Nashville deserved better.
The Predators thoroughly outplayed the Chicago Blackhawks in the teams’ first-round series yet somehow came away the loser.
Nashville outscored Chicago 21-19 over the six-game match-up, out-shot them 232-208, blocked more shots (144-91), laid out more hits (266-192), won more face-offs (227-222) and scored more often with the man advantage (6-3).
Nashville’s goaltender, Pekka Rinne, played every minute for the Predators (except when they were trailing and had to pull the goalie in the dying minutes). Chicago had trouble in net and yanked its goalie in two games – Corey Crawford after one period of the series opener and Scott Darling after 11 minutes of the series finisher.
The Predators did all that even though their best player, the defenceman Shea Weber, was knocked out of the series when Brandon Saad hit him against the boards halfway through Game 2 with what looked like a routine check.
Nashville deserved better, but did not get it.
Chicago had one great advantage: play-offs experience. Teams like Chicago, Anaheim and the New York Rangers do not need to dominate to win. They hang around, hang around, and sneak in a knockout punch in the late rounds. They do the rope-a-dope. They stoop to conquer.
Two of the series’ six games went to overtime; Chicago won both.
And then in the decisive Game 6, the Blackhawks finally broke Nashville’s back when Patrick Kane scored with six seconds left in the first period, tying the score 3-3 and wiping away Nashville’s early two-goal lead.
In the game’s third period two Chicago stalwarts – the assistant captain Duncan Keith, assisted by the captain Jonathan Toews – finished the job with the clinching goal of a 4-3 win.
Two weeks ago the Predators lacked play-offs experience. Now they have it. Next year, watch out for Nashville.
rmckenzie@thenational.ae
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