The Chicago Blackhawks brought Nashville’s win streak to a halt tonight, taking advantage of multiple miscues to defeat the Predators 3-1 at Bridgestone Arena. A series of unnecessary penalties gave Chicago five power play opportunities which yielded goals for Patrick Kane and Nick Leddy.
Shea Weber scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season on a power play in the first period, but it wasn’t enough as the Preds failed to muster much offensive pressure the rest of the way. Carter Hutton got the start and made 24 saves, but a soft goal allowed to Duncan Keith put the Preds on their heels right from the early going.
From here, the Predators (16-15-3) head out to play at Tampa Bay on Thursday night.
Random Observations
- That Patrick Kane goal… my oh my what a shot.
- Yes, the Blackhawks flopped on a couple of those penalty calls, but two Too Many Men penalties in one game? Making those kinds of gaffes against a team like Chicago is sure to burn you sooner or later.
- It’s too bad we don’t have anyone tracking Zone Entries for Preds games, because it looked to my eye like Chicago was happy to regularly move the puck back to their D and circle up for another attack rather than play dump & chase.
- Are a few minutes of Rich Clune really more valuable to this team than having Gabriel Bourque in the lineup? I just can’t wrap my head around that lineup decision.
- Mike Fisher enjoyed a strong game, driving the puck to the net with urgency much like Patric Hornqvist.
- Seth Jones also showed some offensive daring that we hadn’t seen for a few games, so it’s good to see at least that his confidence is still there despite the recent drop in ice time.
- At least Magnus Hellberg got to earn an NHL payday, as he was called up this afternoon to fill in for Marek Mazanec, who was reported as ill.
- Hey, the Predators went 34-19 on the faceoff dot! That counts for something, right? Right???
Boxscore – Game Summary – Event Summary – Fancy Stats
Roll the video highlights…
Who was your Predator of the Game?
| Mike Fisher | 17 |
| Carter Hutton | 16 |
| Shea Weber | 31 |