from Joe Rexrode of The Tennessean,
The final tally is seven up, seven down for the Nashville Predators in the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs, four weeks of roller-coaster hockey to be remembered.
It will be celebrated, too. This team — built by David Poile, coached to relentlessness by Peter Laviolette — did much to shake this franchise’s cutesy, small-market image. There’s no shame in losing to the San Jose Sharks in Thursday’s Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals.
There has to be some embarrassment in the final performance, though, and the ugly 5-0 final score. And there should be some regret.
That should precede appreciation of the deepest playoff run in franchise history, and any talk of potential runs to come for a young, talented nucleus. And that’s because you just don’t know when the next opportunity like this will come around.
“It’s a difficult feeling when you work so hard to get to this point and you realize you’re one step from something that, we haven’t been there,” said Predators goalie Pekka Rinne, who carried his franchise to the doorstep of its first conference final and was given no chance to open the door.
Game highlights are below...
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