Hawks trying to battle back from the brink

By Jim den Hollander

Editor

Midwesthockey.info

The Chicago Blackhawks will take the ice at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville tonight (April 20) in an unfamiliar position, trying to avoid a much quicker than expected exit for the 2017 NHL playoffs.

The West Conference champs find themselves on the brink of elimination as they take the ice against a confident Nashville crew, led by goaltender Pekka Rinne who didn’t allow a goal until the third game.

After 1-0 and 5-0 wins at Chicago, the Preds battled back from a 2-0 deficit with a pair of third period goals by Filip Forsberg, sending the game to overtime, where rookie Kevin Fiala completed the comeback, taking a pass beside the left post at the goal line, and moving across to the other side for a backhand goal that lifted the Preds to within a win of the season’s biggest upset.

It’s hard to imagine the Hawks disappearing this quickly and you have to believe the team will pull out all of the stops to avoid its second straight first round exit. Rinne carries a .979 save percentage into game four and Patrick Kane, the most potent offensive weapon on the Hawks seemed to be taking a brunt of the heat before he found the mark, along with Dennis Rasmussen in the second period of game three.

If the Hawks can get off to a quicker start tonight, it could build some momentum. It seems the Preds have been the better team in the late stages. Don’t count out the chances of Corey Crawford matching the goaltending of Rinne. It’s not like he has had a terrible series, other than that game 2 fiasco.