Blackhawks Blank The Predators 3-0 With Quenneville Back

Added on Feb 25, 2011 by J Merrill in

NHL

No one is saying that Assistant Coach Mark Haviland did a bad a job, but the Chicago Blackhawks were definitely energized to have their head coach back behind the bench. Joel Quenneville’s voice was struggling during the post game press conference, but everything else was ok according to coach Q. “You can tell I’ve been away. I can’t talk any more,” Quenneville said. Through out the game Quenneville said he felt fine, “I felt great throughout the whole game. I could see coming after the second into the third my voice all of a sudden it seems like it’s that first day of training camp or the first game back in the regular season. It’s been idle for a while. You have to raise it a couple decibels. We’ll get it back,”

As reported on sportsbettingworld.com, Quenneville missed 4 games due to a bleeding ulcer, but Tomas Kopecky and Marian Hossa scored and goaltender Corey Crawford stopped 31 shots to make his first game back easier, and give them the win over the Nashville Predators 3-0.

Initially the momentum was all in favor of the Predators, as they even took the first five shots of the game and spent most of the first period on offense. They even out shot Chicago 31-25, but were shut out for a second straight loss and have lost three straight and four of five. Nashville coach Barry Trotz said his team just couldn’t connect when they had chances. He said “We had some chances, but we couldn’t find them. There were some loose pucks every period that we couldn’t get a handle on.”

Nashville captain Shea Weber felt the same way. He also said they should have been able to make up for the mistakes they made during the game. He concluded “There’s no more excuses. There’s no reason why we should make mistakes. If we make them, we’ve got to make up for them and do better from it.”

With this game, Nashville and Chicago are among six teams all tied with 70 points fighting for position in the Western Conference. “I don’t think we’re ever in a place where we should feel comfortable,” Quenneville said. “You look at the standings, and the next opponent is right in that wheelhouse. Six teams at 70 points is pretty amazing.”

The Chicago Blackhawks 32-23-6 (70pts), who are tied for 2nd in Central Division, will face The Phoenix Coyotes (33-20-9, 75pts) on Sunday at home. The Nashville Predators 31-22-8 (70pts), who are tied for 2nd in Central Division, will face the Dallas Stars (32-23-6, 70pts) on Saturday.