In the final game of a six game road trip, the Blackhawks shut out the Predators 3-0 last night at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. The Blackhawks dominated the game from start to finish and left Nashville fans with only one thing to cheer about, that being when it was announced that Carrie Underwood, the wife of Nashville center Mike Fisher, had won a Grammy during a ceremony that was occurring simultaneously in Los Angeles.
Although there were no goals in the first period, the Blackhawks controlled the game and outshot the opposition by a margin of 10-to-3. The Blackhawks would go on to outshoot the Predators through three periods by a total of 27-to-17.
Heading into the second period, which kicked off with a fight between the Blackhawks’ Andrew Shaw and Nashville’s Rich Clune, Chicago struck first at 6:14 with an unassisted goal from fourth line center Marcus Kruger. In an attempt to clear the puck, Nashville defenseman Roman Josi kicked it right onto the stick of Kruger, who shot the puck through the legs of Josi and Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne. The goal was Kruger’s second of the season.
The Blackhawks struck again just over one minute later, when a backhander from Duncan Keith deflected off Jonathan Toews body and into the net. The goal was Toews sixth of the season. Assists were credited to Keith and Marian Hossa.
With the score 2-0 at 4:27 of the third period, Chicago’s red hot Patrick Kane scored a soft goal off a snap shot from a bad angle that Rinne clearly should have had. The goal extended Kane’s goal scoring streak to five games. Kane has seven goals and two assists over his last five games.
With the 3-0 win, Blackhawks’ goalie Corey Crawford recorded his sixth shutout of his career and improved his record to 7-0-2 on the season, with a save percentage of .935 and GAA of 1.62. His seven wins leads the NHL.
With the win, the Blackhawks finished their six game road trip with a record of 4-0-2 and increased their overall record to 10-0-2.
The Blackhawks sit atop of the NHL’s Western Conference with 22 points, five points ahead of the Anaheim Ducks (17 points), who they will face next at home on Tuesday night. The puck will drop at 7:30 CST.
Chris Paxhia covers hockey in Chicago for examiner.com. You can follow him on Twitter at: @ChrisPaxhia25 or contact him at cpaxhia@yahoo.com.
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