Nashville Predators: What Stood Out in the Defensive Win vs. Blackhawks

The Nashville Predators defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 in a shootout on Wednesday night, winning their second-straight game, this time via the shootout.

Matt Duchene did the honors by scoring the lone shootout goal. He’s played well all season for the most part, but just hasn’t been able to find the back of the net in regulation:

With this win, the Predators were able to sweep their first two-game series against the Blackhawks and move to 4-3-0 on the season.

Once again, it was a contest that was too close for comfort against an openly rebuilding squad that very well may finish last in the NHL.  But they were able to get it done and avoid the fate of being stuck in the basement of the Central Division, and potentially entire league.  At least for now.

Here is how they got it done.

Defense Stands Tall

The one positive that I can take from this game was that the Predators were able to limit the Blackhawks from getting many prime scoring chances in this contest.  They did a good job protecting the slot and forcing most shots against to be from near the blue line.

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Juuse Saros also had a fantastic night.  He looked comfortable all game and made some impressive saves with lots of traffic in front of him.

Saving all three of the Blackhawks shootout attempts was the cherry on top of what was a tremendous effort from the young goaltender.

Saros finished the night with just one goal against and a .967 save percentage, and he was arguably the x-factor in this win.

The penalty kill also had a good outing and returned to its form from the first two games of the season.  They went a perfect 4-for4 with the man down, which was actually impressive against what has been a potent Blackhawks power play.

At the end of the day, it was playing to their old strengths that won the Predators this game, and doing well in a normally weak area.

Who knows what is going to happen with the penalty kill, which has been either been lights out or porous for the better part of the season so far.  But I absolutely cannot complain about the way they performed tonight, and hopefully they continue to improve throughout the season.

Quiet But Perseverant Offense

In every recent game that this team has played — dating back to August — one thing that has persisted has been the lack of finish to pressure generated.  Tonight was no different.

With the exception of a dull first period, the Predators got a lot of offensive zone time and a lot of pucks on Kevin Lankinen.  Yet again, the results weren’t there, as they could not find the back of the net until Nick Cousins got his first of the year early in the third period.

Although it was nice to see the Predators get the first goal in a game for the first time this season, the bigger picture is that the vast majority of the team’s scoring chances completely went to waste.

Viktor Arvidsson whiffing on a point blank opportunity with just over a minute left in regulation was the icing on the cake.

Failing to convert on four power play chances was another reoccurring issue from this game.  It is frustrating and worrisome, but the one thing the Predators deserve credit for is sticking to their game.

Even with the struggles, it was no question that they were the better team and could win it simply by sustaining heavy pressure in the offensive zone.  They were able to do just that, and even got better as the game went on.

They have been able to improve their quality of play as the majority of their games have progressed, and that may just be their best quality right now.  They must learn to play complete games if they want any chance of returning to being a respected team, but they can at least build off of the way they have been able to finish games.

Moving Forward

As ugly as this game was, it was encouraging to see the Predators get victories in these two games.  Sometimes the difference between a good and bad team is simply getting it done versus not getting it done, and hopefully they can build off that.

That said, what the Predators showed us in the past few nights just wasn’t good enough.  Their offensive struggles so far are alarming and very well may be enough to keep the team out of the playoffs if they continue down that path.

And things will not get any easier in the next few days, as they have to travel south to play their next two games against the defending Stanley Cup Champions in the Tampa Bay Lightning.

That is an extremely unfavorable series, but also a huge opportunity to build some momentum by beating as great of a team as they are.