Preds Shut Out Avalanche in Game 6, Advance to Second Round of Playoffs

On to the next one.
Five different Nashville Predators found the back of the net and Pekka Rinne made 22 saves in Game 6 as they defeated the Colorado Avalanche, 5-0, and to take their Round One series by a 4-2 count.
The victory sees the Predators advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third consecutive season - a franchise record - to face the Winnipeg Jets as the postseason continues.
From the start of Game 6, the Predators showed grit, determination and a downright refusal to allow this series to require a seventh contest. And it continued until the final horn.

"Just a great team effort," Rinne said of the win. "We didn't give them any life, and defensively, from my standpoint, that was the best game we've played this series. I think we knew that coming in trying to close out this series, it's always demanding and difficult to do, so I thought that we did an amazing job."
"That was our best game from start to finish," forward Austin Watson said. "It's hard not to sit back a little bit, but I think overall from right away in the start of the game until the finish of it, we had a really strong effort."
After a Colton Sissons goal was disallowed due to goaltender interference, defenseman Mattias Ekholm blasted home a shot just moments later to give the Preds a 1-0 lead. Watson doubled the score less than four minutes after that with his team-leading fourth of the playoffs, and it got better from there.

Filip Forsberg and Nick Bonino each tallied for Nashville in the second stanza, and Viktor Arvidsson tacked one on for good measure in the third period before the Preds closed it out.

To not only finish things off on enemy ice, but to do so with an effort of this magnitude is satisfying for the Preds. They know the task in Round Two is daunting, but an outing like this to begin that excursion certainly won't hurt.
"It's great to have confidence when you win a series," Bonino said. "You're feeling good, but the way we did it, 60 minutes pretty much, we stayed out of the penalty box, that's huge for us."

Survive and Advance:
It wasn't always easy, but the playoffs never are.
But no matter, because the Predators put up five on the Avalanche in Game 6 to eliminate Colorado on home ice and advance to the second round for the third consecutive season.
Even with a heartbreaking defeat in Game 5, Nashville's confidence never wavered, and it showed on Sunday night in Denver. It was a similar situation in Game 3, the Predators disappointed in their efforts in a 5-3 loss.
It happened twice in this series, and on both occasions, the Preds backed up their words of confidence with action, collecting victoires after both of their losses. And the most convincing of all came to close out the series.
"Collectively as a group, we're pretty even keel," Predators defenseman P.K. Subban said. "Even when things have gotten tough for us, we've been so good and I can't remember one time when guys have gotten down on each other, bickered at each other; we're just a really tight group and that's how we were after our last loss. Now you see what happens when we stick to the plan and we stick together."
"It's something we've kind of taken pride in over the years here, certainly been building that side of things up," Sissons said. "We don't like it when we end games poorly or don't have a great effort... so we've always been able to bounce back pretty solidly and thankfully we did that tonight."

Bring On The Jets:
It's the series seemingly everyone predicted - and expected.
And now, the Predators and the Winnipeg Jets - the two best teams in the Central Division and Western Conference - will meet in Round Two where the winner will advance to the conference final.
It's a series that will have a little bit of everything - speed, physicality, and if the regular season tells us anything, plenty of goals.
The challenge is one the Predators are already embracing, and even though they had just shaking the hands of their opponents, they weren't above looking ahead to what's next.
"We're going to be as confident as we can going against Winnipeg, but we know how good they are too," Bonino said. "We'll have maybe a couple days here and then right back at it."
"We're going to enjoy this win...but moving into the second round, I think you want to be playing very good defensive hockey against Winnipeg," Rinne said. "They're one of the better teams in the League and they have a lot of firepower and a lot of talent up front. Also, like our [defensemen], their D is a big part of their game. It's going to be a very exciting series."

Notes:
Mattias Ekholm's goal marked the first tally from a Predators defenseman in these playoffs.
Filip Forsberg finished with six points in the series (4g-2a), tying the mark for the second most he's had in a single series in his career.
The Predators will face the Winnipeg Jets in Round Two of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the first postseason meeting between the two clubs. A full schedule will be announced in the coming days, but the Preds will host Games 1 and 2 at Bridgestone Arena before shifting to Winnipeg for Games 3 and 4.
Click here
for early analysis of the series.