The sellout crowd at Bridgestone Arena brought their energy, but we not treated to the same result as Game 3. The Chicago Blackhawks found their game again and capitalized at the key moments to take this game 3-0. The Nashville Predators now find themselves tied at 2 in the series and watched as the Hawks left Music City with a bit more confidence than they had after Game 3.
Felder’s FRUSTRATED Five:
1. Inability To Bury Your Chances - That is the reason the Preds didn't make this contest more of a game. They had a chance to be tied 1-1 after the 1st. They had a chance to even be 2-2 after the 2nd. Their inability to convert has cost them once again. I counted at least 4 times where the Preds had a great scoring chance created but then squandered it by missing the net entirely. Barry Trotz even remarked that Kevin Klein had such an instance. It's scoring depth issues for Nashville and when a top player for their team doesn't step up (like Legwand did in games 1 and 3) then the scoring isn't there to stick with the Blackhawks. On the opposite end of the ice you had top players rising to the occasion and burying the chances they created. Full marks to Chicago for taking care of their business.
2. Special Team Woes - The 1st period was defended by special teams and got the Preds off on the wrong foot. Their man advantage was 0-3 after 1, and their PK was 1-2. The momentum was drained when they couldn't convert on 1:18 TOI of 5 on 3 play to tie the game up at 1. By game's end, the Preds man advantage went 0-5 with 7:59 of TOI. The PK remained at 1-2 but the damage was already done.
3. Backing Up at the Blueline - Chicago flew into the Preds zone without resistance far too often. They had the time and space needed for their skill guys and the scoresheet shows that. I didn't think the Nashville D was terrible in this game but just not as firm on the top guys as they were in Game 3. At the same time, Chicago's head coach Joel Quenneville made the right adjustments to allow his top players to free themselves up. Barry Trotz will have to make a similar type of adjustment in the next couple of games.
4. Finding A Way to Get Traffic - It took quite a bit for the Preds to get the message that Niemi would stop everything that he could see. In a role reversal from Game 3 it was the Preds who didn't create enough in front of a Finnish netminder. In the 3rd period they finally did get some guys going into the crease for the point shots but it was too late at that point.
5. Relying on Shots From the Point - For me, getting shots from the point are just fine, if you have guys screening and digging at the crease. As noted above, that didn't occur very much until the 3rd period. On the 5 on 3 the point men were Arnott and Weber. They had some solid shots but the efforts for rebounds weren't quite there. Guys were to the side of the net instead of low on the crease's corners. I think the Preds need to create more lateral chances as opposed to north-south and then test Niemi high. All in all, unless a guy like Jason Arnott start scoring, it's going to be tough to put the Hawks away in two of the final three games.
Other Notes:
* Tonight’s scratches were Wade Belak, Cal O'Reilly, Patric Hornqvist, and Denis Grebeshkov. For Chicago the scratches were Jordan Hendry, Kim Johnsson, Nick Boynton, Colin Fraser, and Ben Eager. This means Campbell is in the lineup and returning a bit earlier than expected. I can't see how he would be back to 100% by now, but that's what happens in playoffs. The move smacks of desperation a bit in my book but it will be interesting to see what impact if any he will have on the game.
* 1ST PERIOD
* POWER PLAY GOAL for CHICAGO - 9:03 to go. The Hawks get the all important first goal and they do it on the man advantage. Rinne makes an initial stop on the glove side by sliding on his side. The rebid goes right back to the original shooter, Patrick Kane, who then tries to float the puck over Rinne. A scramble in the crease occurs as everyone tries to get their stick on the puck, but Patrick Sharp comes away with a poke in goal. Just 10 seconds into their PP and the Hawks tally. That's execution my friends. Sharp (1) from Kane (2) and X. Hawks take the 10 lead.
* 4:55 to go. Kevin Klein gets boarded at the Preds end boards. Klein had his head down looking at the puck and when Kopecky hit him, as Kleiner fell his face was flush with the boards. The one things I could not tell is if his head hit the part of the boards where the glass finishes and it turns into a board. If it did, that could be a serious injury. A 2 minute boarding penalty was called much to the displeasure of not only the fans but the Preds themselves. They were visibly unhappy with Kopecky not receiving at least a double minor. Just 9 seconds after that Dave Bolland puts the puck over the boards and gets called for delay of game. Huge opportunity for Nashville to tie the game here with 1:51 of 5 on 3. The Preds generated a few chances but did not score. With 33 seconds remaining on the penalty David Legwand gets called for goaltender interference. He contested the call, however I think it was a good one as Leggy didn't do much to stop and prevent himself from running into Niemi on the stick side.
* END OF THE 1ST PERIOD – NSH: 0 CHI: 1 Positives - Nashville is playing a sound game. Keeping pace with the Hawks on SOG's 11-11. Dominating faceoffs with a 67% winning percentage. Negatives - The PK didn't exactly make it difficult on the Hawks PP unit. HUGE miss by not converting a 5 on 3 tally.
* 2ND PERIOD
* 13:48 to go. We have some serious scrum action. Adam Burish is robbed on the back door by Pekka Rinne who prevented a solid rebound chance. Troy Brouwer come in with an extra poke just before the whistle and then all hell breaks loose. Suter pushes at Brouwer to get away but then the Predator captain Jason Arnott goes furious on Brouwer in the crass. No penalties were assessed but you can bet that this brought the crowd back into the game for the first time in the 2nd period.
* GOAL for CHICAGO - 7:05 to go. The Hawks get an odd man rush but Klein breaks up the Hossa pass by diving from the slot and sliding into the boards. The problem was that this move didn't get the puck away from Hossa, it merely stopped an initial pass. Marian then fired it on net and Rinne made the low pad save, but couldn't corral the rebound where Jonathan Toews was able to easily push in a rebound goal before Hamhuis could tie him up. Right place, right time, and Toews was rewarded for driving the net. Toews (1) from Hossa (2) and Bryan Bickell (1). Hawks now have a 2-0 lead.
* GOAL for CHICAGO - 3:43 to go. Patrick Sharp likely puts this one away as he buries a wrister glove side on Rinne. Sharp went into the Preds zone unmolested and blew by Suter. By the time Bouillon caught up to him coming from the opposite side Sharp had his laser fired off and past Rinne. Peks could've squared up a better on this one. May have been his weakest goal given up this entire series. Sharp (2) from Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Brent Sopel (2). Chicago now has a commanding 3-0 lead in this game 4.
* END OF THE 2ND PERIOD – NSH: 0 CHI: 3 Positives - Nashville is still generating scoring chances and remain even with Chicago for the shots on goal, 22-22. Winning 62% of faceoffs thus far. Negatives - The defense is letting the Hawks gain the zone a bit too easily. Not a great goal given up by Rinne on Sharp's second of the night. Most of all, the Preds haven't capitalized on their key scoring chances.
* 3RD PERIOD
* Not much to report here. Chicago held their ground. Niemi was solid throughout and the Preds wasted yet another man advantage opportunity. Thus, they Hawks win another game by blanking the Preds offense.
* FINAL SCORE – NSH - 0 CHI - 3.
My Three Stars:
1. Patrick Sharp - 2 goals, +1, 2 SOG, and 1 takeaway.
2. Antti Niemi - 33 saves in his second shutout performance of the series.
3. Jonathan Toews - 1 goal, 1 assist, +1, 3 SOG, and 2 blocked shots.
Goalie Grade:B – The starting goaltender tonight was Pekka Rinne. The rebound control wasn't quite there tonight and I wasn't a big fan of the 3rd goal given up. (Not that it would make much difference). All in all I thought Peks had another solid night in net and did enough for his team to win had they given him goal support.
Quotes:
Felder - "When you look at 5 on 5 play, things seemed pretty even except you guys just weren't able to capitalize on offense."
Jason Arnott - "Yeah. We passed up golden chances trying to make that extra pass. We need to get back to shooting pucks, creating traffic in front, and going for rebounds."
Felder - "What things can you guys do to put this one behind you and focus on the opportunity of taking a series lead in Chicago?"
Arnott - "It's 2-2 now. We knew this wasn't going to be easy because that's a great hockey team we are playing. Your going to have games like this were it is going to be emotional up and down. We're going to put this game behind us and get ready for Saturday."
*
Felder - "Looking at the third goal, an odd man rush. What did you see there?"
Pekka Rinne - "He's a skilled guy. He came thru and I think it was almost like a 1 on 3. I think we took him maybe a little bit lightly, maybe, I don't know. A really nice play and then just unfortunate that we almost get to the puck but then he got a quick shot off at our D's feet. I wish I could've stopped that puck, I feel like I should have done that, but it's tough when you don't track the puck. Everything happens so quick and you're too late."
Felder - "5 on 5 you guys seemed pretty even with them, the difference was just unable to capitalize on offense."
Rinne - "Yeah. That's true. I think we just have to attention to details on the scoring chances. We got some really good chances but a lot of times we missed the net. Their players played with a lot of desperation and they blocked a lot of shots. Also their goalie made some good stops. It was a pretty simple game, I think that's the game we want to play. They played a simple game, even though they are a really skilled team they worked hard, grinded it out, and it paid off for them tonight."
*
Felder - "5 on 5 things seemed pretty even throughout the game but your guys just weren't able to capitalize on the scoring chances."
Barry Trotz - "Yeah. When you really look at it, they have dynamic people who can create opportunities, but we have those too and we just didn't capitalize on our chances and they did. What was the difference? It's urgency and on the second goal, we scrambled back and got in position and it went off our defenseman to their forward. Tonight, they were big on the second puck and we weren't. The third goal took them forward and just killed any chance of momentum swing."
Final Thoughts:
I honestly thought that Nashville played well enough in this game to win. The difference was simply that Chicago converted the chances they created while Nashville squandered theirs. The key theme that comes back to me throughout this game was offensive depth. That reason alone was why I picked the Hawks to win this series in 7 games. Beyond that, tonight the 1st period was key and ended up being a special teams period which Chicago has a clear advantage in and took care of their business. Full credit to Chicago for their top guys having big nights after getting called out by the media and their fans. It's odd that both Chicago wins have come with shutouts but that just shows that the Preds O has to step up if they want to hang around till Game 7.
The Predators next game is Saturday afternoon on NBC. That's right, the Preds are getting some national love Saturday afternoon when they visit Chicago for Game 5 of this series. Coverage begins at 2 pm CST so make sure you are tuned into that one. Can the Preds take a 3-2 series lead or will Game 6 in Nashville be about avoiding elimination? High stakes on the line for Game 6 in Chi-town.
Till the next time, take care and thanks for reading.
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