It's Not The Team I Hate, It's Their Fans

Patrick Kane scores the Hawks first goal, but who the hell is this guy?

 

It was an early game in Nashville, a rare 11:30 am Saturday start time. There are few teams that annoy me in the NHL, there is of course, the Leafs, who for most fans in Canada, outside of Ontario despise and wish the worse for. Most of other teams are rivals of the Blackhawks, the Blues have always had an intense relationship and the Nashville Predators for the past several seasons have been a thorn in the side of the Hawks. Since that first round series loss to the the Preds in 2017, when the Hawks were the top seed in the West and Nashville 15 points behind in the standings, Nashville easily sweep the Hawks 4-0 and outscored them 13-3 in the series. since then the Hawks were on a downward spiral, while the Preds got better. The Hawks did beat Nashville earlier in the season, but Nashville is desperate to keep pace with Dallas (tied with before the game), Vegas and Vancouver. I would love nothing more than if the Preds missed the playoffs. Sometimes it's not necessarily the team I hate, it's their fans, Nashville is the perfect example. With their fake country music, loving-hockey "fans" and the Trashville fans chanting that stupid goalie shaming, "you suck, you suck..." after every Nashville goal, it's enough to forever hate those idiots!

Takeaways:

• Patrick Kane hit another milestone this game as he played his 1,100th game. Even Patrick Sr. was in the crowd. Kaner scored the Hawks first goal and added an assist, but what's the deal with the guy in the front row along the glass, that Kane stared down after he scored the 1-1- goal in the first period? Anyone?
  
• Domink Kubalik who was a healthy scratch last game, scored the Hawks second goal with an assist from rookie Lukas Reichel. It was Reichel's first point in his NHL career. It was in his 10th game this season which means he has burned the first year of his entry level contract. Looking forward to see what type of role he plays next season and I expect he will be given the opportunity to succeed offensively, something the Hawks desperately need.

• Riley Stillman scored the third Hawks goal from a beautiful pass from Kane with just over 5 minutes left in the third, to close the gap to 4-3. the Hawks would pull, but wouldn't get any closer and for once they didn't give up an empty netter. So much for the Hawks one game winning streak!
  
• Nashville appeared to score a goal in the second that would have made it 3-2 (they did later), but it was disallowed after a coaches challenge from Chicago. It was one of the most obvious off-sides I've seen in while. I've been noticing more and more there are a lot of missed off-side calls this season. Even in this game there were several times it was missed and the only time the officials get called on it is when a goal is scored. I think a team should be able to challenge an off-side (or goalie interference) even when a goal isn't scored. I know it'll disrupt the game flow and the game will take forever if we do that, but I'm getting sick of the apathy of the officiating and if you're going to use instant replay for everything else, use it. The end result would be re-setting the clock back to when the infraction happened, that could benefit a team late in the game.
  

• Does it seem like Roman Josi has the puck a lot? The puck is like a magnet on his stick and it's amazing how many scoring chances he gets in a game. He's always up on the play and he's not only Nashville's best defenseman (and the league's?), but he's also their best forward. I haven't seen a season like this from a defenseman in many years. He now has 20 goals, 68 assists and 88 points, he has 6 more points than Makar and I wouldn't be surprised if he tops the 100 mark this season with 7 games left. Norris winner , for sure! Amazing!

Up next:  Hawks back home Monday against the Calgary Flames 7:00 pm. Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Jets are sinking fast!