Turning around penalty kill of utmost importance for Predators
NASHVILLE -- Paper Lace's The Night Chicago Died played in the background as the Blackhawks' starting lineup was introduced.
But when it comes to demises, of more concern for the Predators isn't that of the Windy City or its Original Six inhabitant. It's their own struggling penalty kill.
That wasn't much of a problem Thursday night. While Patrick Kane had his moment -- in controversial fashion -- in extending his point streak to 24 games, Nashville shut the Blackhawks down three times while a man down in a 4-1 victory.
"We haven't really been getting a lot of breaks, either," said goalie Pekka Rinne. "It's great to see and that's a confidence-booster when you kill three penalties against a good team."
Rinne stopped two Duncan Keith goals -- from 60 and 55 feet -- and another from Marian Hoss. Paul Gaustad and Shea Weber blocked two others and Eric Nystrom scored a short-handed empty-netter as the Predators withstood six combined minutes with Chicago on the power play.
"The penalty kill was sharp," said Nashville coach Peter Laviolette.
It was as steady as they could had hoped for given the way Nashville had allowed opponents to take advantage of a man advantage all season, and even more so, of late.
The Predators entered the night 28th, having stopped opponents just 74.4 percent of the time and only the Hurricanes (74.3) and Flames (71.8) were worse.
It had proven an even bigger problem over the previous seven games as Nashville killed just 11 of 20 penalties and had allowed a man-advantage goal in each of those contests.
No Nashville team had given up goal facing a man deficit since December 2009.
The issues in that department haven't exactly been a death knell for playoff hopes before the All-Star break has even hit.
The past five seasons, eight teams have ranked 25th or lower in penalty kill rate and still made it, including the Islanders, who were 26th (78.0) a year ago.
But none of those teams have been the Predators.
There in is where this stat is so key. The last two times they missed the Stanley Cup chase -- in '13-14, '12-13 -- they ranked 25th (80.3) and 29th (75.7).
On the flip side, the Predators were 10th-best in the league against the penalty (82.5) in 2008-09 and finished last in the Central Division. But of late it's impossible to ignore the role the ability to kill a man advantage has been in reaching the playoffs, with just two teams 27th or lower qualifying.
The incredible part of Nashville's short-handed issues is, in reality, is they haven't been an epidemic.
A man down 86 times before Thursday, that figure was tied for 22nd in the league, but Rinne hadn't always been as crisp in those situations as he was against Chicago.
His 83.5 saves percentage with his team at less than full strength is 25th in the league among goaltenders with at least 50 starts. It had been amplified of late, with Rinne's late eight starts including a 1-5-2 mark and a 3.14 goals allowed average.
It hadn't all been Rinne's fault, as defenseman Roman Josi is the only Predator in the league's top 50 in short-handed blocked shots (13) or takeaways a man down.
But Rinne and Co. kept the Blackhawks at bay for two minutes in the first period after Viktor Arviddson's penalty for Kane, including Rinne's block of Keith after Mattias Ekholm's giveaway in the defensive zone.
Keith was at it again following Barrett Jackman's infraction for a hit on Andrew Shaw in the second, then, in the third, Miikka Salomaki's was in the penalty box for interference on Shaw.
Rinne withstood a Hossa wristshot from close range before Nystrom punctuated the Predators' efforts with a shorthanded goal.
More importantly, for the first time in eight games, Nashville didn't make a mistake on the defensive end on special teams.
"We did a really good job," Rinne said. "Guys sacrificed and we made good clears. All the right things."
It won't completely alleviate their penalty kill woes. But it was a start.
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