Hawks look good but Rinne steals show in 2-1 loss to Preds
Two weeks ago, Nashville came to the United Center, completely outplayed the Blackhawks and somehow left town without a victory.
Friday, the Predators returned and the Hawks turned the tables, outshooting and out-hustling Nashville for most of a thrilling back-and-forth affair.
Unfortunately for coach Joel Quenneville's team, Pekka Rinne turned away 43 of the Hawks' 44 shots and carried his team to an unlikely 2-1 victory.
"Definitely a tough loss," Quenneville said. "There were more positives tonight than a lot of games. Probably played our best period outside of the first two periods of the Pittsburgh game (a 10-1 win). So that was tough."
Quenneville mixed up his lines for this one, putting Alex DeBrincat with Jonathan Toews and Brandon Saad, and moving Richard Panik down to play with Patrick Kane and Nick Schmaltz.
The early returns were excellent as the Hawks totally dominated the first period by outshooting Nashville 21-7. Five of those shots came short-handed, with Artem Anisimov's finding the mark with 26 seconds left and giving the Hawks a short-lived 1-0 lead.
The play began when Nick Schmaltz stole the puck from P.K. Subban at the Predators blue line, raced the other way and put back-to-back shots on goal that Rinne saved. Filip Forsberg tried to clear the puck, but he smacked it right into a charging Anisimov, who managed to get it past Rinne.
"Schmaltzy made a great individual play," Quenneville said.
The lead lasted just 83 seconds, though, as Calle Jankrok took advantage of a Duncan Keith turnover and rifled a shot past Corey Crawford 57 seconds into the second period.
"Well, I mean I was trying to hit the guy in the middle there," Keith said of Nick Schmaltz. "I guess he was a little bit lower. Hindsight's always 20/20."
Nashville took the lead at 11:02 of the second on Craig Smith's power-play goal.
The Hawks had plenty of chances to beat Rinne, putting 15 shots at the Preds' netminder in the third period. Brandon Saad also failed to convert on a short-handed breakaway opportunity midway through the first period.
"Especially that first period, it seemed like we were really buzzing with four lines and had some chances," said Kane, who had his six-game points streak snapped. "The biggest thing with us is if we're playing with speed, usually something's going to create. … It's frustrating to get a loss tonight, but I think there's some good things that we did."
The Hawks (5-4-2) have managed just 13 regulation goals in their last seven games - and 4 of those came against winless Arizona. They also have just 5 regulation goals in their last six meetings with Nashville.
One thing the Hawks know they could do a better job of is pouncing on rebounds because most of their shots are coming from the outside and very few are finding their mark.
"We could always get better quality," Keith said. "More second chances. That's how we're going to score - not only against (Rinne) but against any goalie in the league. We've just got to keep hammering away at it."
They'll get another chance Saturday and it comes against a vulnerable foe in Colorado, a team that just allowed 7 goals on 21 shots to Vegas on Friday.
Scouting report
Blackhawks vs. Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center, 8 p.m.
TV: NBCSCH
Radio: WGN 720-AM
The skinny: Both teams will be playing the second game of a back-to-back, with Colorado losing at Vegas 7-0 on Friday. ... The Avs, who went 22-56-4 last season, are off to a 5-5-0 start, with surprising wins over Boston (twice), Anaheim and Dallas. ... Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog are two of six Avs who have 3 goals thus far. Duchene has averaged 23 goals the last four seasons, while Landeskog has averaged 21.8. ... The Hawks went 4-0-1 against Colorado last season.
Next: Philadelphia Flyers at United Center, 7 p.m. Wednesday
- John Dietz