There are some narratives that do not die. Some are brought up to win arguments, some linger and fester despite being proven wrong because enough people believe them. And some are just proven right time and time again.
You can learn all kinds of life lessons from sports. Last night was a fine illustration; no one is going to give it to you. You will have to take it. And the Nashville Predators took last night, and made it painful.
Preds Obliterate Chicago
How they won:
After swapping goals from heartthrobs Colin Wilson and Patrick Sharp, the teams looked to be headed into the locker room at 1-1. Enter Roman Josi, creating mismatches and ruining lives.
So the guys in gold take a lead into the second period. Great. The big question was how will the Predators play in the second. Much has been made about how awful this team has been in the middle stanza, and they had their excuses for folding already built in.
And you want to see another NHL atrocity play out before the commissioner himself, don’t you.
Lavy is mad. Can you figure out why?
@kmartel_sports pic.twitter.com/QfLFBzebUq
— Andrew Southern (@Andrew_Southern) April 18, 2015
OH MAN. Well that’s a tough one. There was some contact behind the play, but that’s six men on the ice. Wow, but it least it wasn’t too blatant.
@MarkLazerus six man celebration after Kane goal pic.twitter.com/MrejmdwpTo
— Brian Leibforth (@bleibforth) April 18, 2015
Oh for crying out loud. Are all six guys celebrating the goal?
Here’s a better picture. pic.twitter.com/pQg4X1Ddrj
— Max Haldeman (@Maxhaldeman13) April 18, 2015
Yep. They are. That’s more hilarious than Wednesday.
That goes back to my point on Thursday: this is what you signed up for. Don’t expect to get help along the way. It won’t happen. Now, you can either hear that and cry about it or you can accept it and set your phasers from stun to kill and show those basterds you mean business.
That’s how you respond. You get back to work.
How do you beat a possession monster team? You don’t stop pressing.
Dont.
GIF: Forsberg goal pic.twitter.com/JCWbotOUus
— Stephanie Vail (@myregularface) April 18, 2015
Stop.
GIF 5-2 Preds pic.twitter.com/nS6wU9sC92
— Stephanie Vail (@myregularface) April 18, 2015
Pressing.
GIF: Santorelli goal, 6-2 pic.twitter.com/er9PnMgUIm
— Stephanie Vail (@myregularface) April 18, 2015
Nashville was playing without Shea Weber for the latter part of the game with a LBI, likely the ankle/heel area. Not good. But that’s why you get defensive depth at the deadline. Cody Franson can play Weber’s role just fine next game, and Mike Santorelli didn’t have a bad outing either. It’s easy to point at Olli Jokinen and where he would fit in on the second line, but he’s currently chowing down on waffles in the St. Louis press box. I imagine they’re St. Louis Waffles, which consists of cake batter burned to a crisp in a waffle iron, covered in provel cheese, and loaded with toppings.
So the series is now even. If you want a good illustration of this series, look no further than Kris Versteeg. He was sent on the ice during the second period of game 1 with a clear mission: get a power play. It’s not a bad strategy. But in game 2, he was trying to compensate for his team’s sketchy defense and iffy goaltending with…
GIF Versteeg hit that led to scrum and roughing minor for him pic.twitter.com/SAYIOnnwzD
— Stephanie Vail (@myregularface) April 18, 2015
…a bad idea. Not having either Weber or Mike Fisher in the lineup takes out your bruisers, but we’ll probably see the return of glorious comrade Anton Volchenkov unless Shea gets some kind of Patrick Kane medical treatment.
Not a bad night, and now Chicago has some real questions going forward with their $6 Million Dollar Man, Corey Crawford. And with the exception of that rotten second period on Wednesday, the Predators have looked the better team thusfar. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.