Chicago Blackhawks: Nashville for two could turn season around

The Chicago Blackhawks finally have a couple of wins under their belt. They swept a home weekend series with the Detroit Red Wings. The Wings aren’t much better than Chicago on paper but they had a much better start to the season so it was an impressive homestand. They still might not be a playoff team or anything like that but now have something to build on. After four straight games of giving up five goals, it was nice to see them get some wins the right way.

The Chicago Blackhawks are headed south to play the Nashville Predators.

The Nashville Predators are a much different animal than the Detroit Red Wings. They are a much better and deeper team but they aren’t the Cup contender that they once were. They still have an outside chance to figure some things out and be a playoff team but they are beatable. Whether or not they are beatable for the Blackhawks remains to be seen.

Of course, the strength of the Predators has been their strength for over a decade and that is goaltending and defense. Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros make up their tandem. They have both been excellent in their careers but have had a rough start to the season. If they figure it out as they have in the past, especially Rinne, they will be a goaltending force to be reckoned with.

In front of them remains a very strong defense. Guys like Shea Weber and P.K. Subban are gone but they have an excellent trio at the top of their defensive core. Roman Josi is one of the best defensemen in the NHL and the NHL’s reigning Norris Trophy winner. He has been a top-five Norris Trophy vote-getter three times and a top 11 guy six times. We are truly talking about one of the best defensemen of his era.

Right behind him are Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm. They are both great and prove that Nashville is just a defensemen factory. If you are a defenseman that is drafted by Nashville, you should be thrilled because they are going to help you reach the next level.

Beating them will rely on the forwards of the Chicago Blackhawks. They are going to have to work Nashville’s defense and force them back. Guys like Patrick Kane can do that but the rest of the team is going to need to follow suit. There is some good forwards upfront for Nashville as well so the Blackhawks need to be strong on the pucks, use their speed.

As mentioned before, they are a good team but they aren’t the best team. If the Blackhawks were able to play well against them it could provide a big boost going forward. They are already behind the 8-ball as Alex DeBrincat and Adam Boqvist have been placed on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list.

DeBrincat is a huge loss for Chicago and they are going to have to figure out who will take Boqvist’s spot. This could be a thing that lasts a few days or it could go longer. We have seen examples of each across the NHL. If they are able to rally around each other and win, that could be the spark they need to not be the worst team in the league.