CHICAGO _ If anxiety had an audible quality, you could have heard it at the United Center on Saturday night when Ryan Ellis scored the first goal of the game.
The Blackhawks had worked the crowd into a frenzy with a strong opening few minutes, but as Ellis' shot from the point hit the back of the net, 22,175 people went from delirious screams to a collective "Oh."
They sounded out of breath and it was the Predators who took it away with a stunning 5-0 victory in Game 2 to seize a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinals series. As the teams head to Nashville, the Hawks are in serious trouble after dropping the first two games at home in the playoffs in the Joel Quenneville era.
The Hawks have been in worse circumstances in previous series, but they haven't had to save their season this early on the road.
The Hawks, the top seed in the Western conference, seemed determined to remedy their shutout from Game 1 early on Saturday and came out buzzing around the ice. There were multiple quality looks in the opening three minutes that had the United Center excited for what seemed like an inevitable first goal.
Except it was the Predators who scored first when Ellis sent his shot from the point past Corey Crawford 3 minutes, 44 seconds into the game to sap the crowd of its energy.
Viktor Arvidsson, who scored the lone goal in Game 1, was in the middle of the play again and set an effective screen on Crawford. As Ellis' shot came toward the net Arvidsson lifted his leg to let it pass through.
The Hawks had the same reaction as the crowd. After getting three shots on goal in the first 2:39 they had just four the rest of the period, a stretch of time that included a power play. As the ineffective man advantage spun its wheels, a pocket of boos reigned down from the crowd.
Again, the Hawks had trouble penetrating the Predators defense and getting quality looks close to the net, and when the Hawks did shoot, the Predators were in position to block.
The consternation continued in the second period when the Predators took a 2-0 lead on a goal from Harry Zolnierczyk at 2:51. Zolnierczyk got behind the defense of Johnny Oduya and Brent Seabrook and took a perfectly executed stretch pass from Mattias Ekholm to beat Crawford as Oduya tried to chase.
The mood turned to disbelief later in the period when the Predators took a 3-0 lead. Colton Sissons battled his way to the front of the net and took advantage of a rebound chance off a shot from Pontus Aberg.
The sequence was everything the Hawks weren't getting on offense _ a prime chance on the goaltender combined with another player creating traffic in front of the net to take advantage of a rebound opportunity.
The Hawks didn't look like themselves offensively and especially not like the teams that have taken the ice at the United Center in playoffs past.
Coach Joel Quenneville tried his patented line blender, but nothing was working. It got so bad that late in the second period Patrick Kane took an uncharacteristic roughing penalty and the crowd booed the Hawks off the ice headed into intermission.
The Hawks had seemed destined for a deep run in the playoffs. Now they are concerned with just trying to make it back to the United Center for a potential Game 5.
