Blackhawks 1 - 5 Predators
Final
  for this game

Blackhawks-Predators Preview

Dec 9, 2015 - 11:07 PM Playing one of his best games of the season, Corey Crawford heard Chicago Blackhawks fans cheer his name in the opener of a home-and-home series with the Nashville Predators.

Crawford also heard his name called by the hometown fans the last time these teams met in Nashville, albeit in a taunting manner.

While Patrick Kane looks to extend his point streak to 24 games, expected starter Crawford tries to lead the Blackhawks to a sweep of this set Thursday night in the first meeting in Nashville since the postseason.

Two days after stopping 30 shots in a 3-1 win over Winnipeg, Crawford made 36 saves in Tuesday's 4-1 home victory over the Predators. Crawford, who has yielded two goals or less in five of his last six starts, made a couple of key saves on breakaways and rebounds from close range.

Coach Joel Quenneville called Crawford's performance "spectacular," and Kane echoed that sentiment.

"You come to expect it from Crow," Kane said. "He's a big part of our team and keeps us in a lot of games when we give up some things. Nothing we're not used to seeing."

Kane again waited until the final moments to extend his streak, tallying an empty-net goal with 1:36 left. He broke Bobby Hull's franchise record of 22 consecutive games with a point Sunday with a legal hand pass on Artemi Panarin's empty-netter with 46 seconds remaining.

"If it ends it ends," said Kane, whose 17th goal of the season was his 600th NHL point. "Obviously you want to keep producing and keep creating for your team, but if it's over now I think it's been a pretty good run."

The Blackhawks (15-9-4) pushed their run against the Predators (14-9-5) in the regular season to three games and have won seven of nine meetings, which includes April's first-round playoff series.

This will be Crawford's first appearance in Nashville since giving up six goals in a Game 2 loss. That came two days after he surrendered three goals on 12 shots and was pulled after the first period in the opener.

He has a 6.75 goals-against average and .797 save percentage in his last three games in Nashville.

Predators counterpart Pekka Rinne is in the midst of his own rough patch, going 1-5-2 with a 3.14 GAA in his last eight games.

Rinne gave up a power-play goal to Andrew Shaw on Tuesday as Nashville's struggles while short-handed continued. Losers of eight of 11, the Predators have killed just 11 of 20 penalties in the last seven games and are in danger of allowing a man-advantage goal in eight straight for the first time since December 2009.

"We're going through a bit of a tough stretch right now," Nashville defenseman Seth Jones told the Blackhawks' official website. "It's not due to lack of effort, I think, or guys not giving it their all. It's just kind of the way it's going right now."

There's no lack of intensity in the offensive zone, as the Predators are averaging 35.2 shots in the last five games. Their average of 31.5 shots is one of the league's best marks, but they have one of the worst shooting percentages at 8.1.

"You can sit here and say we're getting chances, but who cares, we're not winning games, we're not scoring goals," captain Shea Weber told the Predators' official website. "That's the bottom line - it's not good enough."






Related News