Hossa's stellar performance includes dazzling assist

Marian Hossa chuckled when asked if he has eyes in the back of his head.

Because that's exactly what it looked when he skated in on Roman Josi early in the second period Sunday during the Hawks' 4-2 Game 3 victory over Nashville and deftly dropped the puck behind him for Jonathan Toews.

"I was gonna release it but all of a sudden I saw he was right behind me and he was wide open," Hossa said. "So I tried to drop it to him and (went) to the net. That was a hard shot for (Pekka Rinne) to stop."

Impossible, as it turned out. Toews zipped the puck past Rinne's right pad, giving the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead 36 seconds into the second period.

Hossa was everywhere Sunday, filling the stat sheet with 2 assists, 6 shots on goal, 2 hits and 2 takeaways. The 36-year-old winger even won the only faceoff he took.

"He was really good today," coach Joel Quenneville said. "You can talk about his game today, you can talk about Tazer's (whole) line (5 points and a plus-6). I think individually they made it one of those nights where they were a threat. Their speed today was very noticeable."

Momentum killers:

It took Nashville just 31 seconds to erase the Hawks' first lead of Game 3, then just 22 seconds to erase a 2-1 Hawks lead after Jonathan Toews' second-period goal.

The quick responses by the Predators were not something goalie Scott Darling was happy about afterward.

"As a goalie it kills your momentum and you need to at least keep it for a little while and we really didn't do that," he said, later adding: "I gotta make some saves there. I can't be giving up goals right after they score."

Darling said he was fooled on Mike Ribeiro's goal on a shot he said didn't go in the direction Ribeiro intended. Mattias Ekholm's tally was one Darling said he should have stopped.

"When you score, you've got the momentum, you don't want to lose it," Marian Hossa said. "We've got to learn from it."

Switch-eroos:

After being healthy scratches in the first two games, Antoine Vermette and Andrew Desjardins returned to the ice for the Blackhawks. Vermette was a plus-1, delivered 4 hits and won 4 of 9 faceoffs, while Desjardins opened the scoring and nearly added a second goal in the second period.

Of Vermette, Quenneville said: "He's worked hard here. I think he's practiced well and I think he's disappointed obviously he didn't get to start (the first two games)."

With Vermette and Desjardins playing, the Hawks sat rookie Teuvo Teravainen and Joakim Nordstrom.

"Everyone wants more ice time, more quality ice time, and that's why we don't mind making tough decisions and having depth," Quenneville said.

Tip-ins:

The Blackhawks are 20-4 in the playoffs at the United Center since 2013. … In the last nine games, Nashville has been outscored 16-3 in the second period. … Bryan Bickell led the Hawks with 6 hits in 13:34 of ice time. … Predators defensemen Seth Jones and Roman Josi were both minus-3s. … Viktor Stalberg had 7 shots and 5 hits for Nashville.

He said it:

"We weren't good enough in front of Crow and that shouldn't be happening."

- Marian Hossa