Happy Easter everybody, bang a gong.
Panic if you want to, but this team has shown time and again that it’s not out until the final horn sounds. No one needs our permission to panic and frankly no one here gives a fuck if you do or not. The rosters are still the rosters. The percentages are still the percentages. Get after it on Monday, that’s all there is.
vs. 
Preds lead 1-0
PUCK DROP: 7pm Central
TV: NBC
WHY DID YOU KILL THAT BIRD, ASSHOLE?: On The Forecheck
Projected Lineups
It’s almost as if it’s scripted these days. We’ve seen it before. Whatever playoff game the opponent simply packs it in their zone, traps just outside the offensive blue line, crowds their own crease, and we hear all the same things from the Hawks and the media covering them. “Traffic.” “Take away his eyes.” “Be harder (PHRASING).” “Annette Frontpresence.”
And it’s not that all of this is wrong. It’s just that you wouldn’t hear any of it if Anisimov isn’t rusty and buries one or two of his chances, or a shot into that said traffic bounces onto someone’s stick or past Rinne. It’s not like the Hawks have to make massive changes, and we don’t know if the Predators will or not either.
While the Hawks don’t need to save a crumbling galaxy from an all-consuming enemy, they do need to get creative tonight against what could be a very robust force. No one does it better than Peter Quill, or Star Lord, as he’s not above going nefarious to achieve his goals. Which sometimes involves bedding alien girls. But hey, we all have our tastes. If the Hawks have to send out a dick message to get even in the series tonight, so be it.
You hear that name and of course you think, “And tell me Mr. Anderson. What good is a phone call if you’re unable to…speak?”
But if you’re in the know, you know that Hugo is an extremely wide-ranging performer, with the other end of the scale being Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, of course. He’s also been signature characters Elrond and V, and there probably won’t be another actor who performs a monologue where 75% of the words begin with V and we can’t see his face. And if there is, it certainly won’t be nearly as striking.
The Hawks will have to be just as flexible, and able to go in every direction tomorrow night to get past what seems to be a Preds team intent on being obstinate.
In the aftermath of this one, and even really during it, I saw a lot of citing of how much time the Hawks had off, combined with not even really trying in the last week, and how bad they are when they get a lot of rest. I don’t know that this is really a viable excuse. After all, the Preds had to keep trying throughout the season and they capped it off by losing to the fucking Jets. But we’ve been down this road with the Hawks before, including against this very team seven years ago. The Hawks are rarely totally sharp in a Game 1 in the first round, and couldn’t save this one tonight even though it was sitting there like a pig on a spit. The Preds almost certainly won’t be so lucky next time.
But we did learn some things tonight.
vs 
Game Time: 7:00PM CDT
TV/Radio: CSN, NBCSN (US), TVA-S2 (Canada), WGN-AM 720
Golden Showers: On The Forecheck
The long national nightmare is over, The Chicago Blackhawks are once again playing hockey games that matter. And they’re doing so from their most advantageous position in four years, with home ice for as long as they remain in the Western Conference playoffs. For those counting at home, under Joel Quenneville the Hawks are 11-1 in series wherein they have home ice, the lone outlier being the 2014 Western Conference Final, which took to Game 7 in OT to end. That also remains the only series that the Hawks have ended up losing wherein they have taken Game 1. The road is laid out for them, and the first step is tonight on West Madison against the Nashville Predators.
Let’s dance.
Continuing this Tradition Unlike Any Other, our positional preview of the Nashville Predators now moves to their group of forwards, and based on some of the reports coming in out of the Preds’ morning skates, they’re seriously up against it.
As is tradition here, we will break up our preview over two days. I’ll take the back end today, because most tend to think I’m a horse’s ass, and then Matt will be around tomorrow to take you through the forward group. So let’s dive right in before they drain the pool, shall we?
Goalies
Pekka Rinne: 31-19-9, 2.42 GAA, .918 SV%, .929 EV SV%, .862 SH SV%
Ah yes, this old thing. You remember this. The Hawks have only faced one other goalie three times in the playoffs, and that would be Roberto Luongo. He was able to turn the tables on the Hawks at the third time of asking, but the 2011 team is not this team and the Predators are not the ’11 Canucks. When we first did this dance in 2010 it was a little scary facing Rinne, but then the Hawks punted him to a .911 over six games and won. In 2015 Rinne’s limitations were already well known to everyone, and while Crawford and then Darling took their turns swallowing mouthwash, Rinne couldn’t take advantage and put up a .909 over six games and was once again sent home. There’s no reason to think this will go any differently.
