Today at 3 p.m. ET, the Nashville Predators and Chicago Blackhawks take the ice for Game 3 of their Western Conference best-of-seven Round 1 Stanley Cup playoff series live from the United Center in Chicago.
As the series shifts to Chicago, each team has garnered one victory apiece.
The Blackhawks took the opening game of the set 4-3 in a double overtime thriller while Nashville bounced back with a tremendous effort in Game 2, outlasting Chicago to the tune of a 6-2 score.
This game can be live streamed for free here.
Predators defenseman Shea Weber (lower-body) will not play in Games 3 or 4 and that could mean that Seth Jones' role will become more vital.
"I thought we responded pretty good to Mike coming out of the lineup, and we certainly responded when Shea went down in the game," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said per NHL.com. "I think everybody gets affected a little bit. I don't think one person can jump in and do what Shea does, but I think by committee you usually try to handle stuff like that."
Following Weber's injury, Nashville broke a 2-2 tie by scoring four straight goals. Craig Smith (two goals), Filip Forsberg and Mike Santorelli lit the lamp in succession. Colin Wilson also netted his third goal of the series earlier in the game while Roman Josi also found the twine.
For the Blackhawks, Patrick Kane (clavicle) scored his first goal since returning from injury while Patrick Sharp also found the back of the net.
The biggest change for Chicago will come in the crease as Corey Crawford has been relegated to back-up duty after being pulled in Game 1 and allowing six goals on 35 shots in Game 2.
Scott Darling will make his first career NHL playofs start after filling in for Crawford in Game 1 and stopping all 42 shots he faced en route to the Blackhawks' double overtime victory.
"We never go any further than the next game when we're talking goalies," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville told NHL.com. "[Crawford's] been our starter here for every [playoff] game for a long stretch of games here. This year, Scott came in and played one of those games that was an amazing performance and put us in a pretty good spot. [It's] still early and a lot of hockey to be played here, but we're only looking to the one game."
In between the pipes, Nashville counters with Pekka Rinne who is coming off of an effort where he yielded two goals while stopping 24 shots.
It's a huge game when the puck drops on the Predators and Blackhawks for Game 3 of their Round 1 best-of-seven series live from the United Center in Chicago as part of the 2015 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs.
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