The Blackhawks are going to win the cup.
Alex Debrincat is going to win the Hart, the Richard, the Calder and maybe be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame by season’s end.
That is exactly what you will hear from the delusional ones after a couple of good Blackhawks games in a row. Of course the rest of the media are not helping to calm the stupidity at all. Let me tell you something, this is a long season and it can go right back in the bed pan as fast as it leapt out. Enjoy this Blackhawks success while it lasts, because this team is built more for peaks and valleys than long dominating stretches. Everyone needs to calm down and just take each game for what it is: ONE GAME.
The upcoming week is going to be a telltale one for this “team without an identity.” If they come out of it relatively unscathed, there is a chance this team can do something in the second half of the season. If not, you might see some very surprising moves. Getting swept in the first round is one thing, but missing the playoffs is a whole different level. I don’t want to be the delivery boy of doom, but it’ll take more than 3 or 4 games for me to forget the glaring weaknesses this team has displayed for most of the first 25 games.
All this said, the Blackhawks hopped on a plane after skinning the injury ravaged Ducks and headed to the land of country music. The Blackhawks started rookie backup Anton Forsberg in net which, of course, is the expected result for the bottom end of a back-to-back. Nashville iced their veteran netminder Pekka Rinne.
These were the Blackhawks starting lines:
Brandon Saad – Jonathan Toews – Richard Panik
Nick Schmaltz – Artem Anisimov – Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp – Ryan Hartman – Alex DeBrincat
Lance Bouma – Tommy Wingels – John Hayden
Duncan Keith – Cody Franson
Connor Murphy – Brent Seabrook
Gustav Forsling – Jan Rutta
The Preds certainly did not waste much time jumping out to a 1-0 lead. Filip Forsberg jumped on his own rebound and beat the Blackhawks’ Forsberg. The initial shot was tipped by Jonathan Toews and then blocked in the slot, but Filip Forsberg followed up his shot and beat Brent Seabrook to the loose puck for the goal.
Alex Debrincat continued his impressive play just a few mere moments after the Forsberg goal. He beat the entire Preds team to a loose puck deep in the zone, wheeled around the net and found a fresh Tommy Wingels streaking in from a line change. Wingels one timed the puck past a surprised Pekka Rinne to tie the game at 1-1.
A power play in the middle of the first period when they had a hot hand could have put the Hawks up 2-1 but they were not able to take advantage of the opportunity.
Speaking of opportunities, Patrick Kane was denied a chance at a partial breakaway in the first but linesman Keil Murchison jumped in his way and played third defenseman for Nashville. He was also denied on a couple of grade “A” back door chances by the Preds goaltender, as well.
The ice was certainly slanted in favor of the Blackhawks for a majority of the second half of the period but a late Nashville power play gave them a little momentum going into the first intermission. Much like the Hawks, the Press were not able to capitalize on the man advantage. Even with said power play, the Hawks outshot the Predators 14-7 overall.
The Predators began the second period on the man advantage, once again, thanks to a stupid Duncan Keith “unsportsmanlike conduct” penalty at the end of the first. A solid Blackhawks penalty kill once again killed the power play and gave up only one shot on net so, thankfully, no harm was done.
Unfortunately, Austin Watson gave Nashville a 2-1 lead with just under four minutes burned off the clock. This goal was a rare “twice reviewed” goal. First, the war room reviewed whether the goal was directed in by Watson’s hand but was ruled to be a good goal. Joel Quenneville then tried to challenge for goaltender interference, which was also confirmed to be within the rules. As far as the second period went, the Blackhawks were able to save some face with a late power play, but they were still out shot 13-11.
Early in the third period, Roman Josi took advantage of another bad Blackhawks penalty and a deflection off Brent Seabrook’s shin guard to give Nashville a 3-1 lead. Originally, it looked as though the shot cleanly beat Anton Forsberg, but the replay showed that the shot may have gone wide, if not for grazing Seabrook’s leg. When you hear people talk about “puck luck” this is exactly what they are talking about.
Right at about the midway point of the third period the Blackhawks fourth line came to the rescue once again. This time John “#BigJohnStudd” Hayden fed Lance Bouma for a “greasy goal” that slid through Rinne’s five-hole, which cut the Nashville lead to just one goal.
Despite a late power play and some intense pressure with the goalie pulled, the Blackhawks were not able to tie the game and salvage a point. They certainly had enough opportunity to do so with 39 shots on net.
Pluses
- #ElGato Debrincat, set up Tommy Wingels with a really nice hustle play, ending with a tape to tape pass that led to the first goal. I give the kid credit, he is finally doing the offensive stuff that he was kept on the roster for. Good on him.
- I’m still on the Cody Franson bandwagon. He very nearly went end to end on a 3rd period power play, but then remembered that he is a big slow defenseman and mishandled the puck.
- The top four Blackhawks in possession were Debrincat, Franson, Ryan Hartman and Patrick Sharp.
Minuses
- Anton Forsberg has his weaknesses, mainly his lack of rebound control, but he also didn’t have luck on his side either. The Watson goal was going way wide of the net, and should have never been a threat. His bad luck didn’t stop there, when the third Press goal went off Seabrook.
- I want to hate PK Subban, but I simply cannot. I love his bravado and his fun, kid-like attitude regarding the game of hockey.
- Patrick Kane is clearly frustrated. After incurring a $5000 fine for a pretty egregious slash the night prior, he took a terrible cross-checking penalty early in the third period that resulted in the Preds third goal.
- Not the greatest night at the dots for Hawks center men. As a team they were 45%, and Ryan Hartman lost seven of the nine draws he took.