THIS SERIES’ TITLE: BREAKING BAD
Hawks of years past would get all the lucky bounces, but not in ’ 17
NASHVILLE, Tenn.— For an instant, it appeared the Blackhawks might have gotten the break they desperately needed in the first period against the Predators on Monday night.
As Predators goalie Pekka Rinne came out of the net to field Duncan Keith’s length- of- the- rink clearing pass on a penalty kill, the puck took a crazy carom and headed straight toward the goal with plenty on it.
It looked like it would go into the empty net, but Rinne recovered and dove just in time to poke away the puck with his stick.
It was a close call that was reminiscent of a similarly bizarre play in Game 6 of the 2010 playoff series between the Hawks and Predators. In a tie game at nearly the exact same point of the first period. Jonathan Toews won a faceoff just outside the blue line and Brent Seabrook fired the puck into the Predators zone. As Rinne went out of the net to field the dump- in, it hit Patrick Kane’s skate and caromed past a flailing Rinne into the net to give the Hawks the lead.
The Hawks won the game and clinched the series en route to their first Stanley Cup championship in 49 years.
Without a goal in the first two games of this first- round series, the Hawks needed that kind of luck in Game 3. But clearly, 2017 is not 2010.
If the Hawks’ inability to score in back- to- back home games against the eighth- seeded Predators wasn’t an indication that the Hawks have lost their postseason touch under coach Joel Quenneville, their inability to hang onto a lead they should have guarded like a newborn child in the 3- 2 overtime loss did the trick.
The Hawks aren’t dead yet with a 3- 0 series deficit. But their hopes for an historic comeback are more of a roll of the dice than a matter of willing themselves to four consecutive victories. They’re not “The Blackhawks” anymore. Now, they’re just another playoff team hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.
After a miserable start to the series in Games 1 and 2 at the United Center and a rough start to Game 3 when the Predators outshot them 17- 9 in the first period, the Hawks finally got the breakthrough goal they desperately needed when Dennis Rasmussen scored from close range off a nifty tip- pass from Marcus Kruger from behind the net 1: 05 into the second period.
The hard work of Rasmussen, Kruger and Richard Panik paid off again when the aggressive play of the unheralded third- line players forced a delay- of- game penalty that led to Patrick Kane’s power- play goal for a 2- 0 lead.
What more could the Hawks ask for? A two- goal lead, the Predators on their heels, Corey Crawford playing well and the rejuvenated Hawks getting space- and- time and scoring opportunities that they never saw in the Games 1 and 2.
They took that lead into the third period, but couldn’t hold it. Filip Forsberg scored in front of the net after a shot by Viktor Arvidsson bounced wildly off the glass behind the net. Crawford was turned around on the play, and had little chance to stop Forsberg’s shot that made it 2- 1 at 4: 24 of the third period.
Forsberg then tied it with a more standard goal, scoring on a rebound in front of the net with 5: 52 left in regulation. That’s how close the Hawks came to a critical victory they could have parlayed into something bigger. Instead, they trail the series 3- 0 and aren’t looking like the kind of Hawks team that would find a way to pull out a key game and a big series.