By Ian S. Palmer
The third-seeded NHL Western Conference Nashville Predators will meet the fourth-seeded Chicago Blackhawks in a best-of-seven opening round playoff series. The Predators finished the regular season with a record of 47-25-10 for 104 points while the Blackhawks had a mark of 48-28-6 for 102 points. Nashville went 1-1-2 against Chicago this season and were outscored 11-9. These two teams met in the 2009/10 playoffs with Chicago ousting the Predators in six games and then going on to win the Stanley Cup. Home-ice advantage will go to Nashville this time though.
Nashville Predators vs Chicago Blackhawks betting preview – Oddsmakers list Chicago as the favorites to win the series at 20/27 with the Predators at 23/20
The Predators were the 12th-best scoring team in the league this season at 2.76 goals per game average while the Blackhawks ranked 15th at 2.68. Defensively, Nashville allowed 2.51 goals against per outing to rank 12th in the league while Chicago was second best at 2.27 goals against. The Blackhawks power play was ranked 15th in the NHL at 17.6 per cent while the Predators were 19th best at 16.2 per cent. As for the penalty-killing stats, Nashville was tied for 15th best at 80.8 percent while Chicago’s 83.4 per cent ranked them at eighth.
Nashville missed the playoffs the past two years and replaced head coach Barry Trotz with Peter Laviolette last summer. Trotz was the only coach in the franchise’s history until he was canned. This is the Blackhawk’s seventh straight year in the postseason with coach Joel Quenneville behind the bench. He led them to the Stanley Cup in the 2009/10 and 2012/13 campaigns and they also made it to the Western Conference Finals in 2008/09 and 2013/14. Laviolette and Quenneville faced off against each other in 2009/10 when Laviolette was with the Philadelphia Flyers. The Hawks beat them in six games to win the Cup.
The Blackhawks were without right-winger Patrick Kane over the last 21 games of the season due to a broken clavicle, but he’s been cleared for action in this series against Nashville. The Predators faded towards the end of the season after leading the NHL in mid-February with a six-point lead. They ended up placing second in the Central division. Chicago won three of their four meetings this year, but one of them was in overtime and another came in a shootout, with both games being in Chicago. The Hawks also won 3-1 in Nashville with the Predators taking a 3-2 decision at back in October.
Left-winger James Neal of Nashville was the star of their season series with five goals while right-winger Marian Hossa of Chicago had three and Hawks’ defenseman Duncan Keith chipped in with four assists. Chicago goalie Corey Crawford went 2-0 against the Predators and allowed five goals against. Nashville’s Pekka Rinne played the Hawks three times and allowed eight goals against. The Predators’ attack is led by rookie Filip Forsberg, Mike Ribeiro, Colin Wilson and Mike Fisher. The Hawks will be depending on Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Brandon Saad and Marian Hossa to put the puck in the net in this series.
