuse Saros] last night. [It was a] really good [first] impression for all of them. We have quite a few [new players] this year, so it's nice to have a new feeling in the team and hopefully we can keep that going."
"It was a lot of fun and surreal putting on a different color pair of socks and jersey when I was getting dressed," Borowiecki said Friday. "It's been a long time for me in red and black [with the Ottawa Senators], so I really enjoyed it and had a smile on my face for sure. It's a great group of guys here, and I'm pretty excited to be here."
Borowiecki's sentiment is shared throughout the organization too - the Preds were enthusiastic to welcome some new pieces to the group, and now that they've shown what they add to the team, there was a sense of satisfaction following the first win.

"That's something we've really been working on and focusing on and talking about is how much more competitive and harder that we want to play," Borowiecki said. "You saw that reflected in the score and the way the game went. It was a good job by us; you get down by a goal against a team who checks tight like Columbus, it's easy to start cutting corners and cheating, looking for offense, but we stuck to our game plan. We were really competitive in the third period, and I thought we did a great job."
As Ekholm stated Friday, it wasn't that the Predators won on Opening Night, but the way they did so - staying sharp defensively, blocking shots and grinding out a greasy victory. Throughout training camp, the Preds preached the need to be a tougher team to play against, and that's exactly what they were in game No. 1.
"It wasn't the prettiest game we'll ever play, but it's a style you've got to be able to [play]," Richardson said. "Columbus is a tough, grinding team, and you've got to be able to adapt and play those games. That's how you win in this League, especially when it gets down to playoff time. It's playing defensively first, to play the right way, playing hard and being a tough team to play against. Then, we capitalized on our opportunities, and that's how you win in this League… We have a lot of skill, so it's going to all click together, but I think you've got to have that defense-first, hard-to-play-against mentality."
That postseason mindset might as well already be here, too. With the first game out of the way and only 55 more to go, every contest matters that much in the Central Division standings where only the top four out of the eight clubs will make the playoffs.
The Predators know where they want to go, and there's plenty of work to do to get there. But to earn the first two points of the season at the start won't hurt their cause. And if the new guys have anything to say about it, there will be plenty more efforts just like that in the months to come.
"That helps a lot when you have a game where things maybe don't go our way right off the hop," Borowiecki said. "We were down 1-0, and we had to work for that win. Around the season, you don't want things to come to you too easy, because then when it gets tough, you don't have a lot of experience to draw on. All in all, [the first game] ended up working out well for us."