Blackhawks players were all dressed up with a place to go as they walked the red carpet upon arriving at the United Center for Monday night’s home opener.
The Hawks looked better in suits and ties greeting fans than on the ice, where they fell to the Nashville Predators 3-2 in a shootout in front of 21,712.
The Predators’ Rich Peverley and J.P. Dumont scored in the shootout and Dan Ellis stopped two shots as the Hawks dropped their third straight game to open the season.
It took a five-on-three advantage, but the Hawks’ power play finally got untracked after failing to score on its first eight opportunities this season.
With Nashville’s Ryan Suter (tripping) and Jerred Smithson (cross-checking) in the box, Patrick Kane sent a cross-ice pass to Martin Havlat, who was camped by the left post, and the winger tipped it past Ellis for a 1-0 Hawks lead at the 6-minute, 14-second mark.
Nashville tied it 1-1 on a Shea Weber blast from just inside the blue line that deflected off Hawks goalie Cristobal Huet’s shoulder and into the net at 9:29.
Jonathan Toews gave the Hawks another power-play opportunity when he skated through all five Predators and was slashed by Kevin Klein as he got a shot off that Ellis stopped. That man advantage proved costly, though, as Klein scooped up a loose puck while coming out of the penalty box, skated in alone on Huet and fired it past the Hawks goalie at 12:49.
Patrick Sharp wasted little time in the second period when the winger’s first goal of the season tied it 2-2. Havlat redirected a Brent Seabrook pass that Ellis stopped and Sharp took two swings at the rebound and connected on the second to knock it in 29 seconds into the period.
The early goals by Havlat and Sharp came after coach Denis Savard had pulled his top players aside over the weekend to stress they need to lead the way after the Hawks lost their first two games.
“You watch the minutes the guys play, those are top guys in my view,” Savard said. “I told those guys that it’s a game of inches and you have to really work to get an extra inch in this game to be a good player. Everybody has to be better. They know their roles and what their strengths are and they have to play within their strengths.”
Kane, who had a goal during the two losses but was a minus-2, was one of the players Savard addressed, and the second-year player took it to heart.
