Chicago Blackhawks lose ninth straight as Nashville Predators win 3-2 at home - NHL Update
Nashville Predators made things worse for the struggling Chicago Blackhawks with a 3-2 win on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
The loss now takes the Blackhawks losing run to a horrific nine games and even though Chicago showed great fighting spirit coming from behind twice to equalise they were not able to keep the Predators from scoring.
Chicago now drop down to sixth in the Western Conference with a 29-21-7 record and 65 points and have now lost seven of their nine games during the current road trip.
The Blackhawks outshot Nashville by a mammoth margin of 32-19 but were unable to take full advantage of their opportunities with Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne continually frustrating the visitors.
Chicago coach Joel Quenneville though looked at the positives from his team’s performance and said that they are moving in the right direction as they look to end what has been a surprising and disappointing run of results.
"When you look at this stretch we have had here. We have found different ways to not come out on top. Tonight, it looked like we were doing the things we wanted to do and that we were moving in the right direction."
Rinne was the hero for Nashville once again as the Predators ended a run of three back to back losses.
The goaltender made 30 saves during the game and put in a quality performance to move Nashville into fifth in the Western Conference with a 33-18-6 record and 72 points.
The goaltender praised his opponent’s attempts after the game in a show of sportsmanship.
"It is hard to believe Chicago has lost that many games in a row. They didn't panic. They played a strong game and as the game went along I thought they got stronger."
Nashville took the lead late in the first period against the run of play as Ryan Suter put the home team ahead at 18:20.
Chicago had outshot their opponent’s 11-5 were rewarded for their efforts as they equalised a minute later with Bryan Bickell doing the honours at 19:06.
Both teams went full out on offence in the second period but it was the Predators who made the breakthrough.
Nick Spaling beat Blackhawks goaltender Ray Emery at 17:21 as he put in a deflected Ryan Ellis shot into the Blackhawks net.
The game became increasingly intense as the 16,592 capacity crowd looked on with the action on the rink becoming increasingly hot.
The Blackhawks desperately searched for an equaliser and got it at 6:05 with Marian Hossa bringing Chicago back on level terms.
Nashville though retook their one goal lead for the third time as rookie Ryan Ellis capped a wonderful performance with the game winner at 14:18.
The Blackhawks attacked desperately to return back to level terms outshooting the Predators 11-3 but Pekka Rinne frustrated every attempt to keep Nashville in the lead.
Chicago Blackhawks will now travel to Madison Square Garden in New York on Thursday to face the Rangers as they continue on their road trip, while Nashville will look take confidence with the win as they travel to Detroit to face Western Conference leaders
Detroit Red Wings on Friday.
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