The transformation of Jason Arnott to true leader is complete.
The final step came in late March for the Nashville Predators captain.
One sleep removed from losing to Detroit -- the sixth straight home defeat and fifth in six overall -- Arnott arrived for practice.
The news wasn't good.
Nashville's late-season swoon put the Preds outside of the Western Conference's elite eight.
All that appeared to be coming next was the final fall to elimination.
Following what was a grim practice -- no fun, no jokes, no happiness -- Nashville head coach Barry Trotz met with Arnott.
The message Trotz wanted to send was all about lifting Arnott's and everybody else's spirits, but the captain had a different idea.
"I came out of the meeting with him and he was asking me what was wrong, trying to get me to be more upbeat in practice," Arnott told the Nashville Tennessean.
"And I kind of said, 'You know what? It's time for everyone to be (angry). It's time for everyone to look in the mirror and not come to practice laughing or joking. We need to be (angry) at ourselves because we're letting it slip away. The fans have come out to support us and we're still letting it slip away.' "
It worked. The Predators went on a 5-0-1 run to vault back into the playoff picture.
"Sometimes, you need a practice like that to show the young guys that the older guys are (angry), especially after six in a row," Arnott said.
"Sometimes the young guys will look at us veterans and say, 'Wow, he's (angry) today,' instead of saying, 'The older guys are laughing, so who cares? We'll play better next game.' "
Trotz was happy to let Arnott -- who won a Stanley Cup with New Jersey -- spread his sermon, but also went into a statistical breakdown with the players to show them a playoff spot was still there for the taking.
Seeing as the other teams in the hunt were in the Northwest Division, Trotz pointed out they wouldn't all win every game, so the Preds just needed to take care of their business and a ticket to the playoffs would be punched.
"After (losses to Washington and Detroit), everybody was pretty down and thought we were out of it," defenceman Dan Hamhuis told the Tennessean.
"But (Trotz) had us looking at the stats and standings, and we realized we were definitely not out. We all believed we could get in. We knew we could."
A win over Chicago ended the home losing skid, and then came back-to-back shutout victories over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
After losing to Detroit in overtime, the Predators pulled off an amazing comeback to beat St. Louis -- they erased a three-goal deficit to win in overtime -- in the first of two victories over the Blues to earn them a playoff berth.
"You need some of those urgent moments when things don't exactly go the way you've planned in your mind," Trotz said.
"Once we got our urgency back, we were able to get points again."
Sometimes, it seems, a little anger goes a long way."
By clawing back into the playoffs, the Preds earned themselves a first-round matchup with the Presidents' Trophy-winning Detroit Red Wings.
On the surface, it would appear a mismatch, as Detroit finished 22 points ahead of them.
However, the Preds can point to their record head-to-head, a respectable 3-3-2.
RANDY.SPORTAK@SUNMEDIA.CA
