Predators' goalie Rinne wants to finally put stake in Blackhawks' hearts
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — One week ago, a small group of reporters circled around goalie Pekka Rinne at the United Center and peppered him with questions about the Predators' upcoming Stanley Cup series with the Blackhawks.
Are you nervous? Do you feel somewhat responsible for the Hawks eliminating Nashville in 2010 and 2015? Is there something you need to prove to yourself?
What stuck out most about his answers was:
• Rinne's supreme confidence in everything about his team and …
• His overwhelming desire to finally put a stake in the heart of the Hawks.
“Personally, I really want to beat these guys,” Rinne said.
As much as we've focused on Nashville's speed and the Hawks' lackluster play, Rinne is the No. 1 reason the Predators are up three games to none. Coming in, the 6-foot-5, 217-pound veteran owned a mediocre-at-best .912 postseason save percentage and had won just 46 percent of his starts.
In three games against the Hawks, he's given up 2 goals on 95 shots.
Game 4 is in Nashville at 7 p.m.
“You always want to be remembered as a big-game player,” Rinne said.
He's proven to be exactly that in 2017 at the expense of coach Joel Quenneville's stunned squad.
Rinne, who is one of the best puck-handling goalies in the NHL, has flustered the Hawks with his ability to retrieve dump-ins and move the puck up to defensemen time and time again.
This underappreciated part of the game doesn't go unnoticed by his teammates.
“Instead of going back with a guy on your (butt), you can go to the corner and he'll make a play to you, and you've already beaten a guy up ice,” said defenseman Mattias Eckholm.
Ryan Ellis agreed.
“When you see him doing that for you, you want to respond and do whatever you can for him — whether it be blocking shots or boxing guys out, he said. “You try to do your best because he's always trying his best for us.”
Of course, he's not always perfect. There are times Rinne jumps the gun and it comes back to bite him in the butt.
It happened in 2010 during the first period of Game 6 against the Hawks when an attempted dump in by Brent Seabrook bounced off Patrick Kane's skate and headed right for the net. Anticipating the play, Rinne wasn't able to get back and the puck flew right in, giving the Hawks a 2-1 lead in a game they would go on to win 5-3.
Rinne said he talked with his goalie coach about that very play before Nashville's 3-2 overtime win in Game 3 on Monday. And sure enough — Rinne came within inches of the Hawks scoring another fluky goal when Johnny Oduya's dump in took a wild bounce off a stanchion and headed right for an empty cage. An out-of-position Rinne scrambled back, lunged and somehow deflected the puck inches wide of the right post.
“I don't know if I jinxed it or what, but it ended up happening in that first (period),” Rinne said. “It was crazy. … It brought back some memories. But thank God I made that save.”
Rinne admitted he's had a few fortunate bounces go his way against the Hawks, with the two best examples being shots that hit the post in Game 2 by Richard Panik and Jonathan Toews.
“You always think like that as an athlete you try to kind of work hard (and) maybe sometime you're going to have a bounce go your way,” Rinne said.
Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said the plan this season was to give the 34-year-old Rinne a bit more rest. Rinne started 61 games in 2016-17 as opposed to 66 the season before and 64 in 2014-15. The big Finn actually led the league in 2011-12 when he played in 73 games.
“He's been such a workhorse for so many years in the league that if we found ourselves in the position to do that we would,” Laviolette said. “We stuck with that plan through the entire season.”
Every plan seems to be going the Predators' way lately, and if they win Thursday, Rinne can say he finally vanquished the big, bad Hawks.
“Personally and as a team and as an organization, we really want to take that next step,” he said. “I really believe in this team. I love what we have here in the locker room. So hopefully we believe that this is our year.”