The Blackhawks traveled to the land of Lake Toews, Winnipeg Manitoba, Thursday night. They came in looking to add a little pep in their offense, after not scoring a regulation goal in over 2 full games. They made a couple of moves in preparation of the trip demoting Vinny Hinostroza, while recalling AHL Player of the Week Tanner Kero and defenseman Erik Gustafsson. Just to sprinkle in some drama, Quenneville scratched Teuvo Teravainen and dressed Bryan Bickell, who hadn't played in 12 days. Perfect way to spark some goals. For those that have a hard time sensing sarcasm...
The first period was already more productive than the previous six regulation periods, as the Hawks and Jets both scored, and the Blackhawks goal was on some strange advantage called a "power play". I'll have to "google" it. The Blackhawks also led in shots, 14-9. I guess we can't get greedy, because there wasn't much more than a few bad penalties to speak of.
The second period did not go quite as well for the Blackhawks. A sloppy penalty turned into a goal that gave the Jets a 2-1 lead. The Blackhawks, once again, led in shots 18-13 which didn't do them any good, in the end. Things did not get any better from there.
The Blackhawks had the wheels fall off the wagon in the third period. A poor start resulted in an insurance goal, which they were never able to recover from. Believe it or not, they actually out shot the Jets, again, 14-9 for a total of 46 to the Jets' 31. A late push wasn't going to be enough on the road, and they finally succumbed 3-1.
Next up, the Minnesota Wild, and another #Fatrick recap.
- The Blackhawks wasted no time taking a lead in this one. Jonathan Toews drew a penalty just eighteen seconds into the game, with a nice bull rush into the Jets zone. A minute and seven seconds into the powerplay, Patrick Kane snapped a fairly innocent looking shot through Hutchinson, to take a quick lead, on a really nice cross ice feed from Artemi Panarin.
- Blackhawks killer Michael Hutchinson was on fire once again. The Blackhawks had plenty of shots on net, but he answered all but one. That soft spot for lefty goalies just grows bigger.
- The Jets tied the game about half way into the first period. The Hawks were pinned in their own zone and Jonathan Toews lost the draw. Blake Wheeler curled around the circle, picked up the loose puck. Once he cleared the forwards, he snapped a wrist shot past Crawford's glove.
- Five minutes into the second period the Hawks inability to clear the puck out of the zone on the penalty kill led to an Andrew Ladd goal. Jonathan Toews second penalty of the night was a costly one. The PK unit of Kruger, Desjardins, Hjalmarsson, and van Riemsdyk got stuck out on the ice for way too long, 1:12 to be exact. Crawford tried to keep the Jets at bay with a really nice save pushing across his crease, but eventually Ladd found a fat rebound on his stick and pumped it into the net.
- Apparently, Steve Konroyd is unaware of the change to the tripping penalty. Andrew Shaw had a step on Jacob Trouba, and Trouba dove to knock the puck away. All good and well, but he also tripped Shaw. Doesn't matter if get the puck, anymore. A trip, is a trip, is a trip, is a trip. Shaw should have drawn a penalty at the very least, and probably should have had a penalty shot. Instead, no call. I haven't a fucking clue how you explain that.
- David Rundblad, once again, ended up being one of the featured characters on an opposing goal. He got caught waving at an airborn puck in a very low percentage play a the Jets blue line, and Nikolaj Ehlers beat the covering Trevor Daley to the puck. Mark Scheifele was the 3rd man in, and Ehlers hit him on the tape. Scheifele wasted no time and snapped a low shot past Crawford, for a 3-1 Jets lead.
- The Hawks were slightly under 50% at the dots, and one of those losses directly led to the game tying goal.
- Steve Konroyd. God damn is he boring. I'd rather drag my nuts though a bed of broken glass.
- The "boos" on the road for Patrick Kane...still out there.
- This Bickell for Teravainen thing is fucking infuriating. Taking skill and scoring touch out of the lineup, and inserting a big dumb animal doesn't make a lot of sense. Bickell played a team low 13 shifts for 8:15. You mean to tell me that Teravainen couldn't provide more in that same amount of time? the answer is NO. Quenneville tried to spout some bullshit in the post game about it "not sending a message", and it was about "who deserved to play", which is an enormous fucking lie.
- I try, David Rundblad. I TRY to give you the benefit of the doubt. You miss big checks. You fumble the puck at the blue line then leading to 2-on-1 breaks. You just SUCK!
Tikhonov - Toews - Hossa
Panarin - Anisimov - Kane
Bickell - Kero - Garbutt
Desjardins - Kruger - Shaw
Seabrook - Svedberg
van Riemsdyk - Hjalmarsson
Rundblad - Daley