Six reasons the Blackhawks beat the Predators

It took six grueling, exhausting, edge-of-your-seat games for the Blackhawks to finally vanquish division rival Nashville in the first round of the playoffs.

Next up for coach Joel Quenneville's squad is Minnesota, which eliminated division champ St. Louis with a 4-1 victory Sunday. Date and time for Game 1 is yet to be determined, but the venue will be the United Center for the first two games as the Hawks hold home-ice advantage.

The Hawks won the season series 3-2, although all 3 wins came before Minnesota traded for goalie Devan Dubnyk in mid-January.

But before we gaze ahead, let's take a look at six reasons — it took six games, after all — why the Preds are squarely in the Hawks' rearview mirror:

1. Scott Darling: Sure, the 6-foot-6 rookie allowed 6 goals on the last 19 Nashville shots he faced and was pulled midway through the first period of Game 6 on Saturday.

But before that, he was nothing short of spectacular, almost single-handedly pulling Game 1 out of his hat with saves any veteran goaltender watching highlights on SportsCenter or NHL Network must have marveled at.

Darling, who turned away 147 of the first 152 shots he saw, will return to the bench when Round 2 begins, but Hawks fans will never forget his efforts vs. Nashville.

“It's a pretty cool story,” Brent Seabrook said last week, referring to Darling overcoming an alcohol problem and his long climb through the minor leagues.

“When he got called up earlier in the season, hearing about it was pretty neat. Remarkable goaltender, and he's a great guy.”

2. Overtime saviors: Before his big Game 6 goal, Duncan Keith ended Game 1 with a 58-foot slap shot to give the Hawks a 4-3 victory in Game 1.

Then, with Nashville looking to even the series at 2-2, Brent Seabrook became just the third defenseman in NHL history to score 3 playoff goals in overtime when he ended Game 4 a minute into triple OT.

“We scored a couple of huge goals. Seabs was gigantic, Duncs was huge,” Quenneville said. “We're better when our D is part of the offense and coming off the rush and on points, giving them different looks.”

3. Pekka Rinne: Plain and simple, the Predators' goalie wasn't good enough. Only four goalies who played 40 or more regular-season games had a save percentage worse than Rinne's .909 vs. the Hawks. Three of the four games were decided in overtime or in the last four minutes and Rinne was not up to the task.

4. No Shea Weber: In a series as tight as this one was, Weber's absence may have been the difference. Nashville just can't win without its star defenseman, going 1-4-2 without him over the past two regular seasons. Weber was injured during Game 2 and never returned.

The Preds proceeded to lose Game 3 when Jonathan Toews' line dominated most of the night, Game 4 in triple OT and Game 6 when the Hawks held the puck in Nashville's zone for an eternity before Duncan Keith zipped the game-winner past an utterly exhausted opponent.

We'll never know for sure, but Weber's presence may well have turned the tide.

5 Patrick Kane: It's almost easy to forget that Kane, who hadn't played since Feb. 24 because of a broken collarbone, wasn't supposed to be on the ice for this series.

He certainly wasn't perfect but finished with 7 points and scored one of the biggest goals of the series with six seconds left in the first period of Game 6 to tie things up at 3-3.

6. Experience: It was the overwhelming theme of the series. The Hawks never blinked in the series opener after falling into a 3-0 hole that would have buried many teams.

Same thing in Game 6 as Nashville buzzed to 2-0 and 3-1 leads. Some squads may have folded, thinking, “Must just not be our night. We'll get 'em in Game 7.”

Not the Hawks. Not even close. They won both games, took the series and now have a full head of steam heading into the second round.

“This time of year is what really counts to those guys,” Jonathan Toews said of Kane, Keith, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa and Brent Seabrook. “They want to win this time of year and I think we take pride in that.

“It's a lot of fun to win and play the way we have. We want to play as long as we can.”

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