It was a sold out show, and the Hawks lived up to their end of the billing. The best of the West put on a 2nd period performance that the Nashville Predators just could not recover from. The Chicago Blackhawks surged to a 4-1 lead by the end of the 2nd, and then never let the score change. 17,113 were on hand to watch the Preds lose 4-1 for the seconds game in a row.
Felder’s FRUSTRATED Five:
1. A Step Behind - Maybe the Hawks are just that much faster. They are the best team in the West for a reason. Tonight, it appeared to this observer as though the Hawks had fresh and fast legs, whereas the Preds were a stride behind all too often.
2. Where Did All That O Go? - From lighting the lamp more than ever before to a near complete power outage. Two games in a row with just a goal in each. Now, I'm not saying hit the panic button, but rather watch just how the offense is trying to generate goals right now. That to me is the alarming part. Not much traffic in front, guys battling in the crease, or even crisp passing in this game. While I do give the Hawks defensive effort some credit, in the end, this type of non-offense is something all too familiar to Predator fans. For me, the goal scoring from multiple lines needs to return soon or the points they've built up wont' mean quite as much.
3. Special Teams Not So Special - Let's not kid ourselves. When your top PK forward is gone it will take some time to get things back on track short handed. That said, the PK was struggling a bit before Jerred Smithson was injured. Fun fact, Smithson is the leading TOI forward on the team in shorthanded situations. He's logged 88:13 minutes which is almost 6 minutes more than David Legwand who holds the 2nd most SH TOI for a forward. And of course the man advantage showed up again, or rather, failed to have an impact. 0-3 in that regards with 4:53 of PP time.
4. Undisciplined Play - Penalties early really troubled the Preds and it left them playing catch up from then on. Giveaways were a lowlight as well, with a team total of 14 in this contest. Some don't, but I do consider missed shots undisciplined as well, and the Preds had 11 of those.
5. Clearing The Crease - This may be one of those topics that is purely opinion. Some may feel that clearing the crease is a hard thing, but to me, pro hockey players should be able to do this routinely. Tonight the Preds were hurt by a lack of crease clearing and it cost them the game in my opinion.
Other Notes:
* Really quick, a big day for Preds 5th round draft pick in 09, Gabriel Bourque. In the World Juniors, he tallied 3 goals and 4 assists in the Canadian win over Latvia 16-0. Apparently, that tied a Team Canada record for points in a game. Not a bad World Juniors debut for Bourque…
* Tonight’s scratches were Cody Franson and Dave Scatchard. For Chicago, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Kris Versteeg were scratched.. Jordin Tootoo and Jerred Smithson are on IR. Smithson will miss a month of hockey according to a report from the Tennessean's Bryan Mullen earlier today. Chicago's IR list has Dave Bolland and Adam Burish on it.
* 1ST PERIOD
* POWER PLAY GOAL for CHICAGO - 10:16 to go. Kevin Klein tries to clear the puck from the end boards to Pekka Rinne's stick side. The clearing attempt turns into a turnover as the puck goes right to Jonathan Toews. Toews leaves the puck off at the point for Dustin Byfuglien. The right winger lines up a slap shot from the point and wires it home high glove side past Rinne. Back to back penalties taken cost the Preds. Byfuglien (11) from Toews (14). Chicago takes a 1-0 lead.
* END OF THE 1ST PERIOD – NSH: 0 CHI: 1 Positives - Won 60% of the faceoffs. Supposedly out hit the Hawks 12-5, but I thought the Hawks dished out an equal amount personally. Negatives - Out shot 15-8. Undisciplined play ends up costing Preds on the PK.
* 2ND PERIOD
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 12:22 to go. Martin Erat gets a breakaway by taking the puck away from Brent Seabrook at the blueline. He uses a forehand, backhand move and then tires to sneak the puck in 5-hole on the back hand. Cristobal Huet has the puck in his pads, however the whistle has not yet been blown. Ryan Jones glides through the crease, takes a jab at the pads, and this pushes Huet over the goal line and into the net. The play was blown down as a non-goal. The refs then reviewed the play and found thru the replay ha the puck crossed the line on the low stick side out of the back of Huet's pads before Jones ever touched him. Thus, good goal. Erat (13) unassisted. We are now tied at 1 all.
* GOAL for CHICAGO - 7:34 to go. A misplayed puck along the boards by Ryan Suter sends Patrick Kane racing up ice for a 2 on 1. Kane sees the defensive effort by Shea Weber and elects to shoot. His snap shot goes high glove and in on Rinne, who seemed baffled that it was a shot instead of a pass. Just a really nice goal by Kane. Kane (13) from Toews (15) and Cam Barker (9). Hawks stake themselves a 2-1 lead.
* GOAL for CHICAGO - 6:24 to go. A scramble in front of the net for a rebound sees the puck go to Peks back door where Andrew Ladd is able to bury the bouncing puck into a gaping net. Not much chance for Rinne on this one. Ladd (6) from Tomas Kopecky (3) and Brian Campbell (18). Chicago has now built themselves a 3-1 lead.
* GOAL for CHICAGO - 1:13 to go. The fact the Rinne made a save on the slap shot this goal came from is remarkable. One of the sharpest deflections I've seen and Rinne stopped it with his left leg pad. The problem was that the rebound came out to the back door stick side where Patrick Sharp was able to easily backhand the puck in for a goal. Sharp (12) from Kopecky (4) and Duncan Keith (26). Hawks hold a commanding 4-1 lead.
* END OF THE 2ND PERIOD – NSH: 1 CHI: 4 Positives - Erat scored on his breakaway. Still winning 60% of the faceoffs. Negatives - Out shot 31-18 at this point. Rebounds costing the Preds on the score sheet.
* 3RD PERIOD
* There really wasn't much action in the 3rd. I promise it's not just laziness. 9 shots on goal for Chicago and 8 for Nashville in this period. Both teams sat back somewhat, possibly saving their legs for tomorrow night.
* FINAL SCORE – NSH - 1 CHI - 4.
My Three Stars:
1. Kane - 1 goal, +2, 5 SOG, 1 hit, and 2 takeaways.
2. Toews - 2 primary assists, +1, 2 SOG, 4 takeaways, and won 9 of 18 faceoffs taken.
Goalie Grade:C – The starting goaltender tonight was Pekka Rinne. The high glove shot was working for the Hawks tonight. They scored there twice in this one on direct shots. The rebound control wasn't quite where Peks would like it I'm sure, and the defensive failure to clear the puck from the crease didn't help much either. To me, this was an average game from Rinne. He didn't win or lose the game for the team but did make a few key stops early to keep things close as long as they were. Peks finished the game with 36 saves on 40 shots against.
Quotes:
Brandon Felder - "Considering their play lately, do you feel like Chicago may be the most complete team in the NHL?"
Dan Hamhuis - "They're playing really well. They have really great forwards, good D, great goaltending, and they play well as a team. Tonight I think we made it easy out there for them, we didn't check very hard, and we weren't really in the game."
*
Felder - "On the Kane 2 on 1 goal, he looked as though he somewhat disguised the fact that he was going to shoot. Were you thinking it was going to be a pass?"
Pekka Rinne - "I think he just had so much time. I think Suter fell down so they had so much time and me and Webs both kinda kept backing up and backing up. He (Kane) kind of slowed down and slowed down and waited the pass or shot. He had a lot of options and a guy with his skills he just picked the corner and made a great shot."
Felder - "Considering their recent run, do you think Chicago may be the most complete team in the Western Conference?"
Rinne - "Yeah I think so. A lot of people always talk about their offense and how many goals they score but they are really good defensively too. I think they just have a really solid team that had a good defense and good offense too. It's a really good team."
*
Felder - "With your top PK forward out is hard to get cohesiveness back quickly with that unit?"
Trotz - "Well it was a little bit. I don't know if it's cohesiveness but just confidence that everybody is going to get it done. They got off on a power play goal. We didn't want to be there but we were. I thought we stabilized after that goal pretty well. I thought we were fine until we gave up the two quick goals and then we weren't very stable after that."
Felder - "Considering their recent play, would you say Chicago may be the most complete team in the West?"
Trotz - "Yeah. I think they have really good defense, their goaltending is underrated right now, and they've got three really really good lines that can play against anybody, and their fourth line has some grit and fire to it. Yeah, in the West I think they have all the elements to do a lot of damage in this league. They're a good hockey team. They made us look pretty regular tonight but I know we are a better hockey team than we showed tonight."
Final Thoughts:
Not quite the effort you hope to see off of a poor effort in Vancouver. To make things slightly worse, tonight was the first sell out of the season and the performance didn't quite match the crowd effort. All that said, lets not forget that the Blackhawks are the best team in the Western Conference. Tonight, they proved why they hold that title.
The Predators next game is quite soon actually. Come 6 PM CST these two teams will face off once again, this time in the United Center at Chicago. The game will be shown on FS-TN for all to watch. The Preds will need points out of this one to try and stop the Hawks from distancing themselves in the Central. Also, this is the last time these two teams meet in the regular season so it could get interesting.
Till the next time, take care.
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