Patrick Kane extended his points streak to 24 games in an otherwise forgettable night for Chicago as they lost 5-1 to Nashville on Thursday.
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Predators coach Peter Laviolette challenged the call, contending Kane and Kruger interfered with Rinne, but the goal stood upon review.
Kane reached 23 games with an empty-net goal against Nashville on Tuesday. “[Rinne] played fantastic tonight; that’s what we needed from him and he had a great game”.
Rinne rebounds: Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne admitted this week that he hasn’t been making the necessary key saves while compiling a 1-5-2 record in his previous eight starts. Daley was injured Sunday night in the Blackhawks’ 3-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets….
Patrick Kane attempts to extend his point streak to 25 games when the Chicago Blackhawks begin a four-game homestand Friday against the Winnipeg Jets.
“It’s nice to see (Kane continue his streak), but I know he’s the type of guy that would rather have a win than keep the streak going”, forward Andrew Shaw told the team’s official website. “My goodness, it’s exceptional what he has done so far, and the sky is the limit for him”.
The Predators’ 11th shot, a wrister from Neal after he stickhandled around defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson, beat Darling at 6:54 of the first period to open the scoring.
“That was hard to watch”, Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said of the first 20 minutes. Less than 40 seconds later, it was Filip Forsberg converting on a power-play opportunity for a 3-0 Nashville lead headed into the first intermission. “It was worse than the first period of the first playoff game here a year ago”.
Ideal penalty kill: Nashville killed all three of Chicago’s power plays Thursday, a enormous morale victory for the Predators, whose penalty kill has been putrid recently.
Chicago had several chances in the second, outshooting the Predators 13-8 in the period.
Blackhawks center Marcus Kruger came charging at Rinne on the right side and appeared to dislodge the puck in the crease as he made contact with the netminder.
Nashville exploded from the start of Thursday’s contest, registering 10 shots less than six minutes into the first period, and finishing the frame out with a 3-0 lead.
“I’m really happy with how we stuck with it at the end there and we had to defend, and defend really well”, Rinne said. As has happened so many times during his point streak, the loose puck happened to find Kane.
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The Jets are 1-7-1 in their last nine road games, giving up an average of 4.11 goals.
