Preds v. Hawks game #5 Wrap-Up

Like a bear prepares to hibernate for the winter, I'm now beginning the mental preparations for the end of the predators' hockey season, which is a mix of anger, frustration, sadness and withdrawal (boredom). I can usually stall the withdrawal symptoms with other playoff series, but this year I'm just not feeling the other games as much as in the past. Because my expectations were pretty low for the Preds post-season, the excitement of exceeding those expectations has led to an artifically inflated emotional high which is going to be accompanied by an equally inflated emotional crash.



If the Preds need to lose this series, I would actually appreciate them going ahead and doing that at home on Monday. You see, as bad of a letdown as it is its less hard when you are actually there. And I'd rather see that then have Chicago win out at home. Man, would that suck. One of the only consolations in Playoff hockey is when a team DOESN'T get to share excitement with their home crowds. And since we don't get the joy of having them win a series at home I don't feel bad for wanting to rob Chicago fans of the same joy. That is not to say that I THINK they will lose, I'm just saying that if they have to......


Of course I'd still like to see Nashville pull out the ultimate surprise, and give us a few more games yet. But out of all the ups and downs of this afternoon's game, the most important thing that was revealed is that Nashville can't close the deal. They have fought hard this entire series and been better than anyone expected they would be, but to give up a goal with 15 seconds left in the game? It wasn't pretty, but it was the Predators of the regular season.


The Preds found some offense, and Wilson can give the rest of the team some lessons on how to cover your man successfully. Still, the team has not grasped the concept of a 60 minute game all year, and nothing's changed in that regard apparently, despite early signs in the Playoffs to the contrary. The worst part is that if Chicago advances we've taught them that being the "anointed ones" doesn't mean you aren't going to have to work for it, and their chances of going all the way increase.


Dan Hamhuis would have best served his team to have stayed down on the ice. Regardless of how he felt, he should have let them take him off the ice on a stretcher. Then it would have been likely Hossa gets kicked out, and then Hossa isn't there to score the GWG. If the NHL isn't just full of bullshit about "hits from behind" then Hossa needs to be suspended, but I guarantee this is going to be a marquee example of star player on a sweetheart team that escapes punishment by virtue of Colin Campbell being the biggest dickhead on the face of the earth. Yeah, you heard that right. Osama bin Laden doesn't have anything on that massive waste of space. Can someone please get that man a dictionary, because its clear he doesn't know the definition of "consistency."