The Predators failed to take advantage of their opportunity to clinch the Western Conference’s top wildcard position on Monday.
But former Preds coach John Hynes and the Minnesota Wild did Nashville a favor.
The Wild’s 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday made it mathematically impossible for both the Kings and the Las Vegas Golden Knights — the other teams involved in the wildcard chase — to finish ahead of Nashville, no matter what happens over the final three nights of the regular season (even if tiebreakers become necessary).
So the Preds (47-30-5) will open the NHL playoffs next week as the conference’s top wildcard, despite falling 4-2 to the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.
Nashville’s first-round opponent has yet to be decided.
The Predators know they’ll face the conference’s second-best division winner, but it remains to be seen whether that team will be Vancouver, Dallas or Edmonton.
The most likely opponent at this point is Vancouver (107 points), which has a three-point edge over the Oilers (104 points) in the Pacific Division. The Canucks are four points behind Central Division champ Dallas (111), with the Stars looking as if they will be the Western Conference’s top seed.
Nashville was 0-3 against Vancouver this season, 2-2 against Dallas and 1-2 against Edmonton.
Speaking of playoffs, the Predators faced a Pittsburgh team in desperation mode on Monday, as the Penguins needed at least one point to remain in the postseason hunt.
The Penguins blitzed Nashville in the opening period, out-shooting the Preds 20-5 and outscoring them 2-0 — despite the fact two Pittsburgh goals were waved off because of goaltender interference.
The Predators twice rallied to within a goal but couldn’t manage to tie the contest.
“I think we just played 40 minutes,” Nashville defenseman Jeremy Lauzon said on the Bally Sports post-game show. “We weren’t ready in the first and it showed. They got up a couple goals and after that, we were just trying to come back. I think we played really good in the second and third, but it was a little too late.”
Lauzon, however, had a record-breaking night. His nine hits against the Penguins gave him 383 for the season, setting an NHL record. The mark was previously held by Matt Martin, who posted 382 hits with the New York Islanders during the 2014-15 season.
“Yeah, it’s pretty awesome,” said Lauzon, 26. “It’s something that I wanted to achieve. Being able to achieve it at that age — I’m pretty young and I have a lot of years — that’s pretty awesome.”
Filip Forsberg scored a goal for the Predators, closing the regular season with at least a goal in three straight games — and five goals overall during that stretch.
Nashville finished the season 3-1-1 in its last five games after losing four of its five previous contests.
“We have a lot of confidence,” Lauzon said. “We showed that we were a playoff team this year. We were playing great. Obviously [Monday] wasn’t our best game, but we’ll be ready for Game One.”