These weren’t the new-look Nashville Predators, the aggressive, offensively minded group that tries to score goals, not simply prevent them. These were the old-school Predators — diving in front of shots, sliding in front of shots, stepping in front of shots. Clogging the neutral zone. Steering oncoming forwards out wide and then sagging in the middle.
For much of the final two periods Thursday night, the Predators looked like they were on an extended penalty-kill, holding on for dear life as the Blackhawks woke up from a sleepy first period.
It’s not pretty. And it might not be sustainable. But it worked in Game 1 of the first-round Stanley Cup playoff series at the United Center, mostly because Pekka Rinne went old-school, too, looking like his former All-Star self in a 1-0 shutout of the Hawks.
It was an emphatic reminder that, against the Predators, the first goal is even more important than usual.
“We want to play ahead and not have to play catch-up and try and win games from behind, especially against a team like this, with how stingy they are defensively,” captain Jonathan Toews said. “We’re down one goal all night. One goal shouldn’t stand. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t quite solve their goaltender and find a way to put one in.”
There was no panic among the Hawks, of course, the veteran players having been through far more dire situations than losing home-ice advantage in the first game of a seven-game series. And the fact is, if the rest of the series looks like the last two periods did — the Hawks thrusting, the Predators parrying — it’s going to take a superhuman effort by Rinne to steal the series.
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