The last home game of the Nashville Predators‘ season was an unfortunately timed Saturday game against the Chicago Blackhawks. With so many Chicago fans flooding the downtown streets, Preds fans wanted their team to make a little bit of a statement, especially because the Hawks are going to the dance while the Predators are hitting the links.
Well, if the first few minutes were going to be an indication of things to come, Nashville was in for an excruciating night. Thankfully, things evened out and the two teams traded chances and goals for almost the entirety of the night. There was nothing about this game that wasn’t boring, as Craig Smith, Ryan Ellis, Colin Wilson, Matt Cullen, Paul Gaustad and Patric Hornqvist all scored for the Predators. Despite it being a meaningless game for Chicago, Nashville fans can at least go home happy knowing their team dominated them throughout the season.
Random Observations
- Marion Hossa bounced from the game as soon as he collected his 30th of the season. That’s hockey’s version of dropping the mic.
- What a marvelous pass by Mike Fisher to Ryan Ellis.
- Roman Josi: King of the own goal.
- I started typing about how all the goals pretty much guarenteed the game was going to overtime. Then Gaustad scored. So I started revising my bullet point, but before I was through Andrew Shaw tied up the game with 90 seconds left in the game. Welp. (And Patric Hornqvist just scored the go-ahead goal! WHAT IS REAL?!?)
- 34-1-7. That was Chicago’s record in game where they scored the first goal. Well, even though they potted the first two, Nashville was able to hand them only their second regulation loss in that category. It’s the little things, right?
- All hail the Captain! Shea Weber picked up a career high in points tonight after notching an assist on Wilson’s goal. He also apparently didn’t want to be overshadowed by Smith and Hornqvit, as each of them scored their 22nd goal tonight. Game on tomorrow, everyone.
- Also, it was pretty great to hear Weber get so much praise (and Norris Trophy hype) on national television.
You can’t really ask for a better home ender than that. So many goals. So many lead changes. The Preds beat the Hawks in one of the wildest games we’ve seen all season. We’ll see you tomorrow night as the team close out their season in the State of Hockey.
Boxscore – Game Summary – Event Summary
Roll the video highlights…