Chicago Blackhawks Need To Improve Shot Selection Against Predators

The Chicago Blackhawks had a huge advantage in offensive zone time during Thursday’s Game 1 against the Nashville Predators, but it got them exactly zero goals. So what went wrong?

So Game 1 did not go how many of the Blackhawk Up experts were thinking (props to Aaron Goldschmidt for predicting at least the first loss at home for the Chicago Blackhawks). The Nashville Predators opened the Stanley Cup Playoffs by posting a 1-0 win on the road.

The Blackhawks saw the Predators push hard for about half of the first period and do essentially nothing else the rest of the night. It left the Blackhawks with tons of opportunities to make things happen on offense, but very little did happen.

This wasn’t like the Minnesota Wild’s Game 1 against St. Louis on Wednesday, in which they outshot the Blues by a crazy margin (52-26) and lost anyway. No, the Blackhawks only led the shot ledger 29-20. But, boy, did it feel like they should have been able to throw so much more at Pekka Rinne.

Actually, they definitely should’ve been able to. Let’s analyze one thing the Chicago Blackhawks clearly need to improve upon in Game 2: shot selection.

Blackhawks struggle to make Rinne work

Rinne will probably get too much credit from some corners for his 29-save shutout, just the second of his postseason career. Do you remember more than maybe two or three saves that were tough?

Chicago Blackhawks

The Blackhawks just did not make the veteran netminder work, which is a crime facing a guy who has trouble moving laterally. The Blackhawks made him do next to none of that. Instead, they spent most of the first 40 minutes (and parts of the third period) going bombs away from the point.

Now, Blackhawk Up’s Juliana Nikac noted right after the game she felt the Blackhawks needed to get more screens in front of Rinne. And while I can say that’s never a bad idea, I don’t think that’s the chief concern for Chicago.

The Blackhawks were way too reliant on the like of Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Trevor van Riemsdyk trying to light things up through traffic. The result? The Preds blocked 26 shots on the night. And frankly, they didn’t have to work that hard for those either; it was a lot of standing still and taking it versus sprawling across the ice and knocking down a puck with the face.

This even spread to the forwards. I remember one instance where Patrick Kane had the puck above the circle to Rinne’s left with an open lane to skate down. Instead, he received the puck, stopped dead, waited for a Predator to get in front of him and then inexplicably tried to fire a shot/pass. End result: blocked shot/pass, dead play.

There is no way this strategy can continue for the Blackhawks. The Predators had this idea scouted out, and the Blackhawks waited until the third period to try and adjust.

Strong possession, but nothing to show for it

Now, the Blackhawks posted a ridiculous advantage in Corsi-for on Thursday at 5-on-5. The final ledger was 63.33 to 36.67 percent, as the Blackhawks won the possession battle in every period. Yes, even the first period — at least at 5 on 5 (they lost the first period 51.72-48.28 if you include special teams situations).

The highlight of this was the Blackhawks posting a 72.73 Corsi-for mark at 5-on-5 in the second period. But still, there was nothing to show for it.

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While some of this goes back to the aforementioned poor shot selection, there was also some bad luck. Marian Hossa took a second-period feed from Ryan Hartman, got in ahead of his defender and just shanked the shot. Rinne essentially had to stand still to turn it aside.

Artem Anisimov, in his first game since early March, showed some signs of not playing. He had a few chances where he didn’t get all of the puck, struggling to settle it down.

So even though the Blackhawks could’ve been better Thursday, they also could’ve won the game in regulation. It just didn’t happen this time.

The main concern now is twofold. First, the Blackhawks cannot continue to try the same offensive strategy moving forward. You want to take some point shots, go for it. But get things in closer to the net and get Rinne moving. Point shots require very little movement to stop unless they get redirected, and you’re talking about a crapshoot relying on redirects to save your night.

The second concern is not letting Rinne get too confident. He may be feeling his oats after posting a shutout, and the Blackhawks need to jump out quickly and forcefully in Game 2. They started at a decent pace early in Game 1, but then let the Predators take control for long enough to tally the first — and only — goal.

The Blackhawks need to play like they have the home-ice advantage, because a win in Game 2 and one win in Nashville gets that back. Considering the Blackhawks have lost multiple Game 1s in series they’ve won during this era (thanks to Faxes From Uncle Dale for that stat), I wouldn’t think this is a far-fetched idea.

There are plenty of things the Blackhawks can improve on moving forward, but for me, shot selection should be near the top of that list.