.Despite an early deficit, the Nashville Predators took down bitter rival the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 at home on Tuesday night.
This win came just in time, as some jittery fans were starting to feel uneasy about their beloved team. Hopefully, this restores confidence in both fans and players alike.
Let’s talk about how it went down.
KEY PLAYS in the Nashville Predators win
The Nashville Predators came out aggressively, starting their 4th (and most physical) line. Head Coach John Hynes evidently wanted to set an aggressive tone early.
A questionable slashing call on Mark Borowiecki put the Predators on the dreaded penalty kill, which Chicago made quick work of, putting the Predators down a goal very early on in the game.
Dante Fabbro and Matt Duchene both hit post shots as the Predators struggled to find consistent offense early.
Despite a barrage of shots on goal in the final minutes, the Predators ended the 1st period scoreless.
After a fruitless Nashville power play early in the 2nd,
quickly scored his first goal of the season, bringing the score to 1-1:
The Predators gained momentum following Trenin’s goal, creating pressure and consistent offense. However, Duchene made a lazy pass which created a breakaway goal for Chicago, and just like that the Predators were once again trailing by goal.
To start the third period, the Predators came out swinging. After nine minutes of sustained control and what seemed like a million shots on net, Mikael Granlund scored on a beautiful play, assisted by Mattias Ekholm and Nick Cousins.
The score was now tied at two goals apiece after Granlund’s second goal of the season. He returned to the Predators lineup for the two games against the Dallas Stars over the weeked.
Pekka Rinne made several great saves to close out the third period, and the Predators were headed to overtime.
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Rinne again made a great save early in overtime. Despite the Blackhawks playing aggressively, Captain Roman Josi went directly at Chicago goaltender Malcolm Subban to slam home the winning goal.
The Predators get the win 3-2 after just 1:57 of overtime.
TAKEAWAYS
The Predators improved as the game progressed. Most noticeably, their passes had zip and were well-timed especially in the 3rd period, allowing the offense to position itself well.
Sloppy passing had been an issue for some time with many of our players, so it was very encouraging to see consecutive accurate passes.
Even with a few early mistakes, the Predators played very well for 60 minutes in regulation, especially when it came to sustaining pressure and putting pucks at the net.
Special teams are still a massive issue. The Predators look visibly nervous on both the power play and penalty kill. Seriously, at this point, can we have the refs just stop calling penalties on opposing teams? We’d actually prefer to be at even strength.
The offense hopelessly swings the puck around behind the net far too often. I don’t have any stat to back this up, but I would wager they probably do that more than any other team in the NHL. (If someone can find that stat, tweet us @Predlines and we’ll give you a virtual high-five or something.)
Rinne was fantastic. The icing (pun intended) on the cake would’ve been stopping that breakaway goal, but frankly not many goalies would’ve stopped that shot. He’s forgiven, and we love him very much.
Josi showed us yet again why he’s the Captain. Despite entering the game scoreless on the season, he showed grit, finesse, and pure willpower to score the game-winner.
MOVING FORWARD
It was encouraging to see the Predators earn the win after getting embarrassed by Dallas.
This was perhaps the most aggressive Predators team I’ve seen in a while, and they sustained it for basically an entire game, plus overtime. They outshot Chicago 39-20. That’s…a lot. #analysis
The Predators need to play with this sort of attitude for an entire season, and they’ll do some real damage in the playoffs.
Special teams must be addressed. Like, now. A power play should be a huge advantage, yet the Predators cannot seem to figure out how to capitalize when awarded one.
The Predators look good on offense, but aren’t scoring. If they keep doing what they’re doing, the goals will happen.
The Predators have a rematch against the Chicago Blackhawks tonight and will be televised nationally on NBCSN.