BEST LINES: Pinnacle -110 Betfair -110 SportsInteraction -115 Bet365 -115 

Posted at 12:35 PM EST

OT included. Give the Blackhawks a ton of credit for rallying from three down after one to tie it up after two periods and subsequently winning it in OT. That indeed was a momentum building win but we have to question Joel Quenneville’s decision to go back to Corey Crawford in Game 2. Crawford was yanked after allowing three goals in the first period and the only reason the Blackhawks were able to emerge victorious in Game 1 was because of the incredible relief job by Scott Darling. The Blackhawks were outshot 38-25 after the second period. Darling made several game saving saves that kept the Blackhawks alive. Chicago had one good period in that game otherwise they were outplayed throughout. Despite losing, Quenneville’s decision to go back to Crawford now is a bad one. If Chicago loses with Crawford in net, Quenneville will be blamed but if he loses with Darling in net, he would not be blamed because after that performance in Game 1 by Darling, he could not be blamed for going back to him. There comes a time when the passing of the torch must occur. We saw Tom Babcock do it with Petr Mrazek over Jimmy Howard and we saw AV in Vancouver do it with Eddie Lack over Ryan Miller. Quenneville’s loyalty to Crawford is admirable but loyalty does not win games.  

Despite losing, Nashville has to feel pretty good about their Game 1 effort. They played well enough to win and now Quenneville has opened the door for them to win Game 2. The Preds don’t even have to think about how they’re going to beat Scott Darling. Instead, they’ll have the confidence of knowing that they buried three pucks behind Crawford in 20 minutes in Game 1 and can do the same in Game 2. We can’t think of one reason other than loyalty of why Quenneville is going back to Crawford here. It makes no sense. Darling was better all season and was absolutely brilliant in the first game. Quenneville pays for that decision. 

NOTE: If you can't get -110 or less, we would not make this wager. 

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