3 with Preds

Bigbarn27

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Monday’s game in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena will host an elated Blackhawks team fresh off a 4-0 win against the Red Wings on Saturday, the final game between those two teams this season.

It was Malcolm Subban’s second shutout of the season, thanks to 29 saves on 29 shots. But don’t worry fans: action, adventure — and possible heartbreak — awaits us on Monday night as the Blackhawks (21-9-5) have lost every game against the Predators (24-21-1) this season.

Monday’s game will be the first of three attempts this week for the Blackhawks to redeem those losses.


Predators blog, On The Forecheck

It’s been a minute since the Hawks have seen the Predators, and that game on April 3 resulted in a 3-0 shutout of the Hawks, with Juuse Saros (.928 save percentage this season) stopping all 41 shots attempts versus just 18 for Kevin Lankinen (.914), as Chicago controlled much of the action. That game marked Saros’s 13th career shutout.

“Hockey’s a weird game,” remarked Dylan Strome after that last matchup. “It’s frustrating, but we have to find a way to climb out of this little hole we’re in and get some wins.”

Duncan Keith mirrored Strome’s frustration, recognizing that “every goal is huge, especially this time of year, and it’s be nice to try to get that first one and carry some momentum.”

The importance of the Blackhawks winning this game cannot be understated if they want to secure a playoff spot, which remains a possibility considering that they’re just two points behind the fourth-place Predators. But the Blackhawks have historically not performed well in the final legs of past seasons and considering their inconsistency in 2021, the outcome of Monday’s game is up in the air.

Prior to Monday’s game, the Predators lost twice in a tough matchup against the top-tiered Hurricanes. Nashville goalie Juuse Saros has played some impressive games this season: in the last month alone, he has four games with at least 40 saves, including the one on April 3 against Chicago. He’ll be in net again for Monday’s game and will be one of Nashville’s most important factors, especially considering that the Predators are missing some of their essential offensive forces, including Fillip Forsberg and Eeli Tolvanen.


Patrick Kane has certainly continued to excel this season and, despite the losses, has 1 goal and 12 assists against Nashville in the last 17 games. Kane said that Nashville “play(s) a good team game, and they don’t really give up much space through the neutral zone.

“We really want to play with speed. If we have to get it in deep and have to forecheck and do it that way, that’s what it is. We have to find a way to beat these guys.”
- Kane on Nashville

Since this last match up, the Blackhawks have dropped from third to seventh place in power play percentage, while the Predators are now 22nd after being 16th earlier. In terms of penalty kill percentage, the teams are neck-and-neck as the Hawks sit 29th versus the Predators in 28th.

Let’s go Hawks!

Blackhawks — Statistic — Predators


46.81% (27th) — 5-on-5 Corsi for — 50.64% (13th)

46.67% (30th) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 49.62 (19th)

2.78 (18th) — Goals per game — 2.52 (26th)

3.04 (20th) — Goals against per game — 2.83 (16th)

46.7% (28th) — Faceoffs — 51.6% (8th)

23.7% (7th) — Power play — 18.9% (22th)

74.8% (29th) — Penalty kill — 74.8% (28th)

Projected lineups (subject to change)
Blackhawks

DeBrincat — Dach — Kane

Hagel — Suter — Strome

Kubalik — Kurashev — Hinostroza

Connolly — Kampf — Carpenter

Stillman — Murphy

Keith — Kalynuk

Zadorov — Mitchell

Lankinen/Subban

Predators

Grimaldi — Johansen — Arvidsson

Jarnrok — Granlund — Kunin

Cousins — Haula — Duchene

Trenin — Sissons — Jeannot

Josi — Benning

Ekholm — Ellis

Harpur — Gudbranson

Saros

Rinne

Lets have some fun
Go Hawks !
 

Granada

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I just want a competitive series. Show up on time, play smart, play hard, win some battles, don't get embarrassed. These should be awesome games to watch, as they're basically playoff games -- that is, assuming both teams show up.
 

MassHavoc

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Prior to this year, does anyone know when the last time we played a team three times straight without it being the playoffs? This is the second of three times.
 

Bust

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The Hawks’ second hump is the Predators themselves, who have dominated their rivals dating to the 2017 first-round debacle.

Since Game 1 of those playoffs, the Hawks are 5-12-4 — including 0-3-2 this -season — against the Preds. Even more -pitifully, they’ve scored more than two goals only twice in those 21 meetings (and allowed more than two goals 13 times). They’ve scored just six goals in this year’s five matchups.


Who CAN Step up? 2 Goals is not gonna cut it
 

hawkinmontreal

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This should be good, Can’t stand Nashville as a team, would be great to knock that team on there ass.
Go Hawks Go!!,
 

Bust

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Their goalie has a .980 save pct vs hawks this year (3-0). oh noes
 

hawkinmontreal

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We can always count on the cat this season and once again he does not disappoint.
 

Raskolnikov

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Remember when we started the El Gato here at CCS until The Cat got pissy about it and cried "I'm not even Mexican"?

Lol.

That was the beauty of it. Nobody ever thought he was Mexican, lol, but his name is so long and silly...and El Gato one of the great masculine words of the Spanish language.

You try to help people. "The Cat" is just too obvious.
 

Bust

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Stars leap frog hawks.

Season is over!
 

Bigbarn27

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Fat girl is all warmed up. Rough game for the D from #2 all the way down the line. Hopefully they can show some character the next 2 games been this way for the last 4 years. Anytime a big series of 2-3 games would come up at critical time they would wet the bed.
 

Diehardfan

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Not exactly sure what you guys are expecting....they are not a good team, they are not a playoff team. They are a team that's early into rebuilding. The only reason they are as close as they are is because of the division they are in and for the most part a bit of overachieving by some young players. Are they a surprise? Sure they are but at some point they are going to play to their skill level which is mediocre at best right now. They need a little more time to weed out the garbage. Even if things work out great with the draft and the kids they have grow a little more....they are still about two years away.

Not making the playoffs at this point is not entirely a bad thing.
 

greg23

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One more outright loss this week should wrap it up.....and we may be further behind dal in a week as they have 4 straight with det

Also.....not a fan of the d overall but also starting to feel that lankinen is more of a bottom end starter; good backup than a guy who can shut teams down and go on a playoff run.....seems like he's been fairly pedestrian for a long stretch now.
 

Tater

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Shit game.

Fun fact: The Hawks are the only NHL team to not allow any fans into games.
 

Bust

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One more outright loss this week should wrap it up.....and we may be further behind dal in a week as they have 4 straight with det

Also.....not a fan of the d overall but also starting to feel that lankinen is more of a bottom end starter; good backup than a guy who can shut teams down and go on a playoff run.....seems like he's been fairly pedestrian for a long stretch now.

I agree. Would not go with Lanky as clear #1 next year. Competition is good at all positions.
 

SkyKing

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It was fun while it lasted but put a fork in this season. Time to clean up the golf clubs, boys.
 

HSBOB

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I still like Lanks but it shoulda been Subban's net last night for a few reasons......
#1) Lanks has seen a workload lately he's unfamiliar with.
#2) Lanks has been 'just okay' at best the last few weeks.
#3) Lanks has had no success against Trashville so far.
#4) A few games off to watch could easily re-energize and re-focus the young Finn tender.
#5) Subban didn't just pitch a shutout last time out,he was as in control of his games as he has since he's been here.

Would D-Cat be a fuckin' BEAST if he was just a bit bigger or what? He possesses the attitude of a big man though.
 

Raskolnikov

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Fat girl is all warmed up. Rough game for the D from #2 all the way down the line. Hopefully they can show some character the next 2 games been this way for the last 4 years. Anytime a big series of 2-3 games would come up at critical time they would wet the bed.
Yeah, did they be sure to credit Keith with the assist on one or two of those?

Nice centering pass to create the 2 vs 0.

I think we all collectively groaned with Lankinen..."w...t...f" as it lay in the back of the net.
 
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Raskolnikov

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So, tomorrow is do or die in my book.

This is it.

Stan probably chose right at the deadline, if we were buyers it would have just prolonged the pain.

Gaudette had a good night, let's see if he can make himself part of 2022 discussion.
 

Granada

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Kalynuk getting hurt early really sealed this team's fate. Horrid game on the backend by De Haan, Zadorov, and especially Keith, but it isn't easy when you're down to 5 d-men for practically the entire game. Hagel being out too really hurt.

I stuck up for Colliton in the other thread, but I also said in that same thread/post that he tends to get too cute with his line combos -- last night was no exception. Those lines were fucking awful. This 3 game series is your season: quit with the cute shit and load up your top two lines with your best offensive players. This team isn't nearly deep enough to "spread the depth" throughout the lines, so stop, especially considering this is your season right here.

Right now, Dach doesn't deserve to be anywhere near the top six. Put Strome back (at center) with Cat and get Kubalik off the third line already.
 

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