The Nashville Predators have begun a new era with strong win over the Chicago Blackhawks last night. While John Hynes was behind the bench for the recent loss with Boston, this is the first game in which the fruits of his new leadership began to show.
First Period – Preds look hot, tally three goals
With closed practices and coaching sessions dotting the teams schedule, there was no sign of what kind of energy Nashville would have when they hit the ice.
They came out hot.
Zone entries looked fantastic across the board and possession in the Chicago zone was undoubtedly strong. This ability to lock down the puck proved fruitful, as a short drop pass from Forsberg to Josi created a beautiful early opportunity. Josi was able to deke and toe drag through four Chicago players to release a backhand. That shot bounced off of the pad of Viktor Arviddson and past the already overextended Corey Crawford, giving Nashville the lead at just 3:41 into play.
That tallied yet another assist for Roman Josi, extending his point streak to a dozen games.
From that point on, Nashville seemed in control of the ice, and they were able to capitalize directly in front of Crawford yet again.
A failed 2-on-1 from Colin Blackwell and Yakov Trenin became a confused battle down in the lower corner. Trenin was able to collect the puck and dropped it again to Colin Blackwell, who sent it top-shelf past Crawford.
A well-deserved celly followed, as Blackwell’s first-ever NHL goal brought the Preds up 2-0
The energy from Chicago picked up, as a series of chances bounced from net to net. Viktor Arvidsson and Chicago’s Dominik Kubalik both had great backhand chances, but only Rinne Remained strong.
A quick dump pass from Mattias Ekholm to deny the offsides found its way to Matt Duchene, who quickly faked out Crawford to bring the tally to 3-0.
A final bench minor for too many men would close out the period and leave Chicago at a huge deficit.
Second Period – Nashville Defense holds strong, despite Chicago goal
Nashville continued to have strong chances in the second period, but Chicago had clearly picked up the heat. Thankfully, Pekka Rinne and the Preds D-Lines were able to hold strong despite a penalty on Jarred Tinordi
A few scrambles in front of the net proved fruitless for the Nashville lines, but still highlighted the change of playstyle in front of the net.
Under Laviolette, these close-up chances had hardly seemed to connect or settle, creating strong turnovers for the opposing team on multiple occasions. Hynes has already seemed to push the lockdown of these opportunities, forcing goaltenders like Crawford to reset the play more than they would like to.
As is the usual for Chicago, Jonathan Toews and Dominik Kubalik worked together to create some astounding 2-on-1s and chances to continually challege Rinne, but it wasn’t until after John Quenneville missed his pass and screened Pekka that Chicago was able to put on into the Nashville net.
The goal from Kubalik, his fourteenth of the season, brought the tally to 3-1 at 6:43 in the second period.
Crawford and Rinne seemed to be on their game for the rest of the stanza, with chance after chance being stopped.
Third Period – It’s what we’ve all been waiting for…
Chicago was able to collect early on a powerplay goal from Alex Debrincat, after a hooking penalty on Roman Josi put the Preds at a disadvantage.
Debrincat, who completely deked out Pekka Rinne, scored at just 5:32 into the final frame of play and immediately put the pressure back on Nashville.
Rinne was able to hold on for the remainder of the frame, even when Chicago pulled for the extra man in the last minute of play.
Nick Bonino sent a clearing pass off the boards that made its way into the Chicago net, bringing the tally to 4-2.
However, Nashville wasn’t done.
Chicago decided to keep Crawford out for the remaining 37 seconds, and a clear behind the net gave Pekka Rinne just enough room to send one out.The shot soared over the neutral zone and bounced its way into the Chicago net.
The whole bench celebrated, as Pekka had scored his first ever NHL goal, making the Preds the only team in NHL history to have multiple goaltenders score.
Time expired and John Hynes and the Nashville Predators took home a beautiful win.
Looking back…
I like this Hynes system.
It’s reenergizing some of the more broken aspect of our offensive play, allowing Nashville to create a large quantity of quality chances. I would even expect to see less losses despite ridiculously high shot counts, as it seems Nashville is taking a chance to shut down these close-up chances.
Yes, if Pekka was not on his game last night, the outcome could have been a lost worse, but plenty of chances came from Nashville as well.
The Smith-Bonino-Grimaldi line had several notable chances and the JOFA line kept pressure throughout the game.
Simply put, I’m excited for what’s to come.
Looking forward…
The Preds travel to Winnipeg for an afternoon game this Sunday, January 12th. You can catch coverage of the game on Fox Sports Tennessee!
