There's a But in All of This

The Nashville Predators are, right now, the best team in hockey with the most wins (36) and points (75) and are actually one of the highest scoring teams in the entire league (2nd only to Buffalo, 1st in the Western Conference), with not one guy lighting up the leaderboard for goals. They've been tearing through the season in exciting fashion. I looked at ESPN and they have them, surprisingly, atop their "power rankings," unprecedented for a team that rarely gets any kind of focus within a sport that already has nearly lost its status as a "major sport."

However, one thing that bothers me about them is that they have built much of this season through beating teams that they should beat, and yes, that's better than losing to said teams, but that's not the point. The Preds are losing to the best teams, the ones they will ultimately be facing in the playoffs. Against the other current 7 teams that would be in the playoffs should the season end today, the Preds are 9-10 (discounting factors of the overtime loss or shootout loss; a loss is a loss in the playoffs). 10 total losses against those teams, out of 15 possibles (Buffalo, Chicago (3), and Phoenix round out the other losses). To be a bit more fair, most of those losses have occurred away from home, but they've lost at the GEC, too.

So I'm cautiously excited about them. They could very well be one of those teams that get the 1 seed and lose in the first round. That would erase a good season in a heartbeat. They obviously need some defense, and they may very well get that. Until then, fingers crossed.