Rookie no more: Hawks' Panarin ready for playoffs
Even though Artemi Panarin looked incredibly comfortable during his 30-goal rookie season, he admitted one thing to reporters before the Blackhawks began their first-round series with Nashville on Thursday:
The butterflies really hit him when the postseason began.
"I was probably a little bit more nervous last season, in my first playoffs," said Panarin, who did score 2 goals and dish out 5 assists in a series won by the Blues in seven games. "I feel better now than last season."
Panarin said he's now ready for the physical, "provocative" nature of the postseason.
That was all music to coach Joel Quenneville's ears.
"He's been here for a while. I'm sure he's comfortable with a lot of things, his surroundings, the building, his teammates and the opportunity and the chance to win," said Quenneville, who is now able to have 1-on-1 conversations with Panarin during practices. "Good regular season for him and now that we're here in the playoffs, we're going to need him to be a big contributor here. …
"I just think you can see - whether it's language or the way he's been accustomed to lifestyle around here - he's a lot more comfortable with where he's at."
Rough first period:
The Hawks managed just 6 shots on goal in the first period of their 1-0 Game 1 loss to Nashville on Thursday, with 5 of those coming in the first six minutes. Jonathan Toews wasn't about to say that the five-day break was the reason behind the slow start.
"I don't think there's any excuse in the book that you can throw out there that would stand its ground," Toews said. "It's the first game of the playoffs.
"We should have a better start than we did tonight. But sometimes there's some nerves and you need to shake things off. You need to find your groove and find your game, especially the speed and the intensity. I think we did that (after the first period)."
Nick Schmaltz had a particularly rough start and ended up demoted to the fourth line for most of the last two periods. Tanner Kero, who moved up to play with Toews and Richard Panik, created numerous scoring chances and finished with 3 shots on goal and 6 hits.
He remembers:
Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne still has strong memories of the Hawks' series victories in 2010 and 2015 over the Predators. He said Thursday that the setback in 2010 still really stings, especially because Nashville would have taken a 3-2 series lead if not for the heroics of Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa in Game 5. Kane scored short-handed in the waning seconds of the third period to tie the game, and Hossa scored the game-winner in overtime after serving a five-minute major.
Rinne has been Nashville's starting goaltender since 2008-09, but he's never been able to lead the team past the second round.
"As an organization, I feel like we need to get over this hump and beat this team," Rinne said. "It's a big series for us."
Banged up:
The Blackhawks are fortunate to be nearly 100 percent healthy as the playoffs begin, but Nashville can't say the same as coach Peter Laviolette's team is dealing with a significant injury to Colin Wilson (12G, 23A in 70 games).
Wilson was huge for Nashville in the 2016 postseason, scoring 5 goals in 14 games. He is out with a lower-body injury and may not return for this series.
Slap shots:
The Hawks enter the postseason with 76 playoff wins since 2009, the most in the NHL. Pittsburgh is second with 60. ... The Hawks recalled goaltender Jeff Glass from Rockford Thursday.