Sloppy defense costs Hawks in 5-2 loss to Preds
Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne admitted his reeling team was in a fragile state of mind heading into their game against the Blackhawks on Thursday.
It's a squad that was 1-4-1 in it last six games. One that just fired its coach Monday. And one that allowed a stunning 4 short-handed goals to Boston in a 6-2 loss Tuesday.
Well, Nashville looked rock solid against the Hawks and scored 3 first-period goals en route to a 5-2 victory at the United Center.
This was a chance for the Hawks (19-20-6) to leap over the Predators (20-16-7) in the standings, but they wasted it by playing sloppy defense and getting thoroughly outplayed by Rinne and Co. early on.
Rookie defenseman Adam Boqvist had a particularly rough game.
He first got turned around by Roman Josi early in the first period, allowing Josi to cross deep into the offensive zone and fire a shot that bounced off Viktor Arvidsson's legs and into the net at 3:16.
Five minutes later, Boqvist had an opportunity to get the puck out of harm's way, but instead had it stripped by Yakov Trenin. Trenin deftly tapped a pass to Colin Blackwell, and Blackwell ripped it past Crawford at 8:22.
Nashville then went up 3-0 on a Matt Duchene goal at 16:55.
The Predators, who fired Peter Laviolette after five-plus seasons and replaced him with John Hynes, were still no locks to prevail at that point.
"(Blowing leads) affects you," Rinne said after an optional morning skate. "When expectations of yourself and outcome of games don't match, all of a sudden you start having second guessing in your head. ...
"All of those feelings - you try to fight against and you try to believe in the stuff you do and believe in this team. But it's just human nature that when things get hard sometimes the darker side of your mind takes over."
The Hawks managed to put the Preds' fragile minds to the test thanks to a second-period goal by Dominik Kubalik and a third-period power-play tally by Alex DeBrincat, but coach Jeremy Colliton's squad failed to get the equalizer. David Kampf came close with 6:30 remaining on a backhanded shot that handcuffed Rinne, but the Preds netminder managed to stave it off with his chest. Erik Gustafsson also had a couple of late attempts, one of which Rinne saved and another that sailed just wide.
With about three minutes remaining, Patrick Kane appeared to have Kubalik wide open on a rush but instead tried to feed a charging Jonathan Toews. The pass was picked off, however, and the threat was over.
Nashville put the game away on an empty-net goal by Nick Bonino with 36.6 seconds remaining and got another from Rinne 15 seconds later. It was the first of the goalie's career.
Kubalik (14 goals) has scored in three straight games and eight of the last 16. DeBrincat has 3 goals in the last seven and eleven overall.
The Hawks close out their homestand Saturday against Anaheim, then go on a three-game road trip to Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto.
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