|
 "I'd be lucky if there was one person asking me after the game,"
Darling said with a laugh.
Times have changed.
In his first career playoff start, Darling proved to be ready. The
26-year-old rookie stopped 35 of 37 shots to help the Blackhawks
earn a 4-2 win against the Nashville Predators on Sunday afternoon.
Center Jonathan Toews scored a goal and an assist for Chicago, which
seized a 2-1 series lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference
quarterfinal. Left winger Brandon Saad, center Andrew Desjardins and
defenseman Brent Seabrook also scored.
Center Mike Ribeiro and defenseman Mattias Ekholm scored for
Nashville.
The Predators never led despite outshooting the Blackhawks by a
37-30 margin. The teams will meet again in Game 4 on Tuesday night.
"We've got to win hockey games," Predators coach Peter Laviolette
said. "That's the playoffs, right? We can play better. I believe
that. We'll look to fix some things and we'll come back two days
from now and look to even the series."
It is possible that Darling will be back in net for his second
playoff start. Coach Joel Quenneville selected the 6-foot-6,
232-pound netminder to start Game 3 after back-to-back
disappointments by Corey Crawford, who allowed nine goals on 47
shots in the series' first two games.
Quenneville was noncommittal about whether Darling would start Game
4.
"We'll talk about it," Quenneville said. "Certainly, he did
everything he could to put himself back in the net. I thought he was
rock solid today and did everything he could to get us the win. He
was square, he was big, and he controlled a lot of pucks around the
net."
Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne turned aside 26 shots in the loss.
He allowed one goal in the first period and three more in the second
period against Chicago's consistent attack.
The top line of Saad, Toews and right winger Marian Hossa combined
for two goals and generated 10 shots. Hossa tallied a pair of
assists and earned the game's No. 1 star.
"It seemed like we had a good jump," Hossa said. "We were on the
puck. We tried to keep position in their zone, and we created a
bunch of chances."
Nashville kept pace until Saad's go-ahead goal early in the third
period. Only four Predators failed to register a shot on goal, but
Nashville went 0-for-2 on the power play and failed to convert with
an extra skater in the final two minutes of the third period.
[to top of second column] |
"I thought we played a pretty good game," Predators defenseman Roman
Josi said. "It could have gone the other way, too. We had a lot of
chances, and we couldn't capitalize."
Chicago opened the scoring on a wrist shot by Desjardins with 5:12
remaining in the first period.
Thirty-one seconds later, Nashville evened the score at 1-1 on a
one-timer by Ribeiro. Predators center Craig Smith slipped a soft
pass toward the slot for Ribeiro, who blasted a slap shot past
Darling's glove side.
Toews gave Chicago a 2-1 lead with a wrist shot 36 seconds into the
second period. Hossa set up the goal with a drop pass to Toews at
the top of the right circle.
Nashville answered quickly to tie the score at 2. Ekholm ripped a
slap shot past Darling's stick side as center Filip Forsberg set a
screen in front of the net.
Chicago regained a 3-2 lead on a takeaway and goal by Saad with
16:22 remaining in the second period. Saad beat Rinne on a snap shot
from 26 feet for his first goal of the playoffs. Seabrook increased
the Blackhawks' lead to 4-2 when he took a pass from Toews and fired
a one-timer past Rinne with 7:19 to go in the second period.
NOTES: Chicago G Scott Darling made his first career playoff start
ahead of G Corey Crawford. Coach Joel Quenneville decided to bench
Crawford after he allowed nine goals on 47 shots in the first two
games of the series. ... Nashville D Shea Weber missed the game
because of a lower-body injury that he sustained during the second
period Friday. Weber also has been ruled out for Game 4 on Tuesday
night. ... Chicago C Antoine Vermette and C Andrew Desjardins
returned to the lineup after sitting out the series' first two games
as healthy scratches. To make room, C Teuvo Teravainen and LW Joakim
Nordstrom were healthy scratches for Game 3. ... Nashville C Mike
Fisher missed his second consecutive game because of a lower-body
injury. Fellow C Mike Santorelli replaced Fisher in the lineup.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
