It was all supposed to be different. The Chicago Blackhawks were visiting the Nashville Predators who were coming off two losses to the Carolina Hurricanes, and were looking vulnerable. 
Think again, mon ami.
On Monday night, Juuse Saros made 30 saves and the Preds handed the Blackhawks a 5-2 loss and added two precious standings points Chicago really wanted.
Alex DeBrincat scored to tie the game, 1-1, and David Kampf scored to make the score 3-2 in favor of the Preds.
“I thought we were playing well,” Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton said. “Obviously to go down 3-1 was tough, but then we battled back and we controlled a lot of that second (period) and easily could’ve tied it. We want to recapture that momentum. … We certainly had our chances.”
Calle Jarnkrok and Luke Kunin had a goal and assist apiece in the win.
“I thought everyone up and down the lineup, we just played more to our identity tonight,” Kunin said. “And that’s getting in on the forecheck, playing hard and physical and getting to the net. We had a lot of looks.”
Matt Duchene collected his fourth goal of the season to opening the scoring.
“We’re fighting for a playoff spot, and obviously Chicago is as well,” Kunin said. “We’ve had that mindset for the last 20 or so games. It’s a playoff mindset, and we’ve got to come in and do the right things every day.”
The wind was taken out of Chicago when Tanner Jeannot scored for Nashville with 23 seconds gone in the third frame for a 4-2, quickly followed, 18 seconds later, by a strike by Kunin.
“We have a few breakdowns, about two minutes of poor hockey, and they score four goals,” DeBrincat said. “We’ve got to be better, come back to play. We got some home games coming up, so we need to capitalize there.”
Mattias Ekholm also scored for Nashville to give them a 3-1 lead in the game.
“[Jarnkrok’s] a really good player,” Nashville’s Mikael Granlund said. “We’ve been playing together quite a bit here, so it’s a lot of fun to play. He’s a really responsible player. He’s a really smart player. There’s a lot of trust out there, so we can both kind of play offense. We know there’s someone who is going to be responsible, that’s one thing. Offensively, we work hard and we’ve been getting a couple turnovers and getting some chances from those. It’s been a good stretch and we’ve just got to keep it going.”
Kevin Lankinen got the start for the Hawks and yielded five goals, making 17 saves
“I think at this time of year if you’re going to play for a playoff spot, you have to be sharp for longer periods of the game,” the Blackhawks’ Connor Murphy said. ” … We weren’t sharp for long enough.”
Malcolm Subban made eight saves after entering the game in the opening minute of the third period.
You must be logged in to post a comment.