Column: Predators’ Mike Fisher has developed his own star power in Nashville

In a city whose most celebrated citizens earn their stardom by strumming a guitar or crooning into a microphone, Mike Fisher has made his mark by wielding a hockey stick.

As the captain of the Predators, whose unlikely trip to the Stanley Cup Final has turned Nashville into a honky-tonk Hockey Town, Fisher is their most visible face, their leader on the ice and off. As the husband of superstar country singer/writer Carrie Underwood, he often appears at awards shows and red-carpet events, traversing the worlds of sports and entertainment with ease.

The veteran center, who turned 37 on Monday, readily acknowledges his good fortune with typical hockey player humility. Just don’t tell him he’s a star, because he will shake his head and grin with genuine bashfulness.

“As far as being a celebrity, my wife gets more attention than me, which I’m OK with too,” he said. “So I just kind of hide and put her out there.”

Fisher hasn’t been hiding during the Predators’ impressive ensemble performance against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final, which is tied at two games each as the series shifts to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Thursday.

Fisher’s lunging, one-handed pass to send Viktor Arvidsson on a breakaway for the insurance goal in their 4-1 victory on Monday took great amounts of will and skill and exemplified how this No. 8-seeded team, expected to be weak at center after losing Ryan Johansen to thigh surgery in the Western Conference finals, has moved within two wins of unseating the defending champion Penguins.

“Tremendous will, tremendous heart, tremendous character. He’s the heartbeat of our team,” coach Peter Laviolette said Monday.

Like the Predators as a whole, Fisher persevered through some tough stretches this season.

The team’s structure and personality were dramatically altered last summer when general manager David Poile traded stalwart defenseman Shea Weber to Montreal for dynamic defenseman P.K. Subban. The early returns weren’t entirely promising, and Subban missed some games because of an injury. The Predators spent months fighting for equilibrium and for a playoff berth in the West before they earned the second of two wild-card spots.

Fisher inherited the captaincy from Weber and felt responsible for settling things down. In the meantime, he was averaging 16 minutes 37 seconds’ ice time per game, his lowest average since the 2002-03 season. Taking care of himself and tending to the team’s emotional state was a new task for Fisher, who had 18 goals and 42 points in 72 regular-season games.

“It was a bit of an adjustment at the start of the season,” he said a few days ago. “We struggled. I always try, regardless of the situation, to just be positive and lead in that type of way and lead and encourage guys the best I can, and it was an adjustment for me at the start of the year.

“I learned a lot this year. It’s probably the most I’ve learned, just what it takes as a group to get everyone together on the same page. It’s been the most fun I’ve had too.”

The Predators opened the playoffs with a sweep of the Chicago Blackhawks despite getting no points from Fisher, and they defeated the St. Louis Blues in six games again with no offensive contributions from their captain. An eye injury kept him out of the last two games of their six-game elimination of the Ducks in the West finals, and he had no points in that series, either.

Looking at his numbers before the Cup Final began — and taking into consideration the Penguins’ strength up the middle starting with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin — it was easy to question whether Fisher was capable of helping the team anymore. Laviolette heard a lot of those questions but retained faith in Fisher.

“People will say, ‘It’s time to produce,’” Laviolette said. “He’s been unbelievable. He’s an unbelievable captain. He’s been great in the locker room. He lives his life and lives his hockey life every day in a manner that you would want to follow.”

Center has become a strength for the Predators because of the surprise performances of rookie Frederick Gaudreau (three goals in the Final), Colton Sissons (12 points in the playoffs) and Calle Jarnkrok, who scored their first goal Monday. Fisher’s assist in Game 4 was his fourth point in the Final. More importantly, it happened in a victory.

“That’s all I wanted for my birthday,” said Fisher, whose only previous appearance in the Cup Final came in Ottawa’s five-game loss to the Ducks in 2007.

Surely his teammates serenaded him for his birthday.

“No, we actually didn’t. We should have,” winger James Neal said.

No matter. There are enough songs sung everyday in Nashville by wanna-be stars. Fisher is the real thing.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

Follow Helene Elliott on Twitter @helenenothelen