Could You Stand Right There And Look Me Straight In The Eye And Say It’s Over Now?: Hawks at Preds Game 6 Preview/Pregame Thread/Environmental Protest

vs.

GAMETIME: 8pm

TV/RADIO: CSN, VS. (JIP), WIND-RADIO 560 (I’m assuming)

Voice Of Those About To Die: On The Forecheck

I’m apparently the hot hand for the previews, and I’m not going to chance it any further by using an Alice In Chains quote from the self-titled album again, too. Tonight the Hawks have the chance to put the Preds to the sword, and in their brief playoff history the Hawks are 2-0 when they have that chance. Somehow, I doubt that Pekka Rinne will end up in tears, but should the Hawks win they’ll get a chance to make that happen again. But we’ll run that kitten over when we get to it.

After I calmed down from Saturday’s win (so about 10 minutes ago), I have wondered how in the hell the Preds can bounce back from a loss like that. I can’t imagine more of a stomach-punch. I’ll never doubt Barry Trotz’s ability to get a team ready for any game, and if there’s a team that could shake that off it might be Nashville. That said, if the Hawks jump out early, there’s every chance the Preds just figure it’s not their time and head off to see some live music down the street.

But the Preds will also come out firing, one would think, it one last stab of desperation. We’ve seen that overwhelm the Hawks before, and that can’t happen tonight. A loss in Game 6 would render Game 5’s magic pretty meaningless. What the Hawks must also remember is that for 38 minutes on saturday they pretty much bent the Preds over a desk and had their way with them like all of our student-hot spanish teacher fantasies. If the Hawks bring the intensity and desperation we saw in those 38 minutes, and the final 5, the Hawks will see this out.

As you’ve seen by now, Marian Hossa will not be suspended, and I don’t think he should be. I haven’t seen this mentioned too much, but the key difference between Hossa’s hit and Ovechkin’s is that Campbell was skating parallel to the end boards and required a violent shove to be driven into them. Dan Hamhuis was skating straight back toward the boards and the slightest touch, which is all Hossa did, would send him careening into the boards. It was the last minute, the Hawks were down a goal, and desperate as it gets. I don’t think Hossa was being malicious, just reckless out of being so desperate.

If this were the Canucks, I would giggle at the thought that they would spend all game trying to get even (cuz they’re so dang stupid!), but the Preds are far too disciplined for that. This doesn’t come down to tactics any more. Each team knows what they’re facing. I wonder how rigid in their system the Preds can be when facing an elimination game, or do some players try and save the season themselves? I doubt they veer to much from it, so it’s down to how bad the Hawks want to end it tonight.

And I think they want it pretty bad.

Let’s see how this black hood fits, and axe feels…

NHL 2010 Playoffs – Marian Hossa Overtime Goal (April 24 2010) (via Fel0096)