Red-hot Predators cool off Blackhawks in tight division battle

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Blackhawks’ recent hot streak hasn’t exactly come against a bunch of creampuffs. They beat the defending champion Penguins on the road, took the league-leading Lightning to overtime, throttled the red-hot Rangers.

But ever since that humbling four-game sweep last April, there’s really only one team that serves as a measuring stick for the Hawks, and how far they’ve come (or haven’t) since last spring: The Nashville Predators.

“We’ve been better,” Joel Quenneville said before Tuesday’s game at Bridgestone Arena. “But this will be the best test we have, against this team, knowing we weren’t very good against them last year.”

“Weren’t very good” is putting it mildly. The Hawks were embarrassed by the Predators in April — run around, run through, and run over by a faster, deeper, better team. Fifty regular season victories evaporated in four postseason losses during which the Hawks scored three measly goals.

So while Tuesday night’s 3-2 loss to the Predators wasn’t what the Hawks had in mind, it was hardly a disaster, either. If not for a 50/50 challenge going Nashville’s way, if not for a bad break on the game-winning goal, and if not for several great stops by Pekka Rinne down the stretch, this one could have turned out differently. It was a good, entertaining, competitive hockey game. A far cry from what happened in April.

And in three games against Nashville this season, the Hawks have an overtime win and two one-goal losses. It might not seem like much, but it’s progress.

“We always have that [series] in the back of our minds,” Nick Schmaltz said. “They went on a really good run last year, and they’re a great team. But I think we’ve figured out their neutral zone a little bit. They like to trap it up, but when we manage the puck and get it behind them and then work them down low, that’s when we’re at our best. If we can do that against them, we should have success. It was a fun hockey game, and I just wish we could have come out on the winning end.”

The Predators are 10-1-1 in their last 12 games. The Hawks had been 5-1-1 in their last seven. But with three more games in the next five days, the Hawks didn’t feel the loss would blunt their momentum.

“We did a lot of good things against them, maybe just a few lulls in our game,” Lance Bouma said. “Just continue on that same path we’re going, because we’re trending in the right direction.”

Those lulls came in the second period, after Filip Forsberg and Tommy Wingels traded goals in the first period, the Hawks’ seventh straight strong start. Nashville completely took over the game in the second, firing 11 of the first 13 shots and taking a 2-1 lead when Matt Irwin’s shot went in off Austin Watson. Quenneville challenged for goaltender interference, as Watson caught a piece of Anton Forsberg’s stick as he made his way through the crease. It was ruled “incidental contact” and the goal stood.

“Could have gone either way,” Quenneville shrugged.

Roman Josi made it 3-1 with a power-play goal — his blast from the point ticked off Brent Seabrook’s stick — after Kane cross-checked Kevin Fiala in the face, a hit that the NHL department of player safety was looking at as of Tuesday night.

Then came the Hawks’ final push. Bouma cut the lead to 3-2 at 9:38. Schmaltz picked P.K. Subban’s pocket but was denied by Rinne on a shorthanded breakaway. A late power play yielded nothing, and Rinne made one last great stop on a Wingels backhander in the final minute. Rinne finished with 37 saves.

It wasn’t a win, so it wasn’t a success. But it wasn’t the abject failure of last April, either. Baby steps.

“Better than April,” he said. “But certainly room for improvement.”

Follow me on Twitter @MarkLazerus

Email: mlazerus@suntimes.com