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Game Time: 7:30PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN, NBCSN (US), SN360 (Canada), WGN-AM 720
Yellow Ice: On The Forecheck
And so it begins. In all reality, tonight is the first night of the last ride of these Chicago Blackhawks as they are presently constituted. With another salary cap doomsday looming along with diminishing production from some veterans, it’s the general consensus that a retooling is nigh. And the Hawks at current are sixteen wins away from making a definitive statement of this era of the National Hockey League before many will part ways. But it has to start with one.
So we’re almost through the set up, and then McClure will be along in a bit to get you ready for Game 1. There’s not much more to discuss, but let’s clean up the rest.
Special Teams – This probably should be the big worry for Hawks fans, because the Hawks’ PK hasn’t been very good lately, but luckily the Preds’ power play has fallen off a cliff from previous seasons and ranks 25th in the league. If the Predators don’t get a fair share of power play goals, it’s hard to see how they can consistently win the battle at even-strength at even-strength.
On paper, it should be a good unit though. You know all about Shea Weber’s elephant gun from the point, and no forward is going to be aching to get in front of that. If you cheat out at that too much, you would think Ribeiro would have enough space to find Neal on the other side for one-timers through the slot or Wilson or Smith in front. But it just hasn’t worked out that way.
And we’re off to another playoff run – hopefully a long one. As is our tradition, we’ll be posting daily inspirations to motivate you to put the razors and trimmers away. It’s also with a still saddened heart that we kick off this year’s festival of facial hair with the departed Robin Williams. Through most of his life, Williams didn’t have a beard but with a man as hairy as this, it probably only took him a few hours to grow the one in this picture. Williams won his only oscar while playing the bearded Dr. Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting but also sported a beard in the underrated The Fisher King. If you have time/money – it’s well worth a listen to hear Williams’ interview on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast. It’s a beautiful insight into the mind and struggles of one of the greats.
Moving outward from Nashville’s formidable back end, it’s now time to take a look at their reimagined forward group, which boast more speed and skill than it ever did under Barry Trotz. And under Peter Laviolette, that speed is now finally afforded a bit of offensive creativity as opposed to simply using it for the purposes of constricting the opposition.
Well, it’s time to get in up to the elbow on everything yellow that comes with the three stars of Tennessee. We’re going to name it that because there were simply no good matchups for the Hawks to find. Had they even won the division that would still mean Minnesota, otherwise known as the West’s best team since January. Or it could have meant the Jets, a team with three wins at the United Center this season and perhaps will have the hardest arena to play in anywhere in these playoffs. The Blues? Probably on paper (which doesn’t include what’s in between their ears) the most solid team out there. So yeah, no good solutions.
So while the Predators are far from anything resembling easy, and have just as good of a chance of winning this series as the Hawks do, it’s probably the one you’d choose for least painful. So let’s get to it. As the Preds are built from the net out, that’s how we’ll comb it.
The Rockford IceHogs have been at or near the top of the AHL’s Western Conference throughout the season due in a large part to their play between the pipes. Just how good have the Hogs been in net this season? It has been a season for the ages in terms of proficiency in the crease.
Through 73 games this season, Rockford has surrendered 173 goals. That total is good for a tie for third in the AHL. Along with Utica and Grand Rapids, the IceHogs are tops in the Western Conference.
So who is manning the net for Rockford in the playoffs? Head coach Ted Dent doesn’t know. At least, he didn’t…
