Predators playing a new tune in America’s Music City

Competition for places within the team has helped the NHL franchise from Nashville return from long road trip in first place, writes Gregg Patton.

The anonymous Nashville Predators are in first place in the Central Division of the Western Conference, having won four of six games on their trip. Mark Humphrey / AP Photo

The Nashville Predators are reminded every autumn that they play second fiddle in their hometown to the city’s musical infatuation.

For two weeks, the Predators are booted out of Bridgestone Arena for an extended road trip so that Nashville can put on the Country Music Awards and all the hoopla that goes with them.

Toiling in the shadows comes naturally to Nashville’s ice hockey club.

In their 16-year history, the Predators have won only two post-season series, have missed the play-offs the past two seasons and do not have one player close to producing the starlight generated by the big-haired, cowboy-hatted, guitar-strumming performers who were feted over the weekend.

This time, though, as the triumphant musicians take their leave, another set of winners return to Music City.

The anonymous Predators are in first place in the Central Division of the Western Conference, having won four of six games on their trip.

In the process, they ended the winning streaks of the St Louis Blues (seven games), the Edmonton Oilers (four games) and the Vancouver Canucks (four games).

“We’ve got to keep building on this,” said little-known forward Filip Forsberg.

Perhaps the hockey fans of central Tennessee are at least paying attention to the 20-year-old Swede, whose 15 points (six goals, nine assists) and plus-15 rating lead all rookies.

Forsberg and newly acquired veterans Mike Ribeiro and James Neal skate on the team’s most dangerous line, but the team prefers a more egalitarian approach.

“I don’t feel like I’ve had to lean on a skill line or a defensive line more,” new coach Peter Laviolette told the Tennessean newspaper.

“We’ve got a lot of balance by staying fresh, taking down minutes and putting guys in a position of strength.”

If you were to pick the team’s most familiar names, they would be blue-liner Shea Weber and goalie Pekka Rinne, who have formed the backbone of a defence-minded club the past few years, which have included short play-offs runs in 2011 and 2012.

Their approach has not changed. In winning nine of their 14 games, the Predators have yielded 28 goals while scoring a modest 35.

“We’ve got a lot of two-way guys who play both ends of the ice,” Rinne said. “It’s a strength of this team. We have four good lines and it’s competitive for spots in practice. It’s making us work every single day.”

The team has a long season to prove it can stay with the likes of the Chicago Blackhawks and St Louis, the traditional powers in the division.

The Predators’ trip-ending win in St Louis was only their second in their past 12 against the Blues but, in Nashville, there is hope – even Johnny Cash was anonymous once.

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