It took 10- game minutes, over four-and-a-half hours in real-time and 100 shots to find a winner. Brent Seabrook scored one-minute into the third overtime giving the Blackhawks a 3-2 victory. Chicago’s win puts them up 3-1 in the series with a chance to close out the first round matchup Thursday night.
For the second time in the series, a game went to multiple overtimes. Chicago goaltender Scott Darling has stopped all 43 shots thrown his way in five overtime periods.
“I don’t know if guys were excited I scored or excited the game was over,” said Seabrook, who logged 33:30 on 50 shifts. “It was one of those games. It was tough. Both teams, I think, are going to feel it in the morning, but we’re happy with the outcome and we’ve got to move on to Game 5.”
The whole game had a different feel to it than the previous three. The teams had more snarl to their game and tightened up play on the ice. Open real estate was hard to come by and quality shots were few.
A highly questionable hooking call on Bryan Bickell led to Nashville’s first goal. Ryan Ellis launched a shot from the blue line that deflected off the Hawk’s Jonathan Toews and then the Predators’ Colin Wilson and into the net. It was the fourth goal of the series for Wilson, giving Nashville a 1-0 lead 11:38 into the game.
In the previous game, Chicago saw two of their leads disappear within seconds after they scored. The tables were turned when Antoine Vermette took a nice feed from Michal Rozsival for his first goal in the Indian Head sweater.
The second period has been an issue for Nashville this series. Coming into the game they were a -5 in the middle period.
“Obviously, mentally, it’s disappointing right now,” Nashville defenseman Roman Josi said. “I mean, if you go to third overtime and you lose the game, it’s disappointing right now. But we have to put it behind us as soon as possible. This isn’t over, so we have to look forward to Game 5.”
Marian Hossa had a rare defensive zone turnover. The puck hit off the heel of his stick and rolled back towards the Hawks’ net. Duncan Keith then had his pocket picked by James Neal who converted the takeaway into a goal. It was Neal’s first goal of the series and gave the Preds back a one-goal lead at 17:02 of the second period.
Not only did Nashville score the middle period’s lone goal, but they dominated both ends of the ice. They finished the second period with 12 of the last 16 shots on goal. Chicago goaltender Scott Darling kept his team in the game with some fantastic second period saves.
“The series has been close,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. “My whole team is playing hard. We just can’t seem to get that bounce. Pekka was really good tonight. [He] made some big saves when we needed him to. I thought our team played hard. I thought we played well. We had more than enough looks, more than enough opportunities to end the game. Like I said, we just couldn’t get that final one to break.”
The third period was another dominated period, this time for the home team. The Blackhawks flashed their puck possession style of play and had Nashville skating backwards most of the period.
Brandon Saad delighted the home fans when he shot went above Pekka Rinne’s blocker and into the net, making it 2-2. The goal was set up by a perfect drop pass from Hossa at the top of the slot.
A game like this reminds everyone why the Stanley Cup Playoffs are so much fun to watch. The game goes down as the longest in Predators franchise history.
The series shifts back to Nashville on Thursday night. The puck drops inside the Bridgestone Arena at 8:30 p.m. Central Time.
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