Yell at Gatekeeper
The Blackhawks remained at home Saturday night to welcome in the same Columbus Blue Jackets team that they slaughtered on Tuesday night, in Columbus. Joel Quenneville rolled out much of the same lineup that he did on Thursday's thorough butt kicking of the Detroit Red Wings. Jonathan Toews, Alexander Fortin, Ville Pokka, and JF Berube all made their 2017/18 debuts for the Blackhawks in this 3rd preseason tilt.
The Blackhawks came out and surrendered a game opening goal late in the first period, but came back a few moments later and tied it right back up. This was all after the Hawks opened the with 8 straight shots on net. If not for a bouncing puck and a resulting bad turnover, the game would have easily been 1-0.
Then middle period started off just plain ugly. Two very stoppable shots ended up in the Blackhawks early on, and they were chasing a 2 goal deficit. The Blackhawks out shot their opponent once again, 18-7, but were staring down the barrel of a 3rd period come from behind effort.
The Blackhawks were able to cut the lead to one goal, with the goalie pulled, late in the third period, but that just wasn't enough. When all was said and done, they out shot the Jackets an incredible 54-21. Certainly good enough to generate enough offense to win the game. Who cares? It's preseason.
- Late in the first period, Patrick Sharp made a sneaky good flip pass to a breaking Artem Anisimov, who was then in all alone on Korpisalo. Anisimov made quick work of a low glove side shot and tied the game.
- Nick Schmaltz looked good once again. He had a slick behind the back pass that almost led to a Pat Kane goal. I was not a Schmaltz fan at all last season, and he's totally won me over. He was NOT good, however,m at the faceoff dots.
- I have no problems with John Hayden getting in a little preseason tussle. He handled himself very well, and I honestly think he brings more to the lineup than Tootoo, or Bouma.
- Jean-Francois Berube, more on that later...
- Alexandre Fortin was reassigned to Rockford following the game, and rightfully so.
- Late in the first period, the golden child egregiously turned the puck over in his own end, whiffing twice and then just handing it over to the Blue Jackets Ryan Murray. Murray bore in on Berube, who was able to get a piece of the shot, but it popped up and over his shoulder and into the net.
- Early in the second period, JF Berube had a really rough stretch. First of all he had a rough time covering the left post after a shot banked off the end boards, and Lucas Selak somehow put it past him. His bad stretch didn't stop there, though. The next shot on net was a fairly weak backhand from Oliver Bjorkstrand that squirted between his legs for a 3-1 Lumbus lead.
Left Wing - Center - Right Wing
Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Richard Panik
Alex DeBrincat - Nick Schmaltz - Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp - Artem Anisimov - John Hayden
Tomas Jurco - Tanner Kero - Alex Fortin
Duncan Keith - Jan Rutta
Michal Kempny - Brent Seabrook
Gustav Forsling - Ville Pokka