Blackhawks shut out for 1st time this season in 3-0 loss to Predators
The Chicago Blackhawks put themselves at a severe disadvantage in their battle with the Nashville Predators for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Central Division with a 3-0 loss to the Predators on Saturday.
The Predators not only broke a points tie (41-39) with the win but clinched the season series 5-0 over the Hawks with three games left.
“It’s tough,” defenseman Duncan Keith said. “It was a huge game and these are the biggest games right now of the year.”
The Hawks have only themselves to blame for the situation, committing unforced errors that gave the Predators a leg up and ensured their fourth loss in the last five games.
Nikita Zadorov elbowed Nick Cousins in the head and drew a penalty about 5 1/2 minutes into the game. Eeli Tolvanen made the Hawks pay seconds later with a goal over Kevin Lankinen’s shoulder from the top of the left circle.
In the second period, Patrick Kane turned the puck over on a drop pass in the neutral that sent Colton Sissons racing the other way. Adam Boqvist, the likely target for that pass, hooked Sissons and set up a penalty shot.
Sissons fired past Lankinen’s stick for the goal.
“Obviously special teams is a big difference in the game,” Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. “They got one early, which didn’t get much other than that in the first 30 minutes. They get the breakaway and the penalty shot on our power play and it’s 2-0.”
Juuse Saros made 40 saves and secured his second shutout of the season, the other coming March 23 against the Detroit Red Wings. He has held the Hawks to two goals in three games.
The Hawks had some quality chances, though.
They received a 1-minute, 55-second five-on-three power play after Luke Kunin and Sissons committed back-to-back penalties against Boqvist, but the Predators won all three faceoffs, and the Hawks didn’t get a shot on net until late in the two-man advantage.
Kunin sealed the game with a point-blank blast midway through the third period.
The Hawks went 0 for 4 on the power play and have scored one goal in their last 16 opportunities.
The Hawks had one of their best starts in a while, peppering Saros with 14 and 12 shots in the first and second periods, respectively, but Saros made some outstanding saves.
He had a couple of big stops on Dylan Strome short-side stuffs the first and second periods. Saros also thwarted Boqvist’s shot on a delayed penalty early in the third period.
The Hawks controlled the puck for much of those periods, as indicated by a 62.9% Corsi-for percentage.
The Hawks got Brandon Hagel back from the COVID-19 protocol, and he lined up with Dominik Kubalik and Philipp Kurashev and took three shots.
Colliton mixed up the lines and started with Pius Suter centering Mattias Janmark and Strome. Kirby Dach was reunited with Alex DeBrincat and Kane, a common forward group during late last season and the playoffs.
Lankinen had 18 saves.
