SlapShot Radio's intrepid photographer was at it again last night for our regular feature, Sunday Shots...
Courtesy DLM/SlapShot Radio
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Nashville rolled out the welcome mat for a large contingent of boisterous Blackhawk fans last night at Bridgestone Arena. They came to our fair city and enjoyed the restaurants, the honky-tonks and the tourist attractions, escaping snowy Chicago for a weekend of fun in Music City. By all accounts, a good time was had by all... except for about 3 hours on the ice. Nashville steamrolled the Blackhawks 5-2, chasing their netminder and silencing a group intent on making 501 Broadway United Center south. It just wasn't going to happen.
Sometimes it was hard to hear those fans over the rustling fabric of their crisp, brand new jerseys, and it definately was hard to see the game over the fans that insisted on ignoring hockey protocol, getting up repeatedly in the middle of play to get their next beer. Not everyone mind you, as the regular contingent of great Chicago fans were in attendance. The same long-time, loyal Blackhawk fans that have made the trek to Nashville over the past 12 years, but it did seem that the bandwagon was a little more full than normal last night. The funniest part of the whole scene was the embarrassment of true Blackhawk fans who made it a point to almost anyone who would listen, they don't represent us. We know...
Despite the best efforts of the visitors, Pred Nation rose up. Getting louder and louder, drowning out the interlopers and serenading their heroes with a second period TV timeout standing ovation as the Predators took control of the game during a period that featured four unanswered Predator goals, some ugly, some lucky and some flat out beautiful. Sergei Kostitsyn gets the beautiful, his patient abuse of Corey Crawford continued his hot streak. Lunch bucket goals from Craig Smith and Patric Hornqvist provided the ugly, their goals coming from hard work and taking abuse in the slot. The lucky, that goes to last night's number one star Kevin Klein. He scored the Predators first goal on what looked like a dump-in from center red.
Lucky does not describe Klein's game last night though. He was pressed to eat up some more ice time as Francis Bouillon went down with an upper-body injury in the first period. The defenseman's game has truly elevated since his extended bout with the flu a few weeks ago and he looks to become the kind of player the scouts said he would be.
The best Blackhawk on the ice last night was Marian Hossa, he opened the Blackhawk scoring with a great power move that left the Preds defense in the dust and got Chicago's second goal on a nifty little backhander.
The Predators are back in action at home tomorrow night against the Columbus Blue Jackets before they travel to Chicago for a rematch Tuesday night.
Nashville Predators Blogger •Predators Radio Network • 
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