Game Preview: Preds and Hawks, Home and Away

The Nashville Predators (22-12-3) will play the Chicago Blackhawks (24-9-3) in a two day, home and away series that begins tonight in a Music City Bowl packed downtown, and ends tomorrow night at the United Center in Chicago. This update will serve as a preview for both games.

Surprisingly, these games have become a battle for the top of the Central Division and are the last two times the teams will meet during the regular season this year. Chicago is in first place in the Western Conference with 51 points and have a game in hand on the Preds who have 47 points and are in a tie for fifth in the West and are second in the Central.

The teams have met four times this year, each winning two games. On October 15, the Preds played a miserable game in which they only had 13 shots and lost to the Hawks 3-1. Nine days later the Preds were shut out by the Hawks in Chicago 2-0.

On October 29, Pekka Rinne shut out the Hawks 2-0 to give the Preds a home win in what I called the team's best effort of the season at the time. On December 4, the Preds won a huge road game in Chicago winning 4-1.

Both teams are having successful runs with the Preds going 14-4-2 in their last twenty and the Hawks going 15-4-1 in their last twenty. The Preds suffered a disappointing 4-1 loss at Vancouver on Tuesday in their last game out while the Hawks shut out the Wings 3-0 in Detroit on Wednesday.

In Tuesday's game the Predators lost Jerred Smithson for what may be a month with a hand injury when he blocked a shot on his second shift of the game on a penalty kill. The Preds are already without Jordin Tootoo who is recovering from a broken foot.

Andreas Thuresson has been recalled to Take Smithson's place on the roster. This is Thuresson's third recall of the year having played ten games with the Preds with two assists in earlier stints.

Pekka Rinne (14-6-2, 2.75, .905) will start for the Preds tonight meaning Dan Ellis (8-6-1, 2.76, .909) most likely will start on Sunday. It is unclear whether Christobal Huet (16-8-2, 2.05, .913) or Antti Niemi (8-1-1, 1.59, .937 with four shutouts) will start tonight.

Chicago has a bevy of scorers led by Patric Kane (12 goals, 26 assists), Duncan Keith (6,25), Patric Sharp (11,16) , Jonathan Toews (11,13), Kris Versteeg (10,10) and Dustin Byfuglien (10,3). The Hawks also have league's stingiest defense allowing only 2.0 goals per game.

Predators Keys to the Games

Predators Must Win One Game in Regulation...

With these games being the last two meetings of the year, the Preds do not want to lose ground to the Hawks who are four points ahead with a game in hand. A regulation win would insure that they would not lose any ground to the Hawks in this two game set. Any more than that would be considered outstanding as it would guarantee that he Preds would make up territory on the Hawks in their last meetings of the year.

Organizational Depth Tested...

The Predators need to not skip a beat with Thuresson replacing Smithson. When Jordin Tootoo went out, Nick Spalling filled in doing what he was asked to do in keeping the Barry Trotz system in tact. This will be Andreas Thuresson's chance to do the same thing. Smithson's shoes will be hard to fill as he has become a vital cog in the system this year since moving up to the second line.

Special Teams Turn-Around Needed...

The Predators special teams have been horrible this year with little sign of building any consistency on the power play (16.1%, 25th) or penalty kill (75.8%, 28th). This is the area where the team has the potential for the greatest upside in the second half of the season. Chicago is ranked second (87.0%) on the penalty kill and 14th (18.8) on the man advantage.

Up Next...

After the weekend series with the Hawks, the Preds will face divisional rivals St. Louis and Columbus on the road this week before returning home to play an improving Anaheim Ducks team at home next Saturday. This five game in eight nights stretch will tell much where the Preds are headed in the new year.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Pred's Hopes Dim in Loss to Hawks

The Nashville Predators fought a tough battle with the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center but came up on the short end of a 3-1 score. Chicago clinched their first playoff berth in seven years while the Preds are close to missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2002-2003 season.

The Predators started the game with a lot of jump with the line of Cal O’Reilly, Steve Sullivan and Joel Ward looking like they were ready to play. The Blackhawks scored early at 5:22 in the first period on a backhanded shot by Sammy Pahlsson that he blew past Greg Zanon to hit Pekka Rinne and find its way to the net. Minutes later, rookie Cal O’Reilly picked up a puck sliding through the blue ice and chipped it past Nikolai Khabibulin for his third goal of the season.

During the second period, the Predators seemed to lose their intensity and were outplayed by the Hawks. Jonathan Toews broke through with a goal at 12:26 when he broke free with the puck and drove unencumbered to the net. The Preds were out shot by the Hawks 15-12 for the period but it appeared to be more than a mismatch than the total would indicate.

The Predators had several opportunities in the third period, especially on a play where Cal O’Reilly could have easily swept his second puck of the night from the blue ice to the net but it didn’t happen. The final goal by Chicago was by Marty Havlat on the Predator goalie pull.

Pekka Rinne was the only reason that the game didn’t get completely out of hand. He made several saves on breakaways and point blank shots that most keepers would not have stopped. I don’t think most folks realize how much he has done over the second half of the season to keep the Predators close in every game. Even though the media seems to have ceded the Calder Trophy to Steve Mason of Columbus, I can’t imagine that Rinne will not be the team’s most valuable player. Without Pekka, we would have been competing for a high lottery pick at this summer’s draft.

Another player that deserves special mention in tonight’s game was J P Dumont; unfortunately, it is for his lack of contribution. Considering what a key role he is expected to play on this short-staffed team, it was a major disappointment to see J P with zero shots on the final sheet. Patric Hornqvist and Ville Koistinen also get honorable mentions for not showing up in a key game.

Although the Predators remain in ninth, one point out of the playoff picture, they are close to being in need of life support. With key players Arnott, Erat, and Legwand missing and roll players like Jones, Pihlstrom and Belak also out, the team has suffered two heartbreaking losses on the road this week. The teams they are competing with, Anaheim, St Louis and Minnesota have gained ground that the Preds may not be able to recover.

The Preds return home Saturday night for a rematch with Columbus and then play this same Blackhawk team in the home season finale on Tuesday. It is imperative that the Predators win these two games and pray for help that someone will defeat the teams they are competing against.

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Playoffs Are Now for Predators

The top teams in the NHL may be fine tuning their teams for the upcoming playoff season, but for the Nashville Predators the playoffs are currently in progress. How they play in the final five games will determine if they make into the final round of sixteen.

The race is so tight, that the Predators, who were in eight place in the Western Conference entering Thursday’s action, fell to ninth based on St Louis's win over Detroit and Anaheim's OT win over Vancouver. The good news for the Predators is that their destiny is in their hands. If they win their last five games they are assured of a playoff berth.

The Predators have two critical games this weekend starting tonight, when they play the Black Hawks at Chicago’s United Center at 7:30 p.m. Immediately after the game, the Preds return to Nashville where they will play Columbus at the Sommet Center Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

The Predators had not lost in regulation for eight straight games until they lost at Columbus Tuesday night by a score of 2-1. The undermanned Preds fought hard, but came up short against a Blue Jacket team whose playoff appetite has also been whetted.

The Predators continue to suffer from a rash of injuries to key players. Jason Arnott returned to practice on Thursday after being out for a month with concussion symptoms. Arnott will not return to game action until Tuesday, at best. They are also without David Legwand, Marty Erat, Ryan Jones, and Wade Belak with no return dates in sight.

Tuesday night, the Preds injury situation worsened, losing pesky rookie, Antti Pihlstrom early in the game with a lower body injury. The Predators recalled fan favorite Jed Ortmeyer from Milwaukee on Thursday to replace Pihlstrom on the roster for this weekend’s game.

Cal O’Reilly, who was recalled last week, picked up where he left off in the minors scoring two goals and adding an assist in four games. Mike Santorelli who was called up before Tuesday’s game contributed little in the Pred’s losing effort.

Barry Trotz is making no excuses for the Predator’s battered lineup. His “Band of Brothers” mentality is that the team doesn’t worry about the players that are unable to play. His theory is that they put twenty players on the ice every night and that if they play as a team they can be successful.

Steve Sullivan Nominated for Masterton Trophy – On Thursday, the NHL announced that Steve Sullivan is the Predator’s nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy that goes to the player that "best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey." The winner will be announced at the NHL Awards banquet at the Palms hotel in Las Vegas on June 18th. Sullivan will be an odds on favorite to win the award as he has returned from a severe back injury to play at a high level after missing 23 months of NHL action.

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass and The Columbia Daily Herald