A nod to Darryl Sutter. That man called this back in March.
When Sutter, the Calgary Flames coach, famously told reporters that “It’s going to be a waste of eight days†for the wild-card team that had to face the Colorado Avalanche in the first round, he couldn’t have known that he was correctly forecasting the first time in Nashville Predators’ history they’d be swept out of playoff series.
Ultimately, the Predators led for a total of about five minutes in a lopsided four-game series that ended with Monday night’s 5-3 comeback victory for the Avalanche at Bridgestone Arena. Colorado scored the game’s final three goals – including an empty-netter – after finally falling behind briefly in the third period.
Not much left to say except marvel at Sutter’s prognosticating. What he projected has indeed been glaringly obvious for the past week: The Predators were no match for an opponent better in all areas.
What a humbling and meek end to a once-promising season for a Nashville team that believed it was better than this and said so entering this series, even as the heaviest of underdogs to the top-seeded Avalanche. Earlier this season, in better times, perhaps the brawling, scrapping Predators would have had a shot at something so improbable.
This group, however, did not. These Predators more resembled the weary bunch that struggled in the final weeks of the regular season, costing them a chance to play Sutter’s Flames in the first round instead of the time-wasters from Colorado.
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Indeed, these Predators never had much of a chance without injured goalie Juuse Saros – and probably wouldn’t have fared much better with him.
In a relatively tight Game 4 that got away in the third period, the Predators earned the moral victory of their first lead in four games. Filip Forsberg’s first goal of the series, a tap-in from Mattias Ekholm, gave them a 3-2 lead after a pair of goals from Yakov Trenin, who was one of the few bright spots for Nashville in this dismal series.
Hello, offseason, and some tough questions await a franchise that’ll have to soon deal with expiring contracts for head coach John Hynes and a star forward in Forsberg.
One question: What the heck happened to turn a season that was going so well and crashed with a thud? The Predators lost eight of their final nine games.
Winning just one game would have felt like a seismic upset for the Predators. Entering Game 4, the count was 16-6 in the Avalanche’s favor. As in every game, Colorado scored the first goal Monday, with Andre Burakovsky sending a puck through a tear in the net. Replay revealed the strange goal.
True to form, the Avalanche didn’t blink after Forsberg’s goal, either. They scored twice in a stretch of about three minutes to reclaim the lead and see off the Predators in their own building.
The game ended with Forsberg in the penalty box, his team trailing as Colorado scored in an empty net.
In doing so, they proved most everyone correct, Calgary’s coach the first among them.
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Avalanche first round sweep vs. Predators indeed ‘waste of eight days’
