Monday's victory over Tampa Bay established a franchise record for wins in the first 21 games

The Nashville Predators have never been better. Literally.

With their 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday at Bridgestone Arena, the Predators improved to 15-5-1. That tied the franchise record for the most points through the first 21 games (31), set in 2005-06, but this is the first time they won 15 of their first 21.

More importantly, they staked their claim as the NHL’s best team at the moment. At the start of play, Nashville and Tampa Bay had 14 wins apiece, tied with Toronto for league-high. That equaled 2005-06 for the most wins through the first 20 games.

The Predators got to 15 behind a goal and an assist from Ryan Johansen and a late game-saving defensive play from Mattias Ekholm, who added two assists, and kept pace with Toronto (15-6-0), which has 30 points in its first 21 contests.

“We have 82 games in the year and all of those won’t be as special,” Ekholm said. “But, when it’s one versus two or we’re playing a really good opponent, I feel like everybody is bringing their A-game.”



A rundown of the Predators’ best records through the first 21 games:

Record

Points

Season

15-5-1

31

2018-19

14-4-3

31

2005-06

14-5-2

30

2014-15

14-5-2

30

2006-07

13-6-2

28

2017-18

12-6-3

27

2016-17

12-8-1

25

2009-10

11-8-2

24

2007-08



Monday’s win gave Nashville a sweep of the season series with the Lightning. It followed a 4-1 victory on the road back 12 days earlier but did not exactly mirror it.

“I thought we played a much better game than we did down in Tampa, even though we got the win [then],” coach Peter Laviolette said. “When that game was over, we met the next day as a group to talk about the standard of play we want here and that first game was not it. We relied way too much on our goaltender and chances were lopsided in Tampa’s favor.”

This time, the Predators finished with a 34-31 edge in shots on goal but a decisive 63-50 advantage in shot attempts.

“The best way to play defense is to play in their zone and that’s what we were able to do for a lot of time,” Ekholm said. “Not saying they didn’t have chances, but I thought the chances we got were quality chances and we could have scored some more goals.

“… It was just two good teams going at it and it was huge for us to get the win.”

It also raised the standard for how good this franchise can be over the first quarter of a season.