How Nashville's neutral zone play helped Preds trip up Hawks
Crunching checks and gorgeous goals. A bloody brawl and highlight-reel saves. Insane puck-blocking defensemen and triple-overtime thrillers.
These are the ingredients that make for fantastic playoff hockey and bring out the best - and worst - in millions of rabid fans across the country.
Now, let's try to add "how teams defend and play in the neutral zone" to that list. Doesn't quite make the cut, does it?
"The neutral zone is one of those zone that nobody talks about - it's kind of boring," said Nashville coach Peter Laviolette, whose team defeated the Blackhawks 1-0 in Game 1 of their opening-round series Thursday at the United Center.
Yet, it was how the Predators' played in that 57-foot-wide section of ice that forced the Hawks to play a chip-and-chase game, and is a major reason Nashville took the lead in this series.
"Getting through (the neutral zone) and defending it can really help your offense or it can help your defense," said Laviolette, whose team will attempt to go up 2-0 on Saturday at the United Center. "It's such an important part of the game."
Said Hawks coach Joel Quenneville: "We may have to get rid of the puck to get it back in order to get through the neutral zone. They're patient. Call it a 1-1-3 or 1-4 or 1-3-1 - they're back and they're ready to play in that area."
The way the Hawks play, they would much rather zoom into the opponent's offensive zone while in control of the puck or have the D-men hit the forwards with long stretch passes out of their own zone. Nashville is doing everything it can to stop both methods of attack.
"Every team kind of tries to clog up the neutral zone," Duncan Keith said. "That's up to us to kind of identify what we have, our options."
While the Predators were effective in this area, it's not like the Hawks didn't have any Grade A scoring chances. Quite to the contrary, they had plenty of them, but Pekka Rinne made 29 saves and 12 different Predators combined to block 26 shots. That second fact was equal parts impressive and disturbing to Laviolette.
"It tells me that we played in the defensive zone too much," he said. "But it's a good stat to show the courage of our guys (being) willing to block shots. … As you move on in rounds, those numbers even go up. There's more of that desperation."
Quenneville's biggest gripe after the loss had to do with how little net-front presence the Hawks established. So what did the team work on during a brief practice at the United Center on Friday?
Tip drills in front of the net, of course.
"The goalies are too good, they're too big. If they see the puck they're going to stop it," Quenneville said. "We've got to get there to make it tough on them and at least try to get second opportunities.
"But with no traffic, you get no rebounds and you get an easy save. So we have to be tougher and harder to play against."
Marian Hossa was the only healthy player to miss practice, which isn't unusual, and Quenneville said he's fine. There wasn't a hint of panic or worry in the dressing room Thursday or Friday, and the sense is if the Hawks can play like they did in the second and third periods of Game 1, they'll be fine and this series will be 1-1 heading to Nashville.
"It was one game," said rookie Ryan Hartman. "It's a seven-game series and we're just looking forward to tomorrow. We're going to come out hard. A lot harder than we did yesterday and get more pucks to the net and try to get more opportunities."
• Follow John on Twitter @johndietzdh
Blackhawks first round playoff schedule
Predators lead series 1-0
Game 1: Predators 1, Blackhawks 0
Game 2: Predators at Blackhawks, tonight, 7 p.m., NBC
Game 3: Blackhawks at Predators, Monday, 8:30 p.m., CSN
Game 4: Blackhawks at Predators, Thursday, April 20, 7 p.m.
*Game 5: Predators at Blackhawks, Saturday, April 22, TBD
*Game 6: Blackhawks at Predators, Monday, April 24, TBD
*Game 7: Predators at Blackhawks, Wednesday, April 26, TBD
* If necessary