It was an over capacity 17,208 denizens of Pred Nation that wore their gold proudly last night at Bridgestone Arena, singing an amazing National Anthem, then saw their team jump out to another early lead on another Colin Wilson goal. The game was playing out in a similar fashion to Wednesday night… but the Chicago Blackhawks had other ideas and a back and forth game developed. Patrick Sharp tied the game fourteen minutes later, then Roman Josi took a feed from Shea Weber to snipe home a back breaker goal with four seconds left in the first, giving the Predators a boost heading into the room for the first intermission.
Pred Nation was certainly happy with the lead, but you could feel the tension when the second period began… which Predator team would show up?
One more time, the Blackhawks put on a push… one more time a key member of the team leaves the game with an injury as Shea Weber went down awkwardly and left the ice in obvious pain… then the obviously blown too many men call on Patrick Kane’s tying goal halfway through the period and there was a real feeling of “here we go again… among the fans of the fang. The test of resiliency I wrote about on Friday had arrived.
Instead of rolling over and saying woe is me… the Predators went back to work. They kept the pressure on and the Blackhawks were the ones who eventually buckled and Chicago lost their discipline. After Craig Smith put the Predators back on top just four minutes after the game tying goal, the teams went back to the room for the second intermission where the period began, the Preds clinging to a one goal lead.
The barking and yipping at the officials was a constant throughout the game, but when Hawks captain Jonathan Toews took an interference call that he obviously disagreed with, it seemed Chicago began to unravel. The ensuing power play went nowhere and a few minutes later, at the 12:41 mark of the third period, to use Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford’s words… "the wheels came off." Filip Forsberg arrived in this playoff series with a sweet goal that put the Preds up two… less than two minutes later, Craig Smith deposited his second of the game and before the cheering stopped for that goal, Mike Santorelli scored his playoff lid lifter 32 seconds later, putting the game out of reach and sending the sold out Bridgestone Arena into abject joy and the very few Blackhawk fans in the house home unhappy.
They key for Nashville is not to get too high, just as they did not get too low after losing Game One. Quick turnaround time as tomorrow’s Game Three is in Chicago at 2pm.
Here are your highlights from nhl.com
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Random Notes
- Tequila Cowboy, a bar in the district felt the wrath of Predators fans yesterday as they advertised a Blackhawks “pep rally… on Friday… a picture of the sandwich board outside the bar quickly made its way to social media and the reaction was swift… my favorite came from Gnash…
The sad thing is I use to visit that establishment often. They had the best mice in town and plenty of them.
— Gnash (@Gnash00) April 17, 2015- The loss of Shea Weber could be a massive one for the Predators. No word yet of the extent of the injury or the amount of time he will be gone. Time for the Cody Franson trade to pay dividends and 44 really stepped up his game last night.
- I wondered yesterday if the Predators learned their lessons from Wednesday night… consider that question answered. However, did they learn the lessons from last night? Sometimes it is easier to learn lessons from a loss, than a win.
- Well… it does look like there is a full fledged goalie controversy in Chicago now. Frankly, Corey Crawford was NOT the reason the Blackhawks lost… he got hung out to dry on multiple occasions and could sue his defense for non-support., especially in the third period when the Haws simply stopped playing.
- Another key to last night’s game was the penalty kill, keeping the Hawks off the board and providing momentum for 5 on 5 play.
- I wonder if Franson ends up paired with Josi on the top D pair and a blueliner is called up from Milwaukee?
- A line brawl in a playoff game? Man… the Vancouver / Calgary series took a nasty turn at the end of the Canucks series tying win last night.
- After three of the four home teams lost game one on Wednesday, all four home teams won last night.
- Is the clock striking midnight for the Ottawa Senators? They’ve been close but Andrew Hammond has been only ordinary in net and the Sens head home in an 0-2 hole.
- Game two of Wild/Blues today at Scottrade Center… the Blues simply cannot lose this game or they are done again in the first round.
Four game two’s today and tonight, here are the games and national coverage options…
- Detroit @ Tampa Bay - DET leads 1-0 – 2pm CDT faceoff – Coverage on CBC, NBC, NBCSN - Minnesota @ St. Louis - MIN leads 1-0 – 2pm CDT faceoff – Coverage on NBC, NBCSN, SN - Pittsburgh @ New York Rangers - NYR leads 1-0 – 7pm CDT faceoff – CBC, NBC - Winnipeg @ Anaheim – 9:30pm CDT faceoff – NBCSN, SN Channel 4 in Nashville is carrying Red Wings / Lightning… if you want to see Blues / Wild, it will be on NBCSN in the Middle Tennessee area.
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