SlapShot Radio’s intrepid photographer was capturing the action of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Smashville… check out the pics! Pictures courtesy Denise McCann Photography
It is a bleary eyed Pred Nation awakening today, bleary eyed but happy as the Nashville Predators spotted the Chicago Blackhawks a couple of goals in last night’s game three, before storming back to score three unanswered, including Kevin Fiala’s game winner deep in the first overtime to win 3-2 and establish the first 3-0 lead in a Stanley Cup playoff series in franchise history.
Bridgestone Arena was electric as game time approached… full throated, gold decked and very little red to be seen in the house… I mean very little. It looked like the “United Center South… signs were dragged kicking and screaming from the place… ummmm… too soon?
The Predators came out strong again… driving scoring chances and peppering Hawks’ netminder Corey Crawford with 17 shots, but Chicago’s backstop was brilliant, keeping the Preds off the board as the rest of the Blackhawks tried to find their game. Which they eventually stumbled across a little over a minute into the second period as Dennis Rasmussen managed to poke one past Pekka Rinne, ending his magnificent streak of 141+ minutes of shutout hockey and giving the Hawks their first lead of the series… which Patrick Kane doubled about 10 minutes later.
As loud as Bridgestone Arena was… it fell quiet as Pred Nation began to think, oh boy… here it comes.
Even the most gold-tinted glasses Pred fan couldn’t imagine what was to come. After Rasmussen’s goal… the Preds lost their way a bit, losing their discipline, not playing their system, not using their speed. After Kane’s goal, they slowly got back to work, and by the end of the second period, Nashville had its legs back under them, setting up the comeback through simple hard work. To steal Patrick Kane’s post game quote… “you can make your own bounces in this game.…
That is exactly what Nashville did.
It started with an outstanding save from Pekka Rinne on a Nick Schmaltz breakaway about two and a half minutes into the third, a key save at a key point. Something Pekka Rinne has done all season long, and a point that seems to be lost on those who refuse to give the big Finn the credit he deserves. And then… It was the JOFA line. A line that the Blackhawks have had no answer for, that did it again, getting that bounce off a Viktor Arvidsson shot that hit high on the boards and bounced back into play, and onto Filip Forsberg’s stick. Lead halved… Bridgestone Arena insanity level back to about 8.5…
The Predators kept coming in waves, ramping up the pressure on Corey Crawford, who was simply outstanding… the best player for the Hawks on this night. The Predators concentrating on out working while the Blackhawks captain (yeah, I’m going here) spent most of his time whining for a call from the officials. It is not something I have observed from Toews before… it wasn’t pretty to see such a great player forgetting about the play around him while lobbying for a call.
Slightly less than 10 minutes later, the Prince struck again, chaos in front of the net, Crawford out of his crease, incidental contact occurring and Forsberg tallied his second of the night to tie things up. And what’s a game three against Chicago without a little controversy? Take a look for yourself. If you are wearing red tinted glasses, you are screaming, gold tinted wearers say it’s good… and after a brief review driven by the coaches challenge,Toronto agreed with those in gold and the game was tied. Smashville insanity level up to 9.
Now it is anybody’s game, and as overtime began, no one thought, even though he has been playing great hockey lately, no one saw Kevin Fiala’s coming out party coming. Fiala has been all over the ice since his last recall from Milwaukee, playing like a young man possessed… adding an element of effort to his amazing talent level. In overtime, he was the man… generating scoring chances almost everytime he touched the puck, Crawford stoned him twice before he finally broke through with the game winner, cranking the Bridgestone Arena insanity level up to 10…
The irony of the game winner coming off a turnover from Marian Hossa was not lost on Pred fans…
Let’s go to the GBU…
The Good - Kevin Fiala, the JOFA line and Pekka Rinne are just some of the good from last night’s game. Outstanding performances all. Oh… and the serious lack of red in Smashville last night… that was very good.
The Bad - The Predators losing their discipline in the second, lessons need to be learned from this… but this got turned around.
The Ugly - The lack of respect being given to this Nashville team’s performance… the reason the Preds are up 3-0 is because of how well this team has played and knocked Chicago back on its heels. Nothing is being given to this team, they are taking it.
Time for a new mantra for Pred Nation… It takes four wins to take a series, Now we gotta wait till Thursday night for game four…
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Playoff Status
Eastern Conference
Washington vs. Toronto – TOR leads 2-1 – Game 4 – tomorrow night in Toronto
Montreal vs. New York – MTL leads 2-1 – Game 4 – tonight in New York
Ottawa vs. Boston – OTT leads 2-1 – Game 4 – tomorrow night in Boston
Pittsburgh vs. Columbus – PIT leads 3-0 – Game 4 – tonight in Columbus
Western Conference
Chicago vs. Nashville – NSH leads 3-0 – Game 4 Thursday night in Nashville
Anaheim vs. Calgary – ANA leads 3-0 – Game 4 – tomorrow night in Calgary
Minnesota vs. St. Louis – STL leads 3-0 – Game 4 – tomorrow night in St. Louis
Edmonton vs. San Jose – EDM leads 2-1 – Game 4 – tonight in San Jose
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Playoff Random Notes
- I think PK Subban has really gotten under the skin of several Blackhawk players… he was being chased several different times.
- Another overall solid defensive effort… this team’s possession stats have been amazing over this series.
- Three of the four Western Conference series are at 3-0.
- Toronto has a surprising 2-1 lead over Washington in their series after last night’s overtime win at the ACC.
- The first second round ticket can be punched tonight as Pittsburgh has a 3-0 lead in their series with Columbus.
- Canadian teams, after going 0-5 to start they playoffs have gone 8-2 since then.
- Three games in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs tonight, all times CST – 6pm – MTL @ NYR (NBCSN). 6:30pm – PIT @ CBJ (CNBC). 9pm – EDM @ SJS (NBCSN).
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