Coach lightens Preds’ mood, wears bull’s head for road wins

Nashville Predators' Zac Rinaldo, center, celebrates his goal with teammates Yannick Weber, left, of Switzerland, and Ryan Hartman during an NHL hockey game against the Calgary Flames in Calgary, Alberta, Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP) Nashville Predators' Zac Rinaldo, center, celebrates his goal with teammates Yannick Weber, left, of Switzerland, and Ryan Hartman during an NHL hockey game against the Calgary Flames in Calgary, Alberta, Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)

By Associated Press October 22, 2018 3 min read

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Nashville coach Peter Laviolette pulled out a bull’s head to lighten the grind of the 82-game NHL regular season and challenge the Predators to get a couple of road wins.

Win both games in western Canada, and Laviolette would put on the bull’s head while talking to reporters.

The Predators won both contests, beating Calgary 5-3 and shutting out the Oilers in Edmonton 3-0 on Saturday night.

So Laviolette put on the bull’s head.

“Guys want to have fun at the end of the day,” Laviolette said Monday. “When there’s a couple minutes left in the game and Roman (Josi) finally puts in the empty netter and they’re laughing at me and calling for Bushwhacker at the press conference you know I’m in trouble. So like I said, it was fun. It was good to go up there and win a couple games and just have some fun.”