NHL Stanley Cup Finals Nashville Predators Sweet Sixteen

While the NBA Playoffs are a drab predictable march to the finals, the Stanley Cup Playoffs are as unpredictable as can be, because Nashville Predators as the sixteen seed are in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals.

It’s the first time in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals history that a sixteen seed makes it to the finals, ever. Their seed makes them an underdog, but at the start of the season, the Preds were locked to make the finals.

After making the Shea Weber/P.K. Subban trade, everyone was getting on the Nashville bandwagon. But when they stumbled into the playoffs it wasn’t a certain thing that they could make it out of even the first round.

And then they absolutely steamrolled the Chicago Blackhawks in a four-game sweep that saw the closest thing to a modern day dynasty score three goals over four games.

In the Eastern Conference, the Pittsburgh Penguins make the Stanley Cup finals yet again. For the second season in a row.

Sidney Crosby and his band of Penguins, hope to be the first team to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions since 1998 and the first in the salary cap era.

With essentially the same group of players that won the Cup last season, there’s no reason to think that they can’t repeat.

Evgeny Malkin is still his stellar self with 24 points in 17 games in these playoffs. Taking his playoff career totals to 153 points in 143 games. The combo of Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel have combined for another 39 points. Just fire.

Although to be fair, Nashville defensive strength, highlighted by a core of Roman Josi, P.K. Subban, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm should be able to match Pittsburgh offensive firepower.

Next: Three Reasons Isles Fans Should Cheer for Nashville

It’s the perfect matchup. Will defense win the championship as we always hear it’s supposed to do, or can a forward heavy approach prevail again? Ushering in a new wave of team building.