Top-Seeded Preds Want to Play Desperate, Embrace Home-Ice Advantage

One year ago, the Predators were setting the same expectations, saying the same things, feeling the same confidence.
One year later, so much has changed - and yet, so much remains constant.
On paper, things are drastically different. Nashville enters the 2018 postseason with their first Central Division title, regular-season Western Conference title and Presidents' Trophy win in franchise history. Their 117 points this time around are a stark contrast to the 94 points of 2016-17, the last team to clinch a spot last April.
They became the first team in the League to punch their ticket in 2018.

In a collection of predictions last spring, 57 out of 61 pundits picked the Preds to lose to the Chicago Blackhawks in Round One. We all know how that turned out. This year, one would be hard pressed to find a club other than Nashville predicted to at least make it back to the Stanley Cup Final, if not win it all.
When the puck drops at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night for Game 1, the Colorado Avalanche will sit opposite the Predators as the final team to clinch a spot in this year's dance. And they're guaranteed to have the same aspirations as their top-ranked counterparts.
But the Predators don't look at it that way, a matchup between a No. 1 and No. 8 seed. Instead, they see it simply as a group standing in their way of 16 total wins. And they intend to take care of business.
"We don't take anybody lightly," Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. "At the end of the day, two teams are going to square off at 8:30 on Thursday night, and the best team is going to win. There's going to be a lot of talk about a lot of different things, whether we're the No. 1 seed or the No. 8, it doesn't matter."
"We have to go with the same mindset we did last year," Preds Associate Captain Ryan Ellis said. "Whether you're at the top or the bottom, both teams have a chance to win at any given point. I think we have to go into it with something to prove, play desperate and play hungry. We want to get back to where we were last year."

Attaining that feat will require 16 wins over the next two months, and the way the Predators see it, they'll have an even better chance than they did last time around because of three words: home-ice advantage.
Nashville went 9-2 in their own building during the 2017 postseason, including a Game 6 victory in the Western Conference Final, followed by wins in the first two Cup Final matchups in Bridgestone Arena history.
The bench boss has said securing home-ice advantage was atop the list to accomplish through the 82-game regular season. Now that they have it, the Preds intend to utilize it wisely.
"I can't stress the importance of that enough just having home ice," Laviolette said. "That doesn't mean we're going to win every home game… But if it gets down to the wire and it comes down to a Game 7, it's back at Bridgestone Arena, which is what we always wanted."
"When you think about it, if you take care of all the home games, you win the Stanley Cup," Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne said. "We all love to play here in our arena and love to play in front of our fans and feel very confident playing in that building. I hope that it works to our advantage."
The Predators managed to block out the noise last season when no one believed in them. Now, they're blocking out the hype.
They know if they're going to be skating in June again, that journey needs to start in April, one game, one period, one shift at a time.
"Our guys will be ready," Laviolette said. "They have been focused their entire year. They'll be focused and they'll be ready to play Game 1."