The series may be over, but the Nashville Predators are pleased about the lessons they learned as a team doing battle with the league’s best team. When Detroit closed out their series with Nashville last night, the Predators held their heads high.

The Red Wings got lucky early on in the game last night as Nicklas Lidstrom bounced in a short-handed goal over goaltender Dan Ellis in the second period. The goal was reminiscent of a similar goal he scored on Canucks goalie Dan Cloutier a few years ago.

“I’m just trying to float one in there,” Lidstrom said. “I took some off the shot just to see if I could land in front of him, just go for a bounce or just create something in front of him.”

Dan Ellis, who had been the Predators key reason for success, struggled with it and never recovered. “It just took a wicked bounce to the top corner. It’s a situation you really can’t do much about it. I thought I was close enough to stop it from going anywhere,” Ellis said.

Despite this, the Predators had no pressure in a series few thought they’d have a chance to win. Their season featured a change in owners and the unloading of several top players under previous owner Craig Leipold. Nashville couldn’t capitalize with raucous home crowds, either, and stumbled out of the gate. Nevertheless, the Predators were simply happy to be in the post-season after such a tumultuous regular season.

“We had a lot of good battles with Detroit. We have to learn from that and look forward to next year,” Preds forward J.P. Dumont said.

The Predators played a second straight game without captain Jason Arnott, whose 72 points in the regular season tied for the team lead. But they got good news with the return of Michigan native David Legwand, who has missed the three games in Detroit to protect his bruised left foot. It also marked the return of forward Scott Nichol, who broke his thumb in the opening minutes of Game 1.

The Predators will now look forward to taking those lessons and applying them to next season when it comes to building their team in the right direction. The Red Wings will look forward to the second round of the playoffs and will do all they can to stave off an early exit.

Detroit Red Wings vs. Nashville Predators

Head-to-Head: Detroit finishes the year with the President’s Trophy and 115 points, while Nashville squeaked in the playoffs after pushing past the hapless Vancouver Canucks. Nashville’s 91 points give them the lowest total of all other playoff teams. On paper, it doesn’t look very good for the Predators and on the ice it likely doesn’t look too different.

Detroit is a juggernaut of a team in the post-season, but they are prone to stumbling with overconfidence. Nashville may surprise many with a solid physical performance and may be able to out-hit the Wings early on. As the series progresses, however, the Red Wings will find their form and will grind the Predators down. Only the Canadiens have scored more goals than the Wings this season, so the Predators are fighting an uphill battle offensively too.

Players to Watch: Captain Jason Arnott will be the centerpiece of the Predators playoff run. His physical play and size will come in handy and he may be able to outwork many of the Red Wings forwards in the corners. However, Arnott is simply no match for Detroit’s top end talents. In 82 games this season, the Wings have relied on Pavel Datsyuk to put points on the board. He hasn’t disappointed, finishing the year with 97 points (31 goals and 66 assists). In the playoffs, Datsyuk will be fun to watch.

Jordan’s Prediction: Detroit in 5 games.
Adrian’s Prediction: Detroit in 6 games.

San Jose Sharks vs. Calgary Flames

Head-to-Head: The Sharks have been quietly dominating teams throughout the regular season, putting together 108 points for a second place finish in the West. Calgary, meanwhile, has been fighting all season and grinding it out for 94 points, good enough for 7th in the conference. Calgary has proven their grit in the post-season before and will be tough to beat, but San Jose does have the size advantage. Regardless of how the series ends, it will be a physical fight to the finish.

In terms of offense, the two teams are ridiculously close. San Jose has 222 goals on the season, whereas Calgary has 229. Defensively, San Jose owns Calgary. San Jose’s 193 goals against this season has put them among the stingiest teams in the league, while Calgary’s 227 goals against have barely given them an edge. Calgary will need to tighten things up in order to get the win and will need to work on containing San Jose’s size.

Players to Watch: In the West, nobody will be as fun to watch as Jarome Iginla. He’ll be all over the ice, but he’ll need to contain his energy and save his strength. Iginla may want to drop the gloves, but he’s better suited to play a more offensive game and should defer the fisticuffs to other players. For San Jose, Joe Thornton will be conducting the show. His passing and puck possession is second to none and he’ll use every bit of his arsenal in the post-season. Thornton will be tough to contain and it’ll be interesting watching him go up against Dion Phaneuf.

Jordan’s Prediction: Calgary in 7 games.
Adrian’s Prediction: San Jose in 6 games.

Minnesota Wild vs. Colorado Avalanche

Head-to-Head: In a story of “What? How did they get there?”, the Minnesota Wild find themselves as Division leaders and looking ahead to the post-season with home ice advantage over the Colorado Avalanche. The Wild has been a deceptively solid team all season long and will play tight hockey in the post-season. Despite some changes, the Wild is still pretty much a defence-first team and will tighten up their zone significantly in the playoffs. Colorado will likely play the opposite style, hoping to run-and-gun their way to the second round.

Colorado will hope to thrive on organization and offense, while the Wild will aim at containing the big guns on the Avs and will look for mistakes. Luckily for the Wild, Colorado may make plenty of them. Minnesota owns just enough players to exploit Colorado’s weaknesses and should be able to pull ahead of the Avs despite suffering from a lack of general team experience and top-end offensive skill (save Gaborik and maybe Rolston).

Players to Watch: Minnesota will need Marion Gaborik to step up in a big way in the post-season. He’ll need to be one of the only Minnesota players to think offense-first and drive to the net. The Avs will try to contain his quickness and outside movements, but Gabby will be a handful. As far as Colorado goes, Joe Sakic always comes to play. Coming off of an injury recently, Sakic will be hungry and ready to dominate. He’ll shoot the puck from anywhere and everywhere, including behind his own net, and will be tough to stop on a rush.

Jordan’s Prediction: Minnesota in 6 games.
Adrian’s Prediction: Colorado in 6 games.

Anaheim Ducks vs. Dallas Stars

Head-to-Head: In perhaps the most intense duel of the first round, the Ducks meet the Stars in a battle that will all come down to who’s in goal. The Ducks have been looking rather sluggish, but getting Pronger back will help motivate the team. Selanne and Niedermayer have made a difference in the season, as expected, and other young guns like Getzlaf have chipped in significantly to lead the team in scoring. Overall, though, the Ducks seem to lack a critical element to their game and won’t be as successful as last year. The Stars have added Brad Richards at the deadline and hope to put him to good use against the Ducks.

The Stars boast more of a well-rounded team than the Ducks, as the Ducks lack the top-end speed (despite Marchant) of the Dallas club. Dallas will use Modano and some of their young forwards to chip pucks in deep and run the chasing game, while the Ducks will work hard at containing the Stars along the boards. It should be a grind for both teams, but eventually the Stars own the skill to push ahead of the Ducks. The Stars will pull ahead if they can contain the Ducks forwards in their own end.

Players to Watch: Mike Modano will be trying to make it or break it in this post-season. He’s had a disappointing year and will hope to bounce back by leading his team to the Promised Land. Modano will use his outside speed and his firepower to grind down the Ducks, but he might be more easily contained than usual. For the Ducks, Chris Pronger’s return comes just in time. He’s mean, tough, and downright diabolical. Watch for Pronger to play on that edge again and take risks with his physical play. He may even push for another suspension before the series is out.

Jordan’s Prediction: Dallas in 6 games.
Adrian’s Prediction: Anaheim in 7 games.

The Nashville Predators have rewarded one of the NHL’s “3 Stars for January” with a four-year, $16-million contract.

Predators President of Hockey Operations and General Manager David Poile announced the signing on February 1st. “J.P. Dumont’s commitment, leadership, work ethic and reputation as a big-game performer has helped him fit perfectly into the Predators culture since he came to Nashville by choice as an unrestricted free agent prior to the 2006-07 season,” Poile said. “When he expressed a desire to stay in Nashville, we jumped at the opportunity to keep him as part of our team’s foundation for the next four seasons.”

Dumont has scored 20 goals or more in five of his last six seasons and currently is second on the Nashville Predators in terms of goals, assists, and points. He had a franchise record point streak, dating back to December 29, 2007 that ended on February 2, 2008. With 45 points so far this season, including 18 goals and 27 assists, Dumont’s offensive contributions on the Predators are apparent.

In his first season with Nashville in 2006-2007, Dumont posted career highs in both points and assists, helping the Predators to their best finish in franchise history. Dumont also led the Predators in scoring during the 2007 playoffs, posting six points in five games. For his career, Dumont has scored 27 points in 36 postseason games.

The Predators currently sit at eighth in the extremely close Western Conference. They’ll likely fight for the remainder of the season for a playoff spot, so it’s important that Dumont continues to produce offensively on a team that is relatively limited in that area. By locking him down for four years, the Predators hope to assert an offensive talent and a quality player.

Barry Trotz and his coaching staff will be back in Nashville after a very successful season and the best year in franchise history. The Predators organization had not made a decision on his contract at the start of the year, but chose to let the team focus on hockey and reward Trotz if they did well. As everyone knows, the Predators had a great year and finished with a franchise high 110 points and 51 wins.

Barry Trotz is the only head coach that the Nashville Predators have ever had. Previous to his coaching gig in Nashville, Trotz was the coach of the AHL’s Baltimore Skipjacks and Portland Pirates. He won an AHL Championship with the Pirates in 1994.

Trotz became coach of the Preds in 1997, when the franchise was created in the NHL. He has since led Nashville to three straight playoff-making seasons and holds the NHL record for most seasons coached by the first coach of an NHL franchise. Most franchises in the league struggle finding a good coach right off the bat, but Trotz was the ideal fit for the Predators and his success as their coach has certainly shown.

San Jose’s leading goal scorer, Jonathon Cheechoo, had to be helped off of the ice last night in the game against Nashville after colliding with Scott Hartnell. Hartnell’s vicious knee-on-knee collision got him a major penalty and a game ejection.

This was Hartnell’s second game misconduct in three games. Cheechoo’s return to the series is questionable and, at this point, he is being evaluated.

If Cheechoo is out for the series, San Jose will need to redistribute some of their scoring and do some serious line juggling. The Thornton-Cheechoo line combination is one of the most effective in the NHL, so this may hurt San Jose’s chances significantly.

Still, I stand by my prediction. I think…