By all intents and purposes, this game should be over. Yet here we are, still a one goal game and somehow the Predators find themselves down just one goal after 40 minutes of play.
After a penalty-free first period, the referees decided they needed to make up for lost time. Calling anything minor transgression they may or may not have witnessed, the 2nd period was littered with eight penalties just about even distributed among the two teams.
It was Nashville, however, who had the best chance to take advantage yet they continued their struggles with the extra man, hardly mustering an attack and looked all-around woeful at times on the power play.
Yet a shorthanded goal surprised the Hawks a bit, and we’re at 3-2 headed into the third period. The shots are 24-7, the Hawks are grossly outplaying the Predators yet the road team still has one heck of a shot at the big win.