Chicago Blackhawks lose to the Nashville Predators 2-1 in a shootout despite 41 saves from Kevin Lankinen, extending their point streak to 5 games
Ryan Carpenter’s third-period goal for the Chicago Blackhawks forced overtime before Matt Duchene punched in the winner during a shootout Wednesday to give the host Nashville Predators a 2-1 victory. The Hawks head home with two points in the two-game series after losing in overtime Tuesday.
It was the fifth straight game the Hawks (2-3-3) earned a point, though they won only two of those games.
During the shootout, Hawks goalie Kevin Lankinen stopped Filip Forsberg, but Duchene got Lankinen to commit before lifting the puck top shelf. Dominik Kubalik, Patrick Kane and Mattias Janmark came up empty in the shootout for the Hawks.
The Hawks held the Predators to a scoreless stalemate through two periods, but a neutral-zone turnover set up Nick Cousins for a solo breakaway goal 5:24 into the third against Lankinen, who continued to impress in his fourth start.
Carpenter’s goal tied it four minutes later off assists from David Kampf and Brandon Hagel.
The Hawks were fortunate to keep the game scoreless two periods.
They came out with energy and appeared to have the upper hand in the attack, although both teams ended up with five shots on goal in the first period.
The second period was a different story.
The Predators flipped that dynamic as the Hawks seemed to lose steam. At one point they outshot the Hawks 11-3 and had a staggering 80% Corsi-For percentage, an indicator of puck possession. The Predators separated Hawks players from the puck with strong checking.
Lankinen thwarted several strong opportunities for the Predators to take the lead. He scuttled several shots by Viktor Arvidsson, and Connor Murphy blocked a couple more during a second-period Predators power play.
The Hawks rallied late in the period, but Kane couldn’t cash in on several good looks against Juuse Saros before the final seconds ticked off.
Lankinen made 41 saves and particularly stood out on the penalty kill, stopping all six shots.
