Thanks to Andrew Shaw's two goals, the Chicago Blackhawks won their eighth consecutive game on Tuesday night in a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators.
Brent Seabrook also added a goal for the Blackhawks, who now sit just two points behind the Dallas Stars for the top spot in the Central Division standings. Corey Crawford made 41 saves in the victory for Chicago.
The win also tied head coach Joel Quenneville with Al Arbour for the second-most victories by a coach in NHL history.
With no Artem Anisimov in the lineup, the Blackhawks were forced to shuffle up their lines a bit, but a reconfigured second line seemed to spark the Hawks offensively. Teuvo Teravainen used his speed to open up space for both Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin, and the line generated some quality chances that Pekka Rinne was forced to stop.
With about a minute remaining in the period, the Blackhawks were able to finally capitalize on a chance as they took the lead. Marian Hossa made the play happen as he carried the puck behind the net, and his wraparound attempt wouldn't go. Shaw was there to collect the rebound however, and he pounded home a shot to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.
Early in the second period, the Blackhawks extended their lead, and it was Shaw getting his second goal of the night that made it happen. Once again Hossa made a big play in the offensive zone as he threw a pass from behind the net out toward the blue paint, and after Rinne slid out of his crease, Shaw was able to hammer home the easy shot into the empty cage to make it a 2-0 game.
With less than seven minutes left in the period, the Blackhawks scored again to put the game further out of reach. This time it was a team effort that set things up, as Erik Gustafsson made a big keep-in at the point, and after he found Patrick Kane, the winger was able to pass to Seabrook for the slap shot goal and a 3-0 lead.
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Just six seconds later, Nashville scored to get on the scoreboard. Phillip Danault turned the puck over behind the net, and Mike Ribeiro fired a shot from behind the net that hit Crawford's blocker and skipped into the cage to make it a 3-1 game.
The Predators kept firing away at Crawford after the goal, but it took until the late stages of the third period for them to score again to tighten up the score. Crawford made an initial stop on a shot from Ryan Johansen, but Filip Forsberg was able to knock the rebound out of midair to give Nashville a fighting chance despite a 3-2 deficit.
