Predators 3, Blackhawks 2 – Recap

By Kevin Schroeder
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Updated: October 14, 2016

The Blackhawks played a solid first period, getting two goals from two unlikely scorers. Marcus Kruger put one in after a misplay by Pekka Rinne. Niklas Hjalmarsson banked one in off the post. However, the Hawks’ penalty kill unit let the team down again, yielding three goals for the second straight game. The Hawks struggled to get scoring chances until the last couple minutes. A couple questionable at best penalty calls against them certainly didn’t help.

A few things

The penalty kill unit obviously must improve. (Also, the team must stop taking so many penalties.) All three Nashville goals came on one-timers 50+ feet out. No adjustments made. The silver lining here is that the team yet to allow a 5-on-5 goal.
Corey Crawford made a couple excellent saves that kept his team in it, but something about him seems off during penalty kills. All three goals were screened, but once he got screened, he just seemed lost. The same thing happened against the Blues Wednesday.
Faceoffs must improve. The team as a whole was 43.8% from the dot. It’s hard to establish offense when you’re losing faceoffs like that. For a team who wants to play a skill-based puck possession game like the Hawks do, you can’t lose 56% of draws. The only center to win more than 50% was Kruger at 53. Anisimov and Schmaltz were especially shaky at 40 and 33, respectively.
Jordin Tootoo is dead weight. For now, I’d stick Rasmussen on the fourth line. He played a nice preseason and can take faceoffs while Schmaltz adjusts to the pro game. The Hawks may want to consider bringing up Tanner Kero or Kyle Baun until Desjardins returns to the lineup.
Yes, things need to improve, but this is game two of 82 from a team with quite a few guys adjusting to the NHL. If things are still really shaky in a month, then you may begin to worry.

My picks for 3 stars

★★★ Marcus Kruger, C, CHI (1 G)

★★ Ryan Johansen, C, NSH (3 A)

★ Roman Josi, D, NSH (1 G, 1 A)

Twitter: @KSchroeder_312

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com