Power Outage in Nashville, Preds 2, Hawks 0

Going 0 for 5 on the "power" play against the 4th worst penalty killing team in the entire league is not a recipe for winning, and not surprisingly, the hawks lost  2-0, a game they could & perhaps should have won.  The hawks were unable to find the net, despite having 2 extra skaters in the last 1:47 of the 3rd period and their youthful immaturity showed near the end after Kane's stick was checked in the slot, preventing him from getting a last second shot off - he threw his hands up in disgust at the "non-call", but in reality, a penalty call at that point would have been meaningless given the few seconds left.  What it did show was the hawks still have a ways to go to when it comes to maturing - bearing down and remaining disciplined when things don't go their way.

As for the powerplay, if this were a one-off game for the pp, it might not be so troublesome, however, the hawks have failed to capitalize on the pp since the start of the young season, unable to score on 5 on 3 chances in 3 separate games, all of which they not surprisingly lost.

Tonight, the hawks penalty kill, including Huet, did a marvelous job in thwarting a 5 on 3 for Nashville, the league's worst ranked power play, late in the first period, but the hawks failed to gain any meaningful momentum after killing off penalties for the last 6 minutes of the first, despite having two pp opportunities of their own early in the 2nd.  And the Preds finally did capitalize on their power play late in the second, scoring the winning goal on a pass deflected by Joel Ward who had gained position in front of Huet, taking a nice feed from Boullion who had pinched down along the left boards.

Coming in to tonight's game the hawks powerplay was converting at a rate of just over 19% - which at first glance does not seem all that bad, however, that ranked them 17th in the league - i.e., in the bottom half.  (Their pp at home is ranked 28th & if not for their 3 pp goals vs. the 3rd worst penalty killing team in Florida the 2nd game of the season, the hawks would rank dead last in the entire league on the pp! - not what you would expect of a team that has carried much of the play in games so far this season & has offensive skill & depth in all positions.

Not only was the power play ineffective all night again, but the hawks managed just 22 shots for the entire game - the lowest on the road so far and fewer than they have had for some periods earlier in the season.

One of the few bright spots tonight was the return of Brent Seabrook to the lineup - he played just over 20 minutes and looked steady - helping on the pk, though for some reason his pp time was limited.   His partner Duncan Keith played over 28 minutes again, while Campbell chipped in with 23+.  Hjalmarsson went down early in the 2nd after blocking a shot and missed several shifts before returning midway in the period, however, despite Hjalmarsson missing half of the 2nd period, the 3rd guy on the left defense depth chart, namely Barker, actually played fewer minutes than his average 13+ for the year - his $3M+ cap hit seems awfully rich for a 5th Dman playing limited minutes (primarily because he has defensive shortcomings) & if he is not contributing on the pp, he is overall a net liability (so to speak).

Finally, Patrick Kane, despite his undisciplined frustration shown at the end of the game, was active throughout the game and looked like a threat virtually every shift, however, he was unable to convert the chances created - sometimes due to trying to do too much on his own, other times, by trying to make the "perfect" play.  Overall, the hawks simply failed to take the Preds seriously enough - and take the game to them, bearing down even more & remaining disciplined when their perhaps underrated opponents (who had played on the road the night before) put up a bigger fight than the well-rested hawks were expecting, after having already beaten them twice over the past two weeks.

This is one frustrating loss that can't be blamed on Huet.