Touches of Smashville Make Edmonton Feel More Like Home for Preds

They may be more than 2,000 miles away from their home building, but the Predators have still felt a touch of Smashville and Bridgestone Arena in Edmonton.

The Preds have been designated as the home team through their first two games in a best-of-five Stanley Cup Qualifier series against the Arizona Coyotes, and that means Rogers Place has undergone about as much of a transformation as possible to bring those elements from the 7th Man into the building.

After all seven of Nashville's goals through the first two contests, the familiar blast of the Bridgestone goal horn has echoed through the rafters, followed by Tim McGraw's custom Predators version of "I Like It, I Love It," and then "Gold On The Ceiling" from The Black Keys. Video of McGraw's Preds fandom also plays on the massive scoreboard in the building, and images of the Predators logo - and video of their fans - flash on the LED screens behind the benches.

There are other familiar elements too, like Predators public address announcer Paul McCann's voice exclaiming "fang fingers" prior to a Nashville power play and the usual mix of tunes that play during warm-ups as they would at 501 Broadway.

Even the national anthem has had a Music City playoff feel to it - Jesse James Decker performed the Star-Spangled Banner prior to Game 1 via pre-recorded video from Bridgestone Arena, and Old Crow Medicine Show took over for Game 2.

Sure, it would be impossible to ever completely recreate the ear-splitting postseason decibels the Preds have come to know and love at home, but they're still noticing these welcome touches.

"There's definitely plenty of energy in Bridgestone Arena back home," Preds center Ryan Johansen said following Nashville's win in Game 2. "To have those little things, the little reminders of what it's like to play at home, it's definitely nice to hear as the game's going along to get those reminders of fans back home their passion for our hockey club. It's been nice hearing all those things."

Predators players, coaches and staff have also appreciated seeing the Nashville logo throughout the team hotel - and they've even taken note of an electronic billboard in downtown Edmonton that reads "Win For Smashville."

The gestures are small, but they haven't gone unnoticed - and neither has the fan support from all the way back home here in "PREDmonton."

"[When I used to come] to Nashville as an opposing coach, you just see from the hockey perspective, the fans and the involvement in the community and around the arena, it's one of the most exciting places to play," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "And now being in the organization, you know it's so professionally well done… Everybody works together in the hockey department and the business department, marketing, all those things, and they've done a tremendous job helping us.

"It's something that we talked about as an organization prior to coming here was really trying to [Win for Smashville] and try to involve the community, involve the Nashville Predators and you see what they've done. We get the billboard here in Edmonton and the things they've done around the hotel, the game ops; it's a high-class organization, it's really well run and they support the players unbelievably."