AP photo by Mark Humphrey / Nashville Predators center Matt Duchene celebrates after scoring against Dallas Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin on March 5 in Nashville.The Nashville Predators have been waiting more than a year for some postseason redemption, and the coronavirus pandemic pause on the 2019-20 NHL season prolonged that effort.
For much longer than that, the Arizona Coyotes have been trying to simply get back to the Stanley Cup playoffs, having last qualified in the 2011-12 season.
Now the Predators and Coyotes have a best-of-five qualifying series starting Sunday at noon EDT at Rogers Place, the home arena of the Edmonton Oilers, to make sure they stick around in the NHL's postseason bubble that has Western Conference teams in Edmonton and Eastern Conference teams in Toronto. The game will be televised by USA Network and Fox Sports Tennessee.
"We're here to do something," said Nashville defenseman Mattias Ekholm, who got married in June in Sweden. "We're not here to get knocked out early. We want to go as far as you can, as deep as we can. I feel like that's that's even more motivation for me doing it for my family that's back home right now."
The last time the Coyotes were in the playoffs, they reached the conference finals by beating Nashville in five games. The Predators have reached the postseason each of the past five seasons but lost in six games to the Dallas Stars in the first round in April 2019.
Arizona also is dealing with a front-office shakeup after general manager John Chayka resigned this past Sunday, the day the team left for Edmonton. Steve Sullivan, who played six seasons with Nashville, is now the interim general manager, trying to beat one of his six former teams.
"Chayka has chosen to quit on a strong and competitive team, a dedicated staff, and the Arizona Coyotes fans, the greatest fans in the NHL," the Coyotes said in a release announcing the departure.
On the ice, the Coyotes essentially have two No. 1 goalies available, which could work out well in the condensed schedule of the Stanley Cup qualifiers. They traded for Antti Raanta in 2017 to be their new starter, but Darcy Kuemper shined when Raanta was limited to 59 games in two seasons due to injuries.
Injuries forced each to miss games early this season, when they were among the NHL's save percentage leaders, but both are healthy now. Kuemper is 16-11-2 with a 2.22 goals-against average this season, giving him a statistical edge on Raanta (15-14-3, 2.63).
Similarly, Nashville coach John Hynes has a tough decision to make on who starts in net. Pekka Rinne, 37, a four-time Vezina Trophy finalist who won the award as the league's top goalie in 2018, could make his 90th consecutive playoff start in the opener against Arizona.
Juuse Saros, 25, started 19 of Nashville's 30 games after Hynes replaced Peter Laviolette in early January, and Saros went 11-4-0 with a 2.14 GAA in his final 17 appearances. He is a big reason why the Predators won their final three games before the NHL paused play in mid-March.
The best-of-five series won't allow for many mistakes, though, and the leash could be exceptionally short regardless of who starts.
The Predators could use an offensive spark, too.
Matt Duchene was one of the big offseason signees after Nashville gave him a seven-year deal, yet the 29-year-old scored the fewest goals (13) in any season of his NHL career. This could be his time to come alive, though: He has 16 points in 18 playoff games.
Ryan Johansen, with the largest contract ever handed out by Nashville, also is trying to turn around a disappointing season. The 27-year-old center had only 36 points in 68 games for his lowest scoring output since his rookie season.