By Jon Fromi
Jonathan Toews’ first goal of the 2014-15 campaign was certainly a memorable one. The Chicago Blackhawks captain victimized the Nashville Predators for a shorthanded goal Saturday night as the Hawks edged Nashville 2-1 in overtime at the United Center.
First Period-The Blackhawks jumped on goalie Carter Hutton right away as the teams were switching up in the second minute. Bryan Bickell dug a puck out of a scrum of players and got it out to Niklas Hjalmarsson at the red line. Hjalmarsson sent it across the ice to Oduya up the left side. Oduya entered the Nashville zone and to the top of the left circle, where he let fly with a shot on goal. The puck found the five-hole to put Chicago up 1-0 at the 1:49 mark.
The Hawks kept the pressure on Hutton throughout the opening seven minutes, though Hutton stopped a couple of decent shot attempts, particularly one by Ben Smith. Marian Hossa worked his way in front of the net and had a great opportunity to find twine but the puck was deflected before it reached Hutton.
The Blackhawks received the first power play of the contest 8:41 into the first when Shea Weber cross-checked Marcus Kruger. There were some promising moments but things went south when Andrew Shaw was tagged for slashing Olli Jokinen 32 seconds into the man advantage. Chicago went down another man when Hjalmarsson tripped James Neal a few seconds later.
The Predators took advantage once Weber came out of the box. Still on the power play, Weber took a pass from Mike Ribeiro and sent a shot that looked as if it deflected off the skate Michael Rozsival. The puck sailed above Crawford’s glove and Nashville had tied the game at a goal apiece at 11:17 of the opening frame.
The Hawks were back on the power play when Jonathan Toews was hooked by Mattias Ekholm at the 12:24 mark. Hossa got a shot on goal from close range but Hutton absorbed the attempt and the Preds sent Chicago back to even strength wanting for a goal.
Filip Forsberg had a point blank chance go awry when the shot missed high in the 17th minute, but mostly it was Chicago hosting the action in Hutton’s end of the ice. The Blackhawks outshot Nashville 12-3 but the game was even on the scoreboard after 20 minutes of skating.
Second Period- The pace was a bit slower to start the middle stanza, though Hutton had to go post to post to stop attempts by Marcus Kruger and Daniel Carcillo in the fourth minute. Oduya broke up a possible breakaway attempt by Neal a moment later.
Viktor Stalberg was whistled for hooking Trevor van Riemsdyk at the 6:14 mark but nothing came of it, save for a wrister by Brandon Saad that Hutton easily gloved. Crawford stopped a bullet off the stick of Ekholm from the left dot early in the ninth minute.
Not long after that, Forsberg batted a puck into the stands from the Nashville zone and Chicago was back on the power play. Patrick Kane came across the goal mouth with an attempt that was stopped. Later in the two minutes, Brad Richards reached out and got a stick on a Hossa pass. However, Hutton and the Predators defense denied the Hawks again.
Late in the 15th minute, Saad nearly broke through on a wraparound attempt that Hutton stopped with his right pad. Seconds later, Ribeiro hooked Oduya to set Chicago up for another power play. Once again, the next two minutes were fruitless.
Brent Seabrook broke his stick on a shot attempt in the 18th minute and had to come down the ice to make a great skate block of a Roman Josi attempt at the other end. Keith’s stick broke a few ticks later and he was then called for throwing that stick and interfering with Ribeiro. The period ended with Nashville still on the power play and the score 1-1.
Third Period-The Blackhawks killed off the remaining Keith penalty but the Predators came out with some offensive pressure to open the final period. Crawford had to stop four Nashville shots in the first two and a half minutes.
Hossa led a 3-on-2 in the fifth minute but the puck jumped over Toews’ blade. Crawford made a huge post-to-post stop when Craig Smith took a pass from Colin Wilson at the 5:56 mark. At this point play was definitely predominately in the Chicago zone but Crawford was up to the task.
The two teams traded chances as the minutes ticked down. Crawford turned away a Craig Smith redirect in the 16th minute and Hutton made a pad save on Ben Smith. A rebound off a Patrick Sharp shot came out toward Toews with 2:11 to go but his stick was tied up. Nashville coach Peter Laviolette then took his time out. Hutton stopped Sharp and Hossa in the final 30 seconds to send the game into overtime.
Overtime-Sharp was sent to the box 1:50 into the extra period for tripping Ryan Ellis in front of the Hawks net. With less than 30 seconds of penalty to kill, Toews came up with the takeaway from Josi and streaked toward the net. The initial shot was blocked by Hutton but the captain was persistent and got his stick on the loose puck to send the game-winner to pasture.
Three Stars-Hutton (third), Oduya (second), Toews (first).
Thoughts
-Hutton, the former Rockford IceHogs goalie, was making his first start of the season as Pekka Rinne had played the night before in Winnipeg. Hutts stopped 35 of 37 shots on the evening. As glad as I was to see the Hawks get the win, it also feels good to see Hutton so solid in an NHL net.
-Crawford saw his workload increase as the game wore on and wound up making 17 saves on 18 Predators attempts. He didn’t stand much of a chance on the deflection off Rozsival’s skate. It was another nice game on Crow’s part Saturday.
-Hossa had four pretty decent shots on goal, though Sharp and Kruger led in that department for Chicago with five apiece.
-With Kris Versteeg progressing from his lower body injury and Jeremy Morin getting another six-minute chunk of ice time, how long is it before someone is moved out of town?
-The Blackhawks were bested at the dot 28-22. More of a concern was the power play, which came up empty in five attempts. Each shift on the man advantage seemed to get less effective.
-The Flyers come to town Tuesday night with the puck drop scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Lines
Sharp-Toews-Hossa
Saad-Shaw-Kane
Bickell-Richards-Smith
Carcillo-Kruger-Morin
Keith-Seabrook
Hjalmarsson-Oduya
vanRiemsdyk-Rozsival
Crawford
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Jon Fromi
