Western Conference Quarterfinal Game 3 Nashville Leads 2-0
Chicago Blackhawks at Nashville Predators 8:30PM Central CNBC/Fox Sports Tennessee
GOALIES: Corey Crawford, Chicago Pekka Rinne, Nashville
BREAKDOWN:
Crawford plays tonight, but one has to believe he is a soft goal away from getting pulled for Scott Darling, as the Chicago coaching staff looks desperately for answers.
Rookie defenseman Michal Kempny may be inserted for Chicago, which is a bit of a high risk/high reward gambit. But then again, neither Johnny Oduya nor Brian Campbell (one of whom is the likely player Kempny would replace) has been devoid of mistakes. Kempny brings speed, a heavy style and a big point shot. All needed tonight.
I would also not rule out seeing Michal Rozsival. Just saying, this is Joel Quenneville we're talking about.
Regardless of lineup tinkering, the big key tonight for Chicago is to score, and better still to score first.
There's a bit of a mythology of "dominance" by Pekka Rinne coming out of this series. He's been fine. But he hasn't had to be spectacular. The Hawks have not had that many clean chances, and they've beaten him and hit posts (including a couple in Game 2).
Nashville is coming out in each game with more energy and more pushback and more willingness. Chicago has not responded in either game thus far until it's been too late. They can't afford that tonight, as Nashville, buoyed by its home crowd, will come out sky high. Chicago has been here before in many playoff series. They need to play arguably their most solid, smart hockey of the year the first 10-15 minutes or so (at minimum) of the game tonight.
I have not heard what the lines will be—so certainly this is subject to change over the course of the day today. But I would expect something like:
Schmaltz-Toews-Kane Panarin-Anisimov-Hossa Hartman-Kruger-Panik Rasmussen-Kero-Tootoo
The third line as composed maintained a lot of offensive zone time on an aggressive forecheck in portions of game 2. Hossa has had chemistry in the past with the Russian forwards.
On the blue line, you may see something like:
Keith-Seabrook Oduya-Hjalmarsson Kempny-van Riemsdyk
Q may shorten the forward rotation and dress a seventh defenseman as well. There are lots of possibilities, but it won't matter if the Hawks don't play their best 60 minutes tonight and withstand an initial push in their opponent's building.
I'll recap tomorrow.
JJ