This season the Preds have seemed to find a different groove when playing on the road. I wrote towards the beginning of the season that the early November roadtrip would be a major opportunity for this team to come together and take a giant leap forward in their production. Although the play hit some hiccups along the way, this team is learning to never find themselves out of the fight, no matter the context. This has only become more of the case after the Preds went 4-0-0 on their most recent trip to Detroit, NYI, NJ, and NYR. 8/8 points is not a bad result whatsoever, especially when the recent play has been somewhat streaky with the win one, lose on results.

I’ve started to find it to be a better gauge of the Preds to analyze this team within individual windows of games as opposed to a night-by-night basis. The individual games have the potential to reveal major issues and also to demonstrate incredible resolve. But a window of games provide for a better understanding of the DNA of the team and how they recover, maintain momentum, or otherwise. This roadtrip demonstrated who the Preds truly are in my opinion. The strong, physical type hockey that Hynes has wanted to implement is finally taking root with the players buying in from the gritty Trenin, Sissons, Jeannot, etc. Even Granlund has been carrying a chip on his shoulder and not only demonstrating his incredible skill and high hockey IQ, but also dropping the gloves in NJ further providing that he won’t be pushed around either. During the latter years of the Laviolette era, skill and speed were the focus. It was extremely entertaining in my opinion. This worked for awhile, I mean we did make it to the Cup final after all. But once teams began to adapt and hit back with similar skill and speed, the system began to fall apart. The system under Hynes had to take time to take a step back and reassess this team and interpret what was working, what worked and is no longer working, and how to mesh the two back into a bona fide approach. The game in Manhattan at MSG demonstrated that the meshing may be approaching its ultimate goal. Teams are no longer expecting to welcome Nashville into town and pushing them around. The skilled guys are stepping up as needed, along with the gritty guys scoring goals and protecting themselves and their teammates.

There are of course players on this roster that can deliver the highlight goal, but the system is not developed to produce SportsCenter attractions on a nightly basis. The goal is to beat the other team down until they make a mistake. Suffocate them until they begin to doubt their resolve and then capitalize on their mistakes. The days of 5-2, 6-4 games are meant to soon be an aberration and not the norm. 1-0 battles until the last second are the goal. For myself, I enjoy this type of hockey. The passion is there. The commitment to the greater goal of the team and your teammates. To top it all off, even when players are hitting unfortunate turns, such a Tolvanen not scoring for numerous games since the start of the season, he then came back to score 4 straight. The true test of a player and a team is not when they are playing well, but when they are playing bad. The chances continue to come, and it seems like the team is really taking a step forward. Obviously adjustments are needed and Saros is a major factor of the success or failure of this team. But then again, every successful team in professional hockey ultimately has to rely on the goaltending to survive long term.

There’s still a lot of season to go, but it’s becoming evident that this team genuinely enjoys playing with one another. Sometimes a gritty team that focuses on a trap-type, defensive style of play can be boring, but I find the Preds style of play to be very intriguing hockey. Sure, people can call me a homer with this being my hometown team who I have supported from the very beginning, but I also try to let you know when I’m frustrated or disappointed as well. It’s a mixture of heaviness dabbled with skill. It won't likely be a nightly Zegras-Milano type style, but there's enough skill in there built with grit to maybe make Torts angry and happy at the same time.

As for the win streak, it currently stands at 5 in a row with the Preds winning 7 of their last 10 for a season record of 17-10-1 and good enough for second in the central. Obviously, the Cup favorite Avs have 3 games in hand but if anyone predicted the Preds to be at this place in the division at this point in the season, we all may have rolled our eyes a bit.

For better or for worse, the Preds will have an extended break going into their game against their central division opponent Avalanche on Thursday, December 16, as tomorrow night’s game against the Flames has been postponed due to COVID-related issues with the Flames and how that impacts enforcement at the Canadian-American border. It’s unfortunate to have to continue to deal with these issues, but that is the world we live in. At least the team is home now as they await their next game as opposed to being out of town as was the case with the previous Ottawa postponement. Let’s hope the team continues to play strong and avoid a stinker of a game off an extended break like we experienced in Montreal a few weeks ago.

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