Nashville Predators Win Stanley Cup (In Video Game Simulation)

NASHVILLE, TN — The Nashville Predators won the first Stanley Cup in team history Thursday.

At least virtually.

In anticipation of the upcoming National Hockey League season, which begins for the Preds with an October 14 home tilt against Central Division rivals the Chicago Blackhawks, EA Sports ran a season-long simulation of the upcoming year with the company's NHL 17 video game and, surprise surprise, the Preds ended up lifting Lord Stanley.

According to the game, despite playing in the league's toughest division, the Preds sailed away with the divisional title with 110 points, which would match the franchise's all-time mark set in 2006-07. In the playoffs, the Preds defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-2 in the first round and advanced to a first-ever conference final with a 4-2 second-round win against Dallas. In the conference final, the game predicts a 4-2 win over San Jose, the team which actually knocked Nashville out last season.

And in the Stanley Cup Final, in a story-too-good-to-be-true, Nashville keeps Montreal from its 25th Stanley Cup by bringing the silverware to Nashville for the first time with another 4-2 series victory. Were the game to be 100 percent accurate, that scenario would have Nashville — and newly-acquired defenseman P.K. Subban, late of Montreal — lifting the Cup in Quebec, with former captain Shea Weber — the return in the Subban trade — on the other side of the ice.

It should be noted that last year's simulation had an Anaheim-Rangers Cup final. Pittsburgh defeated San Jose in the actual final series. Anaheim and New York were both eliminated in the first round.