[Trending News] Preds 2, Hawks 6: Blown away in Windy City

Joakim Kemell debuted tonight for Nashville as the Preds took on the Blackhawks in Chicago, but it wasn’t the kind of experience a rookie dreams of.

The Hawks drew first blood, as the Preds lost Frank Nazar as he came onto the ice for a shift and he finished off a neat play to score the first goal at 8:37 of the first. Before the announcer had even finished reporting the goal, Colton Sissons got it back to tie the game 1-1. Sissons almost scored again a few minutes later, but this time Petr Mrázek had the save.

Instead, the Hawks restored their lead when Nick Blankenburg got tangled up with Juuse Saros and Patrick Maroon got the puck past the impeded goalie. The Preds pushed back to end the period, and drew a penalty just before the buzzer sounded, sending Connor Bedard to the box for the first two minutes of the second period.

Unfortunately, the Preds weren’t able to score — then or for the next two and a half minutes, as they camped out in the Hawks’ end and put pressure on Mrázek. A penalty by Gus Nyquist cut that flurry short, and Bedard made it 3-1 Chicago.

The Preds tried to rally, but ran out of energy, and the Hawks took over the period. Another unlucky Preds turnover, a problem that’s plagued them for a while now, let Ryan Donato make it 4-1 at 15:24 of the second.

During the final minute of the period, Chicago rookie Landon Slaggert had a good scoring chance, then immediately got goaded into to a fight by Luke Schenn and gleefully accepted. The two of them headed off for intermission early, and then Cole Smith took a penalty as play resumed, putting the Preds shorthanded again. With nine seconds left in the period and some egregious blown coverage from the Preds, Seth Jones scored against his former team to give Chicago a 5-1 lead.

Nashville got a power play early in the third, but Saros did more work than Mrázek on it as the Hawks managed some good shorthanded chances. The Preds got another power play halfway through the period and got some looks, but the Hawks surged back as it expired. Saros made some saves, and Roman Josi stopped a goal from Donato, but seconds later Donato came back to make it 6-1.

Michael McCarron then took a penalty.

While the Preds killed that penalty off and Tommy Novak scored a late goal, the game fortunately ended before much longer. The Preds play again tomorrow night, and hopefully will turn in a better performance.