NHL Playoffs First Round Preview: Western Conference

Chicago Blackhawks vs. Nashville Predators

A series between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Nashville Predators is a rematch from the 2015 conference quarterfinals, except with a couple of new twists.

Jonathan Toews is not the all-out dominating player he once was, and Patrick Kane has even more weapons to play with in Artemi Panarin, Ryan Hartman and the effective Richard Panik. The only thing that is standing in the Hawks' path to the second round is the refurbished Nashville team, loaded with scorers and star defensemen P.K. Subban.

Over the course of this season, Nashville has had many surprises hit their lineup. Viktor Arvidsson of all skaters lead them in scoring, tied with Ryan Johansen with 61 points. Arvidsson also lead the team is goals with a career-high 31 tallies in 80 games, a number that is matched by superstar talent Filip Forsberg.

Nashville has the firepower, and the goaltending ability, with Pekka Rinne manning the pipes, but is it enough to stop a Blackhawks team that has won three Stanley Cups since 2013?

In a season series between the two clubs, we saw Nashville's firepower go dormant against Chicago. The Preds lost four of five and allowed a total of 20 goals in the entirety of the five-game season series.

Our numbers rank Chicago as a top-10 team with a 0.32 nERD while Nashville's nERD is 0.14. As you'd expect, we have the Hawks as the series favorite, expecting them to advance 55.07% of the time, but it's not a lopsided matchup.