Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne has become the 18th goalie in NHL history with at least 300 career victories and 50 career shutouts.

-- Ap Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes

A rare recent losing streak may have slowed the Predators’ momentum, but it hasn’t overshadowed what has been the franchise’s best regular season to date. Through most of this milestone-filled season, the Preds have rattled off one accomplishment after another, seemingly writing a new piece of franchise history every few games.

“It does seem like there’s been a lot of milestones,” Preds forward Colton Sissons says. “We’ve had a lot as a team, which has really been a good thing to be a part of. It’s given us a little extra motivation on a couple of occasions.”

Here’s a look at the Preds’ five top accomplishments to date this season and a look ahead to five very realistic milestones that could be reached by the end of the playoffs:

Five Top Milestones Reached

David Poile sets NHL’s GM record

It would be hard to top this one on the list of accomplishments recorded so far by the Predators. When the Preds downed Edmonton 3-2 on March 1, it marked Poile’s 1,320th victory as an NHL general manager, the most ever recorded in the league’s 100-year history.

“There have been a lot of good GMs come through this league, and a lot of great hockey people,” Preds defenseman Ryan Ellis points out. “He put his name at the top of that list. I think that’s one of the more impressive feats of all time.”

Pekka Rinne’s double dip

The Predators’ starting netminder has recorded so many milestones this season that we’ll combine a couple of them here.

When Rinne recorded his seventh shutout of this season, he moved into an exclusive club, becoming just the 18th goalie in NHL history with at least 300 career victories and 50 career shutouts.

“It’s no shocker to us that he’s being mentioned with some of the greats,” Sissons says. “He’s such a humble person he doesn’t even like people mentioning it or talking about it. He just stays focused on the task at hand.”

Fastest to 100 points

When the Predators knocked off Winnipeg 3-1 on March 13, the team hit the 100-point mark in the 69th game of the season. That beat the franchise record by four games – the 2006-07 team needed 73 games to hit 100. Overall, the Preds have hit the century mark six times in their 19 seasons.

10-game winning streak

The Preds won a franchise-high 10 consecutive games between Feb. 19 and March 8, outscoring opponents 43-20 and twice earning overtime victories. The old record was set in 2005, when the Predators won their first eight games of the season.

15 games without a regulation loss

The Predators earned at least a point in a franchise-best 15 games between Feb. 19 and March 19, posting a record of 14-0-1 during that stretch. Nashville won five one-goal games during the streak, posted three shutouts and claimed back-to-back road victories on two occasions. The old record was 14 games, set in 2016 when the Preds put together a 9-0-5 run.

“I don’t think a lot of us know even half of (these records) are there for the taking until someone announces it afterward,” Ellis acknowledges. “But it’s a great sign that not only are individual guys having great years, but I think the team and organization in general.”

Five Best Potential Milestones

Rinne winning the Vezina

Rinne finished second in the voting for the Vezina Trophy – given to the NHL’s best goalie – in 2010-11, third in 2011-12 and second again in 2014-15. This season may well be his best shot at winning the award, as he’s been either at the top – or very close to it – of stats like goals against average, save percentage, wins and shutouts this season. The 35-year-old Rinne would become the oldest goalie to win the Vezina since Boston’s Tim Thomas did so in 2011 at the age of 36.

Most team wins, points

The Predators’ ability to string victory after victory together this season has them on pace to put together record amounts of wins and points. In fact, the Predators – who had 49 points and 109 points with six games to go – still have an excellent chance of beating the current marks of 51 wins and 110 points, both set in 2006-07.

“Every team goes through stretches of games where you have to find your way again, but those kind of periods have been extremely short for us,” Rinne explains. “Even the games where we might have struggled, we still have been able to win. I feel like consistency has been the biggest thing for us.”

Division title

Even in the Predators’ two best regular seasons – 2005-06 (106 points) and 2006-07 (110 points) – they still came up short of capturing the division crown. Nashville finished behind Detroit in both seasons. The Preds also finished second in the Central on four other occasions, most recently 2014-15 behind Chicago.

“To have a couple more banners up in the rafters – I’d like that,” Poile said earlier this season. “Selfishly, ego-wise, for our fans, for our players to say we did it – I’d love to end up in first place this year.”

Presidents’ Trophy

The award given the team that totals the most points during the regular season doesn’t guarantee a path to the Stanley Cup, as only two Presidents’ Trophy winners over the past 13 years have captured the Cup. But what team wouldn’t want home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs. The Preds were 9-2 at home during last year’s playoffs.

“We really enjoy playing in this building,” Rinne adds. “We feel like we play well here, and we feel like it would be a big advantage.”

Stanley Cup

The Predators certainly have the capability to deliver Nashville its first professional sports crown this year. They came up just two wins short last year and have a much better team this year. A Stanley Cup title for the Preds would also be the first among the wave of NHL expansion teams that included Nashville, Atlanta (now Winnipeg), Columbus and Minnesota.

Reach John Glennon at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @glennonsports.