Preds v. Hawks Game #3 Wrap-Up

Again, I'm late to the party but I was so exhausted last night and this morning that I wouldn't have written anything coherent.  First of all let me say...WHAT A GAME!!!  Even though the building wasn't 100% full the energy was high and the crowd was loud!

I was really hoping the Preds would score a quick one within the first minute or so, and they didn't but came close.  The Preds scored first but came out of the first period tied 1-1 and with a few seconds of a penalty to kill.  Speaking of that penalty, is there an imaginary or invisible player on the Hawk's team?  You know I'm not quick to defend Kevin Klein but really...there was no one around him and his stick stayed on the ice...how in the world did he get called on slashing!?  That wasn't the last terrible call of the night--the majority of the penalties called on Nashville were wholly imagined by the officials.  

The second period started and the Preds came out hot!  I still wasn't comfortable because if anyone knows how to blow a big lead in the third period, its Nashville.  Once Erat scored on his penalty shot though, I knew the Hawks had been completely deflated for the night.  The Preds did a great job of shutting down all of Chicago's offensive powerhouses.  our defense was almost flawless, except for a few close calls.  Namely, both Rinne and Hamhuis tried to pull Dan Boyles and score on our own net.  How embarrassing would it be for our own goalie to score on himself?!  Weber had a couple "DOH!" moments, but on the whole the defense was tight and together.  Our offense finally found some spark, too.  While I certainly recognize the individual contribution David Legwand made last night I'm a little miffed at the press attention he's been getting today for it.  Just because he woke up and had ONE good and one OK game doesn't mean he's the David Legwand of years past, or the David Legwand he was *supposed* to be.  Thank him for his game last night and move on.  I'm not being mean, I feel the same about Sully.

I'm not particularly happy with Goc's play so far in the Playoffs.  While he hasn't done anything bad, he's been practically invisible and hasn't contributed in the way he was earlier in the season.  I was glad to see Arnott deliver a few hits last night, even if he was still very careful and only used his shoulder to check people along the boards.  With any luck we'll see Hornquist back in the lineup soon, although we are doing alright without him.  Don't want to mess with a good thing! 

What an amazing home opener for the Playoffs!  Hopefully this will help sell out Thursday's game.  And Monday's, if it gets played, and any potential second round games.  We need to be in that building showing our support.  I just watched the game reply on TV and boy, could you hear the crowd!  Everyone yell twice as loud Thursday and we'll show the United Center who's the loudest, rowdiest crowd in the NHL!!!  

**An aside: if we are trying to compete with Chicago's rendition of the National Anthem, that was a poor attempt.  Michael W. Smith, despite being a great guy, kind of sucks.  And that strange, synthesized musical backing was terrible.  Let's get someone with some real pipes to knock it out of the park on Thursday!