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The Nashville Predators completed the unlikeliest of things that happened in a span of a week. The Chicago Blackhawks are were the heavy favorites in the Western Conference to represent the conference to fight for Lord Stanley.
Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne does not have fond memories of playing the Blackhawks in the Playoffs. Despite that, he certainly made one his best memories of his professional career starting in game 1, with a 29 save 1-0 shutout victor thanks to a Viktor Arvidsson 1st period goal in Chicago. Of course, many would see this as a fluke. An off night by the Blackhawks. How often do you see the Blackhawks, a team that has won three Stanley Cups since 2010, be shut out at home in he playoffs? Not that often.
Two nights later, same place. Game two. The Blackhawks look to avenge the shutout loss just a few days earlier. Instead, they find themselves looking even worse defensively than they did in game one. After an early Ryan Ellis first period goal, Chicago could not gain anything offensively. The rest of the night would not get any better for the Blackhawks as the Predators just seemed to click on all cylinders, leaving the United Center in complete shock after witnessing an embarrassing second straight shutout loss. This time, 5-0.
“The Preds fans and Blackhawks fans have something in common; we both boo the Blackhawks.”
-Overheard at a bar from a Preds fan to a Blackhawks fan in Nashville.
Yes, before game two ended you can hear the United Center crowd boo their own team. When you are not used to this kind of performance from your team, perhaps that is the most appropriate response, or perhaps not.
Regardless, Chicago is down two-nil with back to back shutout losses at home raising extreme concerns about what is going on with the #1 seed of the Western Conference. It couldn’t get any worse for Chicago as they head to Nashville for the next two games without lighting up the net lamp once in 120 minutes of play. The Predators certainly have the Blackhawks against the ropes, now looking to wear them down on April 17 for possibly the knockout punch on April 20.
Chicago finally delivers a few jabs to Nashville:
Now we move forward to game 3 at Bridgestone Arena. A somewhat promising sight for the Blackhawks, was when they got off four shots in the first three minutes of play. Not to mention Patrick Kane seemed to be finding his stride.
Finally, after 141 minutes of scoreless hockey, the Blackhawks finally found the back of the net from a Dennis Rasmussen goal, that would silence the rowdy Nashville crowd.
Chicago would end the 2nd period with a 12-9 shot lead, with four of those shots coming from Kane in which one of those shots lighting up the net lamp giving the Blackhawks a two nil lead at the end of he 2nd period seemingly sucking the life out of the Nashville faithful.
Riding a two goal lead into the third period, the Blackhawks looked to hold the game steady. But it’s the playoffs where anything can happen including something you can call “puck luck’, and you can see that it favored the Predators especially when you see a shot from Viktor Arvidsson bounce off the glass behind Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford and landing in front of his crease for Filip Forsberg to slap the puck between Crawford’s legs to slim down the Blackhawks lead 2-1 in the third period of play and plenty of time for a chance to even the score. Breathing new life in the Nashville crowd.
With the Preds continuing to put pressure on the Blackhawks and Crawford. The Preds would later find the back of the net one more time from Forsberg once again to tie the game up to take the game into overtime
Kevin Fiala Becomes A Hero in Smashville:
The last month and a half to two months of the regular season, Kevin Fiala made his presence felt on the Nashville roster after being sent down to minors a couple times this season. We knew what he could do with he puck, just couldn’t see to take it away when needed, he certainly improved that aspect of his game during his time in Milwaukee. The last couple of months of the regular season, he led the team in takeaways.
Fiala early on in overtime had a great opportunity to seal the deal for the Predators, after a loose puck lead Crawford out of his crease, to which Fiala would shoot the puck wide of the net. However he would get his second opportunity and he made it count giving the Predators an overtime win 3-2 win giving the Predators their first 3-0 series lead in franchise history.
Music City Miracle 2.0 Has Been Completed:
I’m sure I don’t have to tell anybody that the Blackhawks were the heavy favorite to give the Preds an early playoff exit. Apparently, no one told the Preds that.
The Preds were looking for their knockout punch to deliver to the Blackhawks Thursday night in Smashville, and looking for the franchise’s first playoff sweep. and the first playoff sweep of a #1 seed in NHL playoff history.
Chicago had been dominated and embarrassed all series long and were continuing to be embarrassed throughout game 4. Roman Josi of the Predators would find the back of he net twice. Colton Sissons would tack on a goal of his own for the third goal of the evening for the Preds, and Viktor Arvidsson would deliver the final blow to the Blackhawks with an empty netter late in the final period. Completing the most unlikely thing to probably happen in NHL history. It would seem at the beginning of the series it would be a downright impossible task to accomplish.
The Predators speed seemed too much for the Blackhawks to handle. Let’s not forget to mention Rinne’s sensational goalkeeping, stopping 123 out of 126 shots on goal for a .927 save percentage. Kind of hard to win games when you are facing a goalie putting up video game like statistics.
Maybe now the Predators will get a lot more respect after this tremendous accomplishment. If I owned a hat, I would tip it off to you, but for now, I will just say congratulations Nashville on a job well done. Good luck the rest of the way.