The Hawks’ 5-2 loss, their sixth in as many games against the Predators this season, combined with the Stars’ 3-2 shootout win spelled bad news for the Hawks’ postseason hopes.
After five games — and five losses — against the Predators earlier this season, the Blackhawks thought they understood entering Monday what it’d take to finally win.
“They play a hard-forechecking [system] — man-on-man in the ‘D’-zone, make you work for your space,” coach Jeremy Colliton said. “We’ve got to find a way to get inside them. We’ve got to, first off, get out of our end and be willing to put pucks behind them and get on the forecheck. And then sustain some time in the offensive zone and beat them to the net.”
But to know what to do is simple enough; to actually execute it against the Predators, the Hawks’ perpetual kryptonite, is more difficult. The Hawks learned that lesson in a 5-2 loss.
The Stars also beat the Red Wings 3-2 in a shootout, leaving the Hawks squarely in sixth in the Central Division based on points percentage. They’ll desperately need two wins against the Preds at home Wednesday and Friday to stay relevant in the race.
The Hawks did create more offense Monday than in their previous trips to Nashville, although it was a low bar to clear.
Instead of trying and failing to rush into the offensive zone in transition, they committed to and found more success by dumping the puck in, retrieving it and using the area below the goal line to set up plays — a concept Alex DeBrincat had emphasized the Hawks’ “buy in” to earlier in the day.
But the Hawks’ defensive breakdowns rendered their minor offensive successes moot.
The Preds scored twice in a 51-second span in the second period, then twice in an 18-second span in the first minute of the third period, to blow the game wide open and chase Kevin Lankinen from the net — the first time all season Colliton has pulled his goalie.
The goals against were more due to egregious defending than poor goaltending, though. Nikita Zadorov inexplicably let Calle Jarnkrok get inside him for the Preds’ second goal. The Preds’ third and fifth goals came after Duncan Keith and Calvin de Haan committed egregious turnovers with blind passes toward the middle of the ice.
Gaudette debuts
Trade deadline acquisition Adam Gaudette, who’d been practicing with the Hawks since last Wednesday, debuted for his new team Monday. He took the place of Brandon Hagel, who was out pending a COVID-19 test result.
Gaudette notably started the game on the first line with Kirby Dach and Alex DeBrincat but ended up playing the second-fewest minutes on the team. He nonetheless earned an assist on David Kampf’s second-period goal — Kampf’s first in 46 games this year.
Janmark settling in with Knights
As Patrick Marleau broke the NHL’s all-time games played record Monday in the Sharks-Golden Knights game, ex-Hawks forward Mattias Janmark — much more quietly — made his fourth Knights appearance since the trade.
Janmark has settled in on the Knights’ third line with Tomas Nosek and Alex Tuch, averaging 15:33 of ice time. That’s in line with Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon’s post-trade quote that Janmark in Vegas would play a role “more similar to what he was in Dallas” than in Chicago.
Entering Monday, he’d recorded one assist in his first three games. His lack of explosive production hadn’t hurt his new team, which went 3-0 in those games.
Carl Soderberg, meanwhile, played 15:02 in one game with the Avalanche before a COVID-19 outbreak paused their season.
from Chicago Sun-Times - All https://ift.tt/3duJPb4
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