For the first time in his career, coach has won 200 games with a team

Peter Laviolette’s latest career milestone is a testament to the Nashville Predators’ stability.

Saturday’s 5-2 victory over Chicago at Bridgestone Arena was Laviolette’s 200th since he became coach of the Predators in 2014. It is the first time he has won that number with a single team. In his three previous stints as a head coach — with the New York Islanders, Carolina and Philadelphia — he never got to more than 167 wins before he was fired.

He still has a long way to go to match his predecessor, Barry Trotz, who won 557 times in 15 seasons with the Predators, a record for an expansion franchise's first coach. The fact that Laviolette has gotten this far shows how different their approach has been from that of some of the league’s other youngest franchises.

Nashville joined the NHL in 1998 as part of a decade of expansion in which seven teams launchd, beginning with San Jose in 1991 and capped by Minnesota and Columbus in 2000. None of those franchises showed the same sort of patience the Predators have.

Among the first two coaches for each of the other six, only Minnesota’s Jacques Lemaire got to 200 wins (he won 293). In fact, five of the other six did not even get 200 wins from their first two coaches combined.

A rundown of the first two coaches for the NHL’s expansion teams from 1991 through 2001 and their records with those teams: San Jose George Kingston – 28-129-7

Kevin Constantine – 55-78-24 Tampa Bay Terry Crisp – 142-204-45

Jacques Demers – 34-96-17 Florida Roger Neilson – 53-56-23

Doug MacLean – 83-71-33 Nashville Barry Trotz – 557-479-100 (60 ties)

Peter Laviolette – 200-107-48 Atlanta (now Winnipeg) Curt Fraser – 64-169-15 (31 ties)

Bob Hartley – 136-118-24 (13 ties) Minnesota Jacques Lemaire – 293-255-53 (55 ties)

Todd Richards – 77-71-16 Columbus Dave King – 64-106-13 (21 ties)

Doug MacLean – 9-21-3 (4 ties)

Laviolette had to wait — and work — a bit to get to 200 with Nashville. His 199th came Nov. 25 against Anaheim. The Predators followed with a pair of defeats, the second of which was a lackluster 3-0 loss to Arizona last Thursday. It was just the second time this season they had back-to-back defeats in regulation.

The coaching staff addressed several issues with the players on the day between games and against Chicago. Nashville scored three times in the first five minutes and limited the Blackhawks to 21 shots on goal despite the fact that Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson, P.K. Subban and Kyle Turris all were out with injuries.

“We didn’t play well last game,” Laviolette said. “So, as always, we talked about things the next day and we addressed it. (Saturday) was 100 percent on the players for their response. So, for me, the leadership group and the players get the credit.

“It was a much better game and I thought, under the circumstances, it was one of our best team wins of the year.”