Nashville strikes late, tops Chicago Blackhawks
Calle Jarnkrok broke a 1-1 tie with just 1:51 to go in the game to stun the Chicago Blackhawks and lift the Nashville Predators to a 3-1 victory Thursday night at the United Center.
Pekka Rinne made 38 saves, many of them in spectacular fashion, in extending Nashville's road points streak to 10 games.
The Hawks are 6-7-1 since their 12-game winning streak.
The Hawks' only goal came from Brent Seabrook. The Hawks' defenseman slid into an opening about 20 feet in front of Rinne, took a pass from Jiri Sekac and pounded home his 12th goal of the season to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead 5:27 into the second period. Erik Gustafsson also picked up an assist on the play.
Nashville knotted the game at 1-1 when Viktor Arvidsson scored at 9:08 of the second period.
Rinne was brilliant throughout, robbing Jonathan Toews on a 2-on-1 with about 12:10 to go in the first period and Andrew Shaw on a breakaway with 30 seconds left in the second.
"Early on he made some big saves," Jonathan Toews said. "We weren't able to come back from that and find ways to at least pot a few and distance ourselves early. When it's a 1-1 game … it can go either way. Obviously it didn't fall the way we wanted it to tonight."
Welcome aboard:
The other players the Blackhawks acquired in the Andrew Ladd deal Thursday are 25-year-old forward Matt Fraser and 33-year-old defenseman Jay Harrison. Both were playing for Winnipeg's AHL team in Manitoba.
Fraser has 87 NHL games under his belt with Dallas, Boston and Edmonton. Harrison has played in 372 NHL games with Toronto, Carolina and Winnipeg.
Dealing with it:
Two months ago, Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman acquired Rob Scuderi from Pittsburgh for Trevor Daley to shore up the back end, help on the penalty kill - and to provide a bit of salary-cap relief.
The Scuderi experiment didn't last long, though, as the 37-year-old was a healthy scratch for much of the first half of February and finally assigned to Rockford last week.
"Certainly it's not the ideal situation I was hoping to be in," Scuderi told reporters Tuesday. "But at the same time, you're still playing the game you love for a pretty good amount of money. So nothing to complain about."
Coach Joel Quenneville said the play of Erik Gustafsson and Viktor Svedberg was the primary reason the Hawks demoted Scuderi.
"Obviously (he wasn't) too excited about it," Quenneville said, "but I think he felt he was in a tough spot not playing much or not playing at all for stretches. Organizationally we want him playing and keep the depth.
"At his stage of his career, you've got to do what you've got to do to keep yourself game ready."
Slap shots:
Joel Quenneville believes Marian Hossa, out with an upper-body injury, will be able to begin skating either Saturday or Sunday. Hossa could return as early as Wednesday at Detroit. … Entering Thursday, Nashville boasted the highest-scoring defensive unit in the league with 150 points (41 goals). The Hawks were fourth with 129 points (27 goals). … The Predators are 4-11 in games that go past regulation. They are 1-10 in overtime and 3-1 in shootouts.