Predators suffer major hurt by losing Fisher to injury

NASHVILLE - Thrilled. Ecstatic. Pumped.

Appropriate adjectives to describe how the Blackhawks felt about getting Patrick Kane back for their first-round playoff series against Nashville.

Look up antonyms for those three words and you'll have a sense for how the Predators feel about losing Mike Fisher (lower-body injury) for most of Game 1 and all of Game 2.

Center Mike Riberio said losing their second-line center is similar to the Hawks losing Kane (although a better talent comparison might be like the Hawks losing Patrick Sharp). Fisher has averaged 21.4 goals in the last five full seasons and he led the Preds with 7 power play goals this season.

"He does a lot of things for us," Riberio said.

When Fisher re-aggravated the injury in the second period of Game 1, the Predators were forced to scramble their lines and watched the Hawks storm back from a 3-0 deficit.

Said coach Peter Laviolette: "You could go down a checklist of things that you need from players on the ice, from faceoffs, leadership, power play, penalty kill and you just keep checking the boxes when Mike comes out of the lineup. So those are some big shoes to fill."

The ripple effect for Game 2 meant Matt Cullen, normally a third-line winger, was centering the second line with Colin Wilson and James Neal as the forwards. Cullen, 38, has been in the league since 1997, but he had just 7 goals and 18 assists this season.

"You don't want to lose a guy like that," said the Hawks' Brad Richards of Fisher. "But teams build in for the playoffs. They get depth to try and counter that."

Vermette out, not down:

Give Antoine Vermette credit. The Blackhawks' center continues to keep his head up and maintains a positive attitude with his teammates and the media despite being a healthy scratch again Friday.

"I don't want to make the story about myself," he said. "It's about the team right now."

The Hawks are the 32-year-old's fourth team and this is the seventh time he has been on a franchise that advanced to the postseason. But he's yet to find any traction in Hawks coach Joel Quenneville's system, not having scored a goal since arriving from Arizona.

"If I would have been better, Q and the coaching staff would evaluate my play better and it would be a different situation," Vermette said. "But it is what it is."

Still, he wasn't going to bemoan the fact he was traded to a team with high Stanley Cup aspirations.

"We're in the playoffs, we've got a great team, we're looking good," Vermette said. "I'm excited. Last time I checked Arizona, they're not playing hockey anymore. Yeah, it (the trade) is (a positive)."

Tip-ins:

In Game 1, the Predators' 54 shots on goal blew away the franchise's previous high of 46. ... James Neal's 9 shots for Nashville tied a franchise record. ... The Hawks have now played four straight playoff openers that went to overtime. The average game length was 83 minutes. ... The Hawks have won eight of nine series when taking Game 1 under Joel Quenneville. ... Going into Game 2, Corey Crawford is 13-10 in the first round of the playoffs. Seven of his losses came in overtime.