In Nashville Monday, the Chicago Blackhawks finally scored in their series with the Predators.
Just not enough.
After taking a 2-0 lead the Hawks were unable to get anything going in The Music City and Kevin Fiala scored late in overtime to give the Preds a 3-2 win and 3-0 series lead over Chicago.
“It’s just character,” Fiala said. “Everybody, when we went in here before the third period, we could feel it. We were going to do it. Everybody believed in it. Everybody was just working hard from the first and last guy, and that’s why we did it.”
Dennis Rasmussen and Patrick Kane scored for the Blackhawks to give Chicago their first goals of this series.
“It’s tough right now,” Kane said. “Let this one sting a little bit tonight. We have two [days] in between, so get rested, come back feeling good. Take it one at a time. I know that’s cliché and things you have to say, but at the same time win one game. See what happens after that.”
Filip Forsberg cut the deficit in half early in the third period and then tied it with his second of the game at 14:38 of the period to force the extra session.
“I think there’s no stop in this group,” Viktor Arvidsson said. “We were down 2-0 going into the third and we just believed in ourselves and kept battling.”
Game 4 is Thursday in Nashville.
Pekka Rinne picked up the win on 34 saves including a big stop on a breakaway by Nick Schmaltz early in the third period.
“At the time, that was probably the most critical point in the game at 2-0 and a breakaway coming down. It doesn’t seem it because we ended up scoring two goals after that. We get to overtime and that’s a big win, but if you want to know where the game kind of clicked for us into our favor was that save right there by [Rinne],” Nashville head coach Peter Laviolette said of the save.
[WATCH: All Predators vs. Blackhawks highlights | RELATED: Complete Nashville vs. Chicago series coverage]
Corey Crawford made 46 saves in taking the loss.
“We’ve got to make them realize that winning that fourth game is the toughest for any team in any series,” Jonathan Toews said after the loss.
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