Blackhawks at Colorado6-3 Loss Recap

The Sin and the Sentence
A Hostile Fan's Farewell

by Ray Ray
Tweet at Ray

Tonight was the second of back to back Central Division tilts for the Blackhawks, losing last night to the #PERDS 2-1. Colorado also played yesterday afternoon (if you want to call it playing) getting trounced by the not so expansion looking Vegas Golden Knights 7-0 . Both teams have struggled after their white hot starts to the season. Something's gotta give!
Remember a few weeks ago when I said fast starts are going to be a good thing for this team? Well, not when they have a power play to start off. A 14% power play percentage and dropping is fucking atrocious. Nobody has the mindset to just go ahead and do something productive. Another oh-fer night. Constantly shooting into the goalies pads doesn't count as being successful. *cough cough Toews cough cough*. Get the pucks into the air geniuses!

Minutes after the first unsuccessful power play of the night, heavy forechecking by the Avs leads to an easy one time opportunity for Mikko Rantanen. Forsling and Rutta were out there on an adventure together that none of us would like to see ever again. They both just got bullied out there like schoolkids. 1-0 Avs.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Another unsuccessful power play, back to back penalties and the Avs score their second goal of the night. After John Hayden nearly scores his second short handed goal in three games hitting the post, Nathan MacKinnon snipes one over the blocker of Forsberg. 2-0 just like that. The goalposts can be a fickle bitch.

Stop me if you have heard this before. Ryan Hartman takes a bad penalty in the offensive zone while they have pressure on. This time a double minor for high sticking. Towards the end of the period. Awesome. For that, he was rewarded by joining Q's Ass in Seat program for the majority of the second period. Does Colorado sit back with thirty seconds left in the first? Hell no. They score just seconds before the period ends. Rantanen gets his second one of the period banking it in off of Forsberg, who lost his net scrambling around. 3-0. Ugliness meter rising to FUGLY.

Second period doesn't start off too much better. 3 minutes in, MacKinnon scores his second of the game on a nice 2 on 1 opportunity set up by Gabriel Landeskog. 4-0 bring in the coroner. 4 minutes later, broken coverage after a faceoff led to a wide open Sven Andrighetto, who one times it past Forsberg, officially ending his night. Not a good evening for the Hawks backup. Crawford comes in. 5-0.


Finally we feel a heartbeat as a Kempny blast gets redirected by Nick Schmaltz and past Jonathan Bernier to make it 5-1. A few minutes later, Artem Anisimov buries a slick shot far side on a 2 on 1 break making it 5-2, suckering us into a sense of false hope. Trust me, there's none.

A solid start to the third period for the Hawks was negated as Rocco Grimaldi scores on a redirect halfway through making it a 6-2 game. Hartman gets a little redemption scoring off of a rebound, but again way too little, way too late. Q decides to pull the goalie with 3 fucking minutes left, because why the fuck not? It always works right?


6-3 is your final score.

There was no good, way too much bad, and even more fugly. Thats all you need to know about this game. I don't envy you for missing out on this game if you did. Time for a reset button on this roster. Internally, externally, somewhere, I don't care. Losing like this needs to stop and fast. Otherwise, Sikura watch 2018 is in full effect (I had to piss you off somewhere Gate).

Time to get a little teary eyed here folks. If you haven't heard yet, this is (likely?) the last game recap on the Puckin Hostile site. To Gate, Fatrick, Patrick, Atomic Froster (and in some sick, twisted, demented way) Derek, thank you guys. It has been amazing corresponding with you during games and on Twitter and Facebook, along with a couple of meetups over the last few years. I'm also thankful to you for allowing me to do a couple of these recaps as well. All I wanted was a foot in the door and you guys gave it to me. It means a lot. Listening to your podcasts over the years was never, ever boring. I will always remember you guys having no idea who the fuck Kyle Cumisky was in the team photo from 2015 when they got their rings. That was by far my favorite and your funniest moment. All of the public inside jokes were great too from McRibs to Yaroslavl aviation faux pas, to flip flops and paper plates. Always laughed (maybe way too hard at some jokes) in every episode. Your insight on the game has made me a smarter fan, and (hopefully) less of a meathead than when I first started reading and listening to you. Hopefully, one day I can continue on doing something like this, whenever I can find the time. It looks like you guys have an awesome setup at the-Rink.com and I can't wait to see what all else you have in store and I wish you all the best.

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Blackhawks vs Predators2-1 Loss Recap

"The Bad Thing"

by Gatekeeper
Chirp at Gatekeeper

The Nashville Predators were in Chicago, Friday night, to face the slumping Blackhawks. Joel Quenneville tried to shake things up a little by doing a little line juggling. Alex Debrincat, Richard Panik, Ryan Hartman, and John Hayden all moved lines, while the defense was thrown in the wood chipper as well. This, of course, led to some adjusting for what turned out to be the entire game.

Both teams traded power plays that each failed to capitalize in the opening half of the first period. All that said, the Blackhawks dominated 3/4 of the period. The Preds came back late in the period but were subjected to a second shorthanded breakaway very late, with #DickInTheBox™️. This time Nick Schmaltz stripped the puck from PK Subban and went in all alone on Pekka Rinne. Rinne made the stop but Artem Anisimov barely jabbed the rebound into the net. The official scorer must have been counting all shots on one side of the scoresheet, because they claimed that the Blackhawks out shot the Predators 21-7. As good of a period as the Hawks were playing there is no possible way that number was correct.

With all the hard work the Blackhawks put in during the first period, they handed over the lead just 57 seconds into the middle period. This goal was egregiously bad, too, which will give the casual fan the illusion that the defense is the issue. More on that later, though.

Duncan Keith just handed the puck over on a platter in the slot, which is sure to infuriate your goaltender. Later, The Preds took the lead, midway through the second period, with a powerplay goal. With Jan Rutta in the box, Craig Smith used Connor Murphy and Colton Sissons as screens to beat Corey Crawford, which was how the second period ended. Nashville led the period in shots 13-8.

The third period was a battle of attrition between these two rival teams. The Blackhawks put forth a valiant effort to tie the game and, at least, send it to overtime but Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne continued his mastery of this team. As the final horn sounded, the Blackhawks went down with a whimper, making them 1-3-1 in their last 5, and .500 on the season. No time for the Blackhawks to feel sorry for themselves as they headed to Colorado for another game tonight.

As most of you probably read earlier this week, this is my last game recap at Puckin Hostile. Starting next week, I'll be writing exclusively for www.the-rink.com. Thank you all for reading here, over the years, and I hope you follow me over to the new site. You'll get the same type of trademark Hostile content, just slightly cleaner. The old site will remain to come back and read, but there will only be a handful more article posted here in the future.

The Good

• There hasn’t been much to be positive about, lately, but the PK has actually been really good. Brandon Saad had an early shorthanded break-a-way, while forward lines like John Hayden and Lance Bouma had great shifts, as well. The Anisimov shorthanded goal was, of course, a highlight and all of this action was just the first period. Even though they gave up one powerplay goal in this game, the Hawks creeped into the top 10 for penalty kill percentage. Interesting statistic is that these were 2 of the top 3 teams as far as being shorthanded.
• If you're blaming a one goal loss on the goalie or defense, you're doing yourself a great disservice, as well as just being flat out wrong. One of the goals was on the powerplay (through 2 screens), which also needs to be taken into account. The lack of scoring, the middle 6 forwards and the awful powerplay are the problem. a defense that essentially gave up one goal and held their opponent to under 25 even strength shots is not the problem.

The Bad

• The parade to the penalty box is all fine and well when you’re getting shorthanded breakaways, but eventually all that powerplay time will yield a goal. That is exactly what happened in the second period. The Blackhawks are officially tied for 3rd in the league in being shorthanded at 46 times.
• I'm not sure I'm understanding this Alex Debrincat fascination, or the justification to put him on the top line. Let me clarify; I understand the desire for something new to be excited about, but this experiment is going tepid, at best.
  Richard Panik led the entire team in corsi and was 2nd in Fenwick coming into this game. Alex Debrincat was near the bottom in both Corsi (16th of 21) and Fenwick (19th of 21). He also hasn't scored anything of substance in SEVEN games, other than a late assist in a game that was already far out of reach against St. Louis. Can we stop the excuses and the carrying on of this stupid PR charade and do what needs to be done? Call me a hater all you want, but there is nothing to support this stunt other than, "well, we wanna do it".

The Ugly

• The Preds goal 57 seconds into the second period was just horrible. He tried to touch pass to Nick Schmaltz, who didn’t have his stick on the ice. The pass went right to Calle Jarnkrok, who beat Crawford with a one timer.
• Pat Foley had a rough night. Honestly with Steve Konroyd by your side, who wouldn't have a bad night? He sat and told the entire audience that a goalie interference penalty was a challengeable play, and was having problems with Preds player names the entire night.
• I sound like a broken record but the powerplay was 0-6. If the Blackhawks could have scored just once, if would have been enough to continue this game. It's astounding that Quenneville and his staff cannot make some simple adjustments to make this talented group useful. Personnel is not the issue, it's 100% the approach and methodology.
• Gustav Forsling is back to being "Swedish Mr. Hyde". Pairing him with Brent Seabrook benefits no one.

The Lineblender
Left Wing - Center - Right Wing
Richard Panik - Nick Schmaltz - Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp - Artem Anisimov - John Hayden
Lance Bouma - Tommy Wingels - Ryan Hartman

Duncan Keith - Jan Rutta
Michal Kempny - Connor Murphy
Gustav Forsling - Brent Seabrook

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Blackhawks at Las Vegas4-2 Loss Recap

"Flatline"

by Gatekeeper
Chirp at Gatekeeper

Blackhawks fans witnessed a chapter of history in the team's tenth game of the season, last night. This was the first time the Blackhawks would EVER play in Vegas, and EVER face the Golden Knights. If you told me, before the season, that the Golden Knights would have a better record than the Blackhawks coming into this contest, I would have laughed you out of Chicago. Yet, the golden Knights came in with a 6-1 record, without their top two goalies, no less. Former Columbus Blue Jackets first round draft pick and highly rated goalie prospect, Oscar Dansk, was playing in Chicago with the Wolves just a few days earlier. Now he was making his first NHL start against the Chicago Blackhawks in Las Vegas. Vegas also had several surprises on their roster. Pest James Neal was leading the team with 8 points , but this team was full of depth players that were playing above their heads. Most of us fully expected the Blackhawks to feast on the Coyotes and their second string goalie, the previous game, but that was not the case. Once again, they let everyone down.

I eluded to the fact that the Blackhawks might come into this game with a little bit of the "Vegas Flu", and it didn't seem that way for the first three minutes, at least. After Duncan Keith took a penalty on James Neal to keep him from getting a break-a-way, #BigJohnStudd Hayden stole the puck in the Knight's zone, deked a defender and beat Oscar Dansk for a shorthanded goal. That is where the Blackhawks good fortunes ended. Twenty six seconds after the Hayden goal, a long slap shot was redirected past Corey Crawford to tie the game. The misfortunes continued less than two minutes later, when a Derek Engelland shot from the half boards hit Corey Crawford and rolled up, over his shoulder, dropping in the crease. Crawford tried to reach back with his blocker to keep the puck from rolling over the goal line, but Tomas Nosek poked it into the net. The remainder of the period was sloppy and action was at both ends, but the Knights went into the intermission up 2-1, while out shooting the visiting team 14-10.

The play in the second period wasn't wasn't quite to the level of the first until the final 6 minutes, that is. A big clean hit by Brayden McNabb on Nick Schmaltz led to Ryan Hartman blowing a gasket and taking a double minor for slashing/roughing. Seconds after fully killing off the double minor, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare found himself in the slot wide open with the puck on his stick, which was plenty of room to beat a surprised Corey Crawford. This goal gave the Knights a 3-1 lead heading into the intermission. The shots were tied at 8 for the middle frame, but the important stat was the third Golden Knights goal. Once again, the Blackhawks were playing down to a team that should be inferior. Then again, maybe it is the Blackhawks who are inferior.

In the third period, the Blackhawks simply could not overcome their early deficit and finally succumbed to the brand new Golden Knights, 4-2. Down already 3-1, the Blackhawks had sufficient pressure to make an effort to cut the lead but Jonathan Marchessault took all of the wind out of their sails at the midway point of the final period, on the powerplay. Brent Seabrook was in the box for hooking and Marchessault was given all the time in the world to pick apart Corey Crawford. From then on, it was desperation mode for the Blackhawks. Patrick Kane cut the lead to two goals with a minute left, but the game was essentially over. For those doubting the Blackhawks would be suffering from the Vegas flu and thought they would come out sharp, think again.

The Good

• #BigJohnStudd Hayden was an early bright spot, with his shorthanded goal. Just too bad the team around him was sweating out the booze from the previous two days in sin city. Hayden's play on the PK was textbook, simple and ultra effective. He hugged the boards to stop an attempt to clear the zone, picked up the loose puck and drove straight to the net, while dangling a defender. This is not 4th line talent. I will be shocked if he finishes the year that low in the lineup. His offensive zone starts are the complete opposite of what they had him doing last season. If he can do what he is doing with 30% offensive zone starts, imagine what he could do at 50%, like Hartman
• Jonathan Toews very quietly had a nice night, which you'd expect from the well behaved, respected Captain. Toews was a plus 2, and was over 50% at the faceoff dot. It is just too bad that the rest of the team was dragging sandbags behind them all night.
• Jordan Oesterle has been perfectly fine in the Hawks lineup. It will be hard to keep him in the lineup every day with Michal Kempny and Cody Franson available, but he is a useful and competent depth defender.

The Bad

• Nick Schmaltz, who was just coming off a reported concussion, got his bell rung again in the second period. He better learn how to avoid defenders better, or his career is going to end with him having to spend a majority of his time in a dark, quiet room. Speaking of Schmaltz, he did not have his best game. He had a chance to score on a back door play that he missed and then was in la-la land on the Knights 3rd goal.
• The Blackhawks are now 5-3-2 and, honestly, this is the team I expected to see. A team that struggles in many areas, but can win enough on talent alone to stay afloat. This is going to be a challenging year.
• The Blackhawks penalty kill continues to show a vast improvement from last year, but took a big hit in this game. Vegas, whose powerplay is middle of the road, scored two goals in this game. This overshadowed Hayden's shorthanded goal.
• It's all good and well that Ryan Hartman is drawing penalties, but he is starting to turn into the overly dramatic Brad Marchand/Andrew Shaw type. Give me the last years Hartman. He seems more concerned with the game drama, which is not helping his line. If he wants to play that game, and Quenneville wants that kind of babysitter out on the ice with Kane, swap him with Hayden.

The Ugly

• The game wasn't five minutes old and Steve Konroyd blurted out this very statement:
  "Duncan Keith doesn't usually get his shot blocked from the point"Excuse me, Steve, but this might be one of Duncan Keith's biggest downfalls and has been for years. That comment is the exact opposite of the truth, and is a prime example of an analyst giving viewers blatantly incorrect information. You know what that also creates? Misinformed meatballs.
• This is just another case of the Blackhawks making a backup, this time 3rd string, goalie look like an all-star.
• The Blackhawks powerplay is continuing to be just barely competent. They pitched another 0-fer night, going 0-3. Bad powerplays don't win championships. You have to be, at least, middle of the road and they sit at 20th overall. Honestly, 20th seems high based on the clown shoes approach they have had.

The Lineblender
Left Wing - Center - Right Wing
Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Richard Panik
Ryan Hartman - Nick Schmaltz - Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp - Artem Anisimov - Alex Debrincat
Lance Bouma - Tommy Wingels - John Hayden

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Jordan Oesterle - Connor Murphy
Gustav Forsling - Jan Rutta

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Blackhawks at Arizona4-2 Win Recap

"The Price Is Wrong"

by Gatekeeper
Chirp at Gatekeeper

Saturday night the Blackhawks traveled to sunny desolate Arizona for a tilt with the Coyotes. After losing at home Thursday night to the Oilers, the Hawks had a slightly less threatening opponent this time around. In fact, the Yotes were winless for the 16-17 season. Almost makes you feel bad for Niklas Hjalmarsson. There was a very good chance that the Blackhawks could get back on track against one of the NHL's worst teams.

To open the game, the Blackhawks didn't look like the better team, at all. Arizona came in and out shot the Hawks early, and had a few good chances to take a lead, as well. They finally did take that 1-0 lead as Connor Murphy got caught on a bad pinch that no one covered for him. That left Jordan Oesterle back to cover a 2-on-1 that he actually played pretty well. Unfortunately for Corey Crawford the attempted pass across hit Oesterle's stick and split Corey's wickets. Not the prettiest goal. All was right again, when Jonathan Toews and Richard Panik hooked up take advantage of the Blackhawks first powerplay of the night and tie the game up, just a minute later. The following five minutes were the Blackhawks penalty kill circus, as they wore out a path to the penalty box, taking FOUR in five minutes. Luckily, the Yotes are terrible and they weren't able to generate much of anything on the advantage. Oddly enough the Yotes only had 11 shots on net, even though they had so much extended powerplay time, while the Blackhawks had 10.

The second period didn't open up with nearly as much action and was generally a boring until the Blackhawks woke up halfway through. Captain Jonathan Toews sprung Patrick Kane for a breakaway that he had all kinds of trouble gathering, but ws still able to eventually pull away with. Kane sized up the Yotes backup goalie and picked him apart, for a 2-1 Blackhawks lead. Just a few minutes later Kane led a 2-on-1 that was stopped, but got the "home away from home" crowd off their hands once again. Speaking of getting out of their seats, Tommy Wingels was awarded a penalty shot, and initially scored. Unfortunately the refs were forced to make a judgement call and they did what they regularly do, which is got it wrong. Almost as if it was written, the Blackhawks then gave up a poorly defended goal shortly thereafter. They should have been up 3-1 but were now tied 2-2.

As this game when on, it got more boring. Just when it looked like both teams were playing for overtime, the Blackhawks 4th line came up big. They didn't pull off any highlight reel plays, but Lance Bouma swept a rebound past Domingue by being in the right place at the right time. This was all the Blackhawks need to squeak out a win on the road, but Tommy Wingels took back what was taken from him earlier by the officials. This was a far from perfect game, but a regulation win nonetheless.

The Good

• The penalty kill had a good night, even though the bar was low, based on the opponent. The Coyotes can boast that they are better than the Blackhawks on the powerplay, at 22nd, but not much.
• After their stupid first period plays, Tommy Wingels and Lance Bouma each had 2 pts, and Wingels should have had a second goal. Someone had to step up in their game, and it was the 4th line.
• The Saad/Toews/Panik line were possession monsters all night and it showed in the number as their corsi numbers were +10/+14/+12 respectively.
• Not Corey Crawford's best game, but he saved 27 of 29 and kept the game close enough for them to pull away.

The Bad

• I will never stop being annoyed by pointless fancy blind backhand passes, when they are clearly not needed. I've watched enough of those go terribly wrong to know that they are needless and high risk. Just simplify and make a solid, strong, safe play. This time it was Jonathan Toews on the powerplay. Knock it off.
• The Coyotes second goal was a total mess. The Blackhawks actually won the faceoff but the puck flipped up and hit Patrick Sharp and dropped in the slot. Clayton Keller just jumped on the loose puck and buried the goal.
• The third line of Sharp/Anisimov/Debrincat were all -2 on the night. Their corsi numbers were -3/-9/-7 respectively. That's brutal.
• HOT TAKE ALERT: Sorry, but Oliver Ekman-Larsson is over rated. I keep reading and hearing how good this guy is and he continues to just be mediocre. I haven't seen it. You watch him play and tell me he's a future norris trophy winner, and I'll tell you that you're wrong.

The Ugly

• Lance Bouma and Tommy Wingels put their team down 5-on-3 with two stupid penalties on the same play. The stupidity didn't stop there, though. The usually smart Jan Rutta tried to whack at a shoulder high puck with his stick and took another penalty. IT DOESN'T STOP THERE! Brent Seabrook had a complete brain fart and put the puck on his own net, which turned into yackety sax. The penalty killers ended up taking another penalty, which was their fourth in five minutes. If they were playing even a decent team, the Hawks would have been down 3-1.
• The Tommy Wingels penalty shot was a goal. Plain and simple. There were absolutely no angles that showed clearly that Louis Domingue touched the puck. Just scrap the replay, because they seem to rarely get the calls correct. You know how they say trust your first instinct? The NHL needs to start doing so, because they are once again pulling goals off the board without any clear definitive evidence. Joel Quenneville has every right to be furious, here:
  

  VIDEO: #Blackhawks goal is disallowed, Joel Quenneville proceeds to lose his damn mind. (H/T @MarkLazerus) pic.twitter.com/OO0dR4mhHF

  — Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) February 5, 2016

• No one seems concerned that Alex Debrincat keeps getting crushed game after game. He gets flattened almost once a game and everyone sticks their head in the sand. When he ends up on IR everyone will act stupid, like it was a surprise. That's fine and well. No one can say I didn't tell them months ago that he is not adjusted to the pro game enough to adequately protect himself.

The Lineblender
Left Wing - Center - Right Wing
Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Richard Panik
Ryan Hartman - Nick Schmaltz - Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp - Artem Anisimov - Alex Debrincat
Lance Bouma - Tommy Wingels - John Hayden

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Jordan Oesterle - Connor Murphy
Gustav Forsling - Jan Rutta

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Blackhawks vs Oilers2-1 OT Loss Recap

"Facepalm Mute"

by Gatekeeper
Chirp at Gatekeeper

Thursday night the Blackhawks were playing the back side of a back-to-back, after essentially taking a beating the previous night. Joel Quenneville made a couple of small lineup changes, sitting Michal Kempny in favor of Jordan Oesterle and giving Anton Forsberg the start in net. Nothing like getting your second career start in goal against Connor McDavid. Good luck, kid, keep your chin up!

Nothing much happened early in the first until roughly the 7:30 mark of the period. Immediately following yet another failed powerplay, Patrick Kane carried the mail deep into the Oilers zone and tried to dump the puck to Artem Anisimov, who was driving the net, from behind the Oilers goal line. Cam Talbot tried to pick off the pass and ended up putting the puck into his own net with the paddle of his stick. No doubt he wanted that one back. The Hawks continued their pressure following the Kane goal, and had a few successive dominant shifts right around the halfway point of the first period. Kane was, again, the major focus of this pressure. The Oilers, however, didn't have much pressure until there were under three minutes remaining in the opening period. Connor McDavid showed everyone watching just why he was the scoring champ and MVP last season. Not only did he turn a Blackhawks defenseman inside out, but he turned DUNCAN KEITH inside out. He backed Keith into the Hawks zone like a basketball player posting up and put a spinning backhand pass onto the tape of Patrick Maroon, who just had to slam the puck into the gaping net. Even though the Blackhawks had a few dominant stretches, they were out shot 9 to 7 in the opening period and went to the locker room tied at one.

The second period began with a Blackhawks 5-on-3 powerplay which they, of course, blew again. The power play futility didn't stop there, though. Zack Kassian earned himself a boarding penalty for an egregious hit from behind that not only should have earned him a five minute major, but possibly a look from the league office. Somehow, Kassian only ended up with two minutes. The rest of the period was pretty tame, even though there were a couple solid, dangerous chances. Neither team scored in the middle frame and the Oilers out shot the Blackhawks 14-10.

The Blackhawks came out and had plenty of chances in the third period to take the lead, especially on the aforementioned terrible powerplay. They, of course, completely whiffed once again. This isn't to say that they didn't have any chances at regular strength, though, but just weren't able to score that elusive second goal. The Saad/Toews/Panik line was at the forefront of their full strength action, as they got several "grade A" chances on Can Talbot.

After not being able to finish the Oilers in regulation, the Blackhawks fell to the Oilers in the overtime period. This is not to say they didn't have their chances. Jonathan Toews, Brandon Saad, Patrick Sharp and Nick Schmaltz all had great chances to win the game but the Oilers had several excellect chances of their own. Darnell Nurse and Connor McDavid nearly ended the game before defenseman Mark Letestu finally won the game on the powerplay with 15.8 seconds remaining. Chalk this game up to an opportunity missed.

The Good

• God, Connor McDavid is absolutely frighteningly good. That said, I was really impressed with what I saw of 19 year old rookie Kailer Yamamoto, as well. Kid has some serious raw skill and speed. Just a wealth of young riches in Edmonton.
• In what looks like it will be a regular theme this season, Anton Forsberg was basically screwed over again. He did everything in his power to win this game and, in NO way, is this loss on him. He is just continually getting the crap end of the stick.
• Jordan Oesterle played his first Blackhawks game, and looked perfectly fine. In fact, I might say he looked pretty good. I want to see more of him, and if it comes at the price of Gustav Forsling's playing time Joel Quenneville needs to DO IT! I think Oesterle was out to show up his former team, as well.
• I am coming around a little on Lance Bouma. If you just throw out that one anomaly season where he played with players he shouldn't have in Calgary, and put up 34 points, he is a decent 4th line grinder. Blackhawk Up's Aaron Goldschmidt will be happy to read this.
• You don't really truly appreciate Edzo in the booth until he's not around. Having him back for these two games is really nice. Blackhawks fans are lucky to have him. The first period salute that the UC fans gave him was really emotional and special. If this doesn't choke you up a little, you're simply dead inside.
  

  Here's Something Happy, Chicago Fans. Eddie Olczyk gets a standing ovation at the Hawks game tonight. Calling game for @WGNTV. @WGNNews pic.twitter.com/ZETKTxRoeG

  — Larry Hawley (@HawleySports) October 20, 2017

The Bad

• Patrick Kane must have seen something in film with Cam Talbot because he was trying to shoot from some weird angles and trying to catch Talbot cheating away from the posts.
• Ryan Hartman took a serious beating in this game. He was hit with shots from his own team, cross checked repeatedly, and Zack Kassian absolutely drilled him from behind. The fact that Kassian didn't get more than 2 minutes for coming completely across the ice and drilling Hartman in the back is utterly astounding. This is "exhibit a" of how the NHL hasn't a clue about how to police dirty hits.
• Quenneville was playing his lineblender games again, swapping Artem Anisimov and Tanner Kero back and forth between the 3rd and 4th lines.
• The faceoff percentage has plummeted back into the toilet (45%) with only Toews winning more than 50%.
• I'm still not a Cam Talbot fan. He was good, but was bailed out by his defense a lot.
• Look, fans, this is the Blackhawks team most of us expected to see before the season began. The team we all watched in the first two games was a mirage. Lets not all act surprised that all the concerns we had 3 weeks ago rear their heads.

The Ugly

• Less than ten seconds into the second period, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins damn near murdered Gustav Forsling by taking out his feet as Forsling was skating back hard to pick up a puck behind the goal line. I was certain Forsling's ankle was going to be mangled.
• I keep thinking the powerplay can't this bad forever, and I keep watching the Hawks totally blow their chances. The Blackhawks were 0-5 including that 5-on-3. Looking for a place to point fingers? Here it is. What good is drawing penalties if you don't make your opponent pay? After this game, the Hawks are ranked 23rd overall (15.4%) and sinking like the Edmund Fitzgerald (stick tap to Stankus).

The Lineblender
Left Wing - Center - Right Wing
Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Richard Panik
Ryan Hartman - Nick Schmaltz - Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp - Tanner Kero - Alex Debrincat
Lance Bouma - Artem Anisimov - John Hayden

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Jordan Oesterle - Connor Murphy
Gustav Forsling - Jan Rutta

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Blackhawks vs Predators2-1 OT Win Recap

"Cutting Teeth"

by Gatekeeper
Chirp at Gatekeeper


After taking their first regulation and home loss Thursday night against the Wild, the Blackhawks faced another division rival, the Predators. The Preds came in 0-2 on the road thus far. In fact, they started 0-2 on the road to open the season, and were able to claw back to .500 with a couple of home wins. Filip Forsberg came in as the hottest Nashville player in this young season with four goals and six points. Nashville was also nursing some injuries as defensemen Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis were not in the lineup. Nick Schmaltz missed his third straight game with an upper both injury sustained agains the Blue Jackets in game 2.

The two teams played a pretty hard and eventful first period, even though neither was able to get on the scoreboard. There were break-a-ways both ways, failed power plays, shorthanded chances, and great saves. All the things you need to have an entertaining scoreless game. Giving up 18 shots in a single period at home isn’t ideal, though. The Blackhawks managed 11 shots of their own, which was decent by comparison.

For a majority of the second period the Preds led in scoring chances and shots on net. With under two minutes remaining in the period, the Preds finally cracked the scoreboard, on the powerplay. Nashville led in shots and scoring chances again, 12-8.

In the third period, the Blackhawks actually looked like they cared. They came out and scored the game tying goal, late, while holding the Preds to only 8 shots. That effort was enough to get the game to overtime, which the Blackhawks were able to eventually score the game winner.

The Good

• John Hayden came off his big fight the other night to continue impressing. He was thrown out on the ice for the penalty kill in the third period and singlehandedly took on three Preds players and got a solid shorthanded chance. Later he was reward by getting moved up with the third line and earned an assist.
• It took almost 55 minutes, but the Blackhawks finally got their first goal with just over five minutes remaining. Cody Franson sealed the boards on and attempted Predators clear and puck landed at the feet of John Hayden. Hayden dumped the puck to Patrick Sharp, who headed for the net and beat Rinne.
• Once the Blackhawks got to overtime, the Predators were just out of gas. The Toews, Kane, and Keith line ran the Nashville ragged. Once the line hit the ice for their second shift, the Preds were exhausted. Jonathan Toews went off for a change and Brandon Saad jumped on the ice in enough time to play give-and-go with Patrick Kane for the game winner.
• the Blackhawks had a nice night at the faceoff dots, winning 58% of draws. Every Blackhawks center won at least 50%, including fill-in center Ryan Hartman
• It took quite a comeback, but the Blackhawks battled back from the dead in possession numbers to almost pull even at 68-67.
• Cody Franson actually had a good game. I think he's finally getting his feet under him. Just too bad it is at the expense of Connor Murphy. Even Gustav Forsling looked alright for the first time this season. This Murphy situation needs to be resolved pretty quickly.
• Corey Crawford was incredible once again. He had another 37 saves, keeping his save percentage above .950, and currently leads the league in wins, goals against avg, and save percentage.

The Bad

• The Blackhawks gave up yet another early shorthanded breakaway and a few other excellent chances while on the powerplay. Of course, their goalie bailed them out so we won’t hear much about it. I would have loved to blame the 4-1 setup they have been using but both of the solid chances had 2 defensemen on the ice. Now there is really no excuse.
• The Golden Midget took another hard hit, this time from behind, in the second period and got up slow. He also spent extended time on the bench, following the hit.
• Speaking of the Golden Midget, I hate when the broadcast team completely ignores questionable plays that should lead to criticism. In the third period, DeBrincat was on the powerplay and left back as the only defender. With forwards bearing down, he backed almost into Corey Crawford’s face and then just “fell” to his knees when the puck carrier cut to the left.
• Joel Quenneville rolled out the line blender, again, in the third period. He moved DeBrincat with Hartman and Kane, then had Sharp, with Anisimov and Hayden. This moved Tanner Kero back to the fourth line.

The Ugly

• A late second period powerplay turned into the first goal of the game. An offensive zone penalty gave Nashville all the opportunity they needed.
• I want to know who is telling these analysts that “The scouting report is that Pekka Rinne is really good at playing the puck”, because that period is terrible at their job. Rinne is average when he is at his best. If you pressure him, he is terrible. Stop telling people he's good at it!

The Lineblender
Left Wing - Center - Right Wing
Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Richard Panik
Ryan Hartman - Tanner Kero - Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp - Artem Anisimov - Alex Debrincat
Lance Bouma - Tommy Wingels - John Hayden

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Michal Kempny - Cody Franson
Gustav Forsling - Jan Rutta

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Blackhawks vs Wild5-2 Loss Recap

"Abysmal"

by Gatekeeper
Chirp at Gatekeeper

The Blackhawks were back home to face the winless Minnesota Wild, Thursday night. By winless, the Wild are only 0-1-1, but winless nonetheless. The Blackhawks came in with the league’s second leading scorer in Brandon Saad (tied), and three players tied for 3rd in Patrick Kane, Ryan Hartman, and Richard Panik. The Wild, on the other hand, were dealing with some injuries so Zach Parise and Mikael Granlund weren’t available.

During the first period, Other than a few big hits by each team, the play was painfully boring. The scoreboard said that the shots favored the Wild 8-6, but there wasn’t much action at all. That’s about all that can be said.

The second period had much more action, including a few partial break-a-ways. Even though the Wild scored the lone goal in the period it was the Blackhawks that led in shots on net 16-9. After a generally insufferable first period, this middle frame set up a big third period.

And a big third period it was, for all the wrong reasons. The Blackhawks had a decent amount of momentum and then an unfortunate bounce turned into a 2-1 Wild lead, despite the Blackhawks challenging the play for offsides. With the new rules this season the Blackhawks were assessed a delay of game penalty for losing the challenge and the wild converted on the powerplay. So, like a pouty baby, the Blackhawks coach pulled his goaltender with over four minutes remaining and gave up on his team. Another late empty netter really poured salt in the wound before the Blackhawks scored a late, pointless, powerplay goal with under a minute to go.

The Good

• John Hayden had what look like a pretty uneventful fight with Marcus Foligno until Hayden tagged Foligno with a wild right hand to the chin that buckled knees of the Wild forward.
• The blenderific line of Patrick Kane, Tanner Kero and Ryan Hartman finally got the Blackhawks on the scoreboard and tied the game in the third period. Kane saw that the Blackhawks had numbers deep behind the Wild defense in front of the Wild net and lofted a shot towards Tanner Kero, who was screening Devan Dubnyk. The rebound popped out into the slot area and Ryan Hartman shoveled it past Dubnyk.
• What seemed like seconds after the Hartman goal, Artem Anisimov got a similar very rebound to the goal with a wide open net and beat Dubnyk, but the puck hit both posts and some how stayed out of the net.
• Not even going to go into depth about Jonathan Toews’s late powerplay goal, because their future hall of fame coach made it completely irrelevant.
• Corey Crawford was huge, once again, and especially so in the second and third periods. I'm sure someone will find a way to blame him for the final 3 goals, but he was obviously in no way at fault.
• The Hawks actually outshot the Wild 38-34, overall.
• As far as possession goes, the Blackhawks looked good. Only 5 players were under water (Hartman, Anisimov, Hayden, Keith and Seabrook).

The Bad

• Joel Quenneville once again fired up the line lender swapping Artem Anisimov and Tommy Wingels. I will never understand Tommy Wingels playing second line center. Makes zero sense to me. Thankfully he switch Tanner Kero there later.

The Ugly

• Late in the second period, it looked like the Blackhawks were going to go into the intermission scoreless, but a terrible turnover turned into a gift of a goal. The play was ping ponging back and forth, and the Blackhawks looked to have snuffed a Wild rush but Gustav Forsling turned the puck over trying to be cute and flip it by the Wild forechecker. That didn’t work out and the Wild had a deep 2-on-1 that Eric Staal narrowly beat Corey Crawford with.
• Halfway through the third period it looked like the Wild had an easy goal to go up 2-1, but the Blackhawks challenged. Unfortunately, the goal stood and then the Blackhawks went on the penalty kill.
• Of course the resulting powerplay turned into a Wild goal, and put them up 3-1. Brutal turn of events after what should have been an overturned goal.
• In one of the most stupid trends this league has dabbled in the past couple of seasons, Joel Quenneville pulled Corey Crawford with over four minutes remaining and almost immediately gave up an empty net goal. GOOD! Serves you right, for pulling that epically stupid move.
• AND THE STUPIDITY DOESN’T STOP THERE! The Blackhawks got a powerplay and pulled their goalie again...
  
  And gave up another empty net goal.
  
  They could have been down 3-1 with a powerplay, and had a chance to close that to a one goal lead, but hang two empty netters on Joel Quenneville.

The Lineblender
Left Wing - Center - Right Wing
Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Richard Panik
Ryan Hartman - Artem Anisimov - Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp - Tanner Kero - Alex Debrincat
Lance Bouma - Tommy Wingels - John Hayden

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Michal Kempny - Cody Franson
Gustav Forsling - Jan Rutta

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Blackhawks at Montreal3-1 Win Recap

"SUPERTZAR"

by Gatekeeper
Chirp at Gatekeeper

The Blackhawks limped into Montreal tonight after barely making it out of Toronto with a point, the previous night. This time around it was the Blackhawks that came out slow, but then picked up their game. Enough with the formalities, because I'm tired and worn out. Also, give a listen to the podcast I did with the Talkin Hawks guys after the game. Think of it as a special little bonus for this recap.


The Good

• Late in the first period, the Wonder Midget finally scored his first NHL goal. Nothing too flashy, just well placed one timer through a screen that eluded Carey Price. It’s about damn time.
• The Blackhawks weren’t finished in the first period, though. Nineteen seconds later, Brandon Saad finished a 3-on-2 with a slam dunk into a wide open net. Just that quickly, the Hawks went from down one to up by one.
• The Blackhawks extended their lead halfway through the second period just as the powerplay was ending. This, of course, almost didn’t happen when the Wonder Midget tried a fancy blind backhand pass to no one, which led to a shorthanded partial breakaway. Corey Crawford bailed the kid out, and Debrincat then assisted on an Artem Anisimov power play goal at the other end that Cody Franson also got an assist on.
• After a pretty lucky first period, the Blackhawks had a much better second period, scoring the only goal, on the powerplay and out shooting the home team 12-7.
• Corey Crawford once again displayed his absolute mastery of the Canadiens in Montreal. If not for Crawford, the Blackhawks don’t win this game. The title is all Corey Crawford.

The Bad

• In theory, the scoreboard said that the Blackhawks had a good first period, but the eye test says otherwise. All the advance metric categories also indicate that the Blackhawks got their butts kicked.
• As good as the second period was, the third was that bad. The Hawks were out shot 16-6 and relied solely on Crawford to keep them in the game.
• It also didn’t take long for the Quenneville shenanigans to begin. Halfway through the first period Lance Bouma got benched in favor of a double shifting Patrick Kane. By the third period the fourth and second lines had been all mixed up for good with Hayden/Wingels/Kane playing together, and Bouma/Anisimov/Hartman playing together.
• Debrincat’s bad turnovers didn’t stop in the second period. He turned one over in the third period as well, that led to another Habs break-a-way. It wasn’t all bad, because the kid hustled back to tie the Canadiens forward, Paul Byron, up enough that he never got the shot off.
• The Wonder Midget wasn’t the only player that had bad turnovers. Franson had a pretty egregious one, and Gustav Forsling was spun around like a top a few times. If you’re ok giving up these mistakes early, it’ll only make these players better for the late playoff push. I still think Debrincat and Forsling could use seasoning in Rockford, at some point.

The Ugly

• It only took the Blackhawks 1:15 to give up a terrible goal, when Ryan Hartman flubbed a pass and the puck ended up past Crawford. The Habs spent a majority of the rest of the period with the puck; until the final 2 minutes.

The Lineblender
Left Wing - Center - Right Wing
Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Richard Panik
Ryan Hartman - Artem Anisimov - Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp - Tanner Kero - Alex Debrincat
Lance Bouma - Tommy Wingels - John Hayden

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Michal Kempny - Cody Franson
Gustav Forsling - Jan Rutta

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Blackhawks at Toronto4-3 OT Loss Recap

"Stranded"

by Gatekeeper
Chirp at Gatekeeper

Monday night the Blackhawks rolled into Toronto to face a team that was just as equally hot as they were. Both the Hawks and Leafs lead the league after scoring 15 goals each, in their first two games. The Leafs are that young up-and-coming team, much like the Blackhawks in 2009, while the Hawks are that older team just looking to hang on for one last chance at winning the Stanley Cup. Like the Hawks on 09, the Leafs have young superstars in Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner. They also added a Marian Hossa type veteran in the off-season in Patrick Marleau. Last night was an excellent opportunity, along with the inevitable game against Edmonton, to take a look at the old guard and new. Can the Blackhawks be that Redwings type team that gives the kids one last beating before they take home one last crown? Only time will tell.

The Blackhawks had Anton Forsberg making his NHL regular season debut, with Corey Crawford scheduled to start against his hometown Canadiens, in Montreal, the Tuesday night. Nick Schmaltz didn't make the two game trip to Canada, after sustaining an upper body injury in the first period against the Blue Jackets on Saturday night. Tanner Kero, who missed Saturday's game, made his return to the lineup in this one.

We all just keep waiting for the domination to end, and the Blackhawks just kept rolling, for a period at least. Before the game was ten minutes old, the Blackhawks were up 2-0, which was a total false sense of security. Actually, the Hawks could have very easily been up 4-1 or 4-2 before this period ended, but 2-0 was what we ended up with. Some real solid goaltending from Anton Forsberg kept the Blackhawks up by two. Surprisingly, the Hawks out shot the Leafs 9-7 on their home ice. Then the bottom fell out.

During the second period, the Leafs woke up and played much more like what we all should have expected earlier in the game. In fact, they came out and peppered the Blackhawks with 19 shots on net. That total had the makings of a four goal period, but the Blackhawks goaltender held the Leafs to only one goal and a slim one goal lead. On the other hand, the Blackhawks were only able to muster up 6 measly shots of their own. Some of this Leafs offense was due to eight second period penalties, but the rest was the Blackhawks being overwhelmed by the speed and youth of the Leafs.

The Leaf continued momentum in the third period, despite the Blackhawks getting their third goal of the game. Powerplays once again figured into the action, as the Leafs scored two third period power play goals to tie the game to combat the one by the Blackhawks. 3-3 is exactly where the game ended, as this one went to overtime. The Leafs just outlasted and out ran the older, slower Blackhawks. In fact, the Blackhawks didn't even manage a shot the entire OT.

The Good

• The game wasn't even five minutes old when Jan Rutta gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead. John Hayden dished the puck to Rutta, who activated and carried the puck around the Leafs net. Once he cleared the far post, he tried to hit one of the Hawks forwards in front but the puck went off Mitch Marner's stick and past Fat Freddy Andersen.
• Just a mere four minutes after the Rutta goal, Jonathan Toews picked up a Richard Panik rebound and chipped it over Andersen for a 2-0 Blackhawks lead. There were several key factors in this goal, but the first was the ferocious forecheck by Panik and Brandon Saad. Andersen had also lost his stick, which helped as well, in more than one way. The puck was headed around the net, and possibly out of harms way, but it hit Andersen's stick and Saad was able to feed the puck to Panik. Panik drove to the net and had a great chance, but was stopped by Andersen. Unfortunately for the Leafs, though, Jonathan Toews was the trailer and finished the play.
• With just under eight minutes gone in the third, Dick Panik put the Blackhawks up 3-1 off a fortunate end boards carom. Gustav Forsling took a long point shot that was roughly 4 feet wide of the net, and Steve Konroyd says, "That shot went just a little bit wide". A little bit wide, he says. Anyhow, the shot banked off the end boards and found the stick of Richard Panik with a wide open net staring him in the face. You have to get a little chuckle as Panik trolled his former team after scoring:
  

  pic.twitter.com/2VHZ2o8swC

  — steph (@myregularface) October 10, 2017

• Anton Forsberg deserved a better fate than he got, as made 39 saves and was able to hold the circus together long enough to get to overtime He was just let down by his team, plain and simple.

The Bad

• The Leafs took advantage of some Blackhawks chaos in their own zone, midway through the second period. Connor Brown found a breaking Nikita Zaitsev, and Zaitsev beat Forsberg 5-hole to begin the scoring for the Leafs.
• The Blackhawks penalty kill was playing the "bend but don't break" style and it finally broke in the third period.
  Just a matter of time until the Leafs scored, because the Hawks defenders were gassed and running around sloppily.
• Just a few minutes later, also on the powerplay, the Leafs tied the game up. This time is was James van Reimsdyk, who redirected a shot off his leg, and past Anton Forsberg.
• Oh, did I mention Alex Debrincat, who had the 4th lowest ice time on the Blackhawks after the 4th line slugs, getting his head nearly taken off? Don't say I didn't mention concern about this very thing. That secondary assist the day later was quite a delight though, wasn't it?
  

  Borgman hit on Debrin🐱 pic.twitter.com/MnX67UsotX

  — steph (@myregularface) October 10, 2017

• Gustav Forsling just looks overwhelmed out on the ice, at least 50% of the time. Something has to give, and playing Cody Franson or Jordan Oesterle is probably the best move at this point. At least for a game or two. The Rutta and Forsling pairing was an adventure, if only because Rutta is babysitting in his 3rd ever NHL game.

The Ugly

• The Blackhawks had several brutal changes that led to odd man breaks coming back their way. It's early, I know, but worth being pointed out.
• In Overtime, the Leafs just caught the Blackhawks sucking wind, and broke them down. Super Soph Auston Matthews ate up Anton Forsberg with a perfectly placed shot right by Forsberg's left ear, which is an almost impossible shot to stop.
• The Hawks shot metrics went from 54% in the first period to just under 11% in the third. I'd say the Leafs wore them out.
• The Hawks powerplay failed them once again. The Richard Panik powerplay goal was kind of a fluke bounce, but they were 0-5 outside of that goal.

The Lineblender
Left Wing - Center - Right Wing
Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Richard Panik
Patrick Sharp - Artem Anisimov - Patrick Kane
Alex Debrincat - Tanner Kero- Ryan Hartman
Lance Bouma - Tommy Wingels - John Hayden

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Michal Kempny - Connor Murphy
Gustav Forsling - Jan Rutta

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Blackhawks vs Blue Jackets5-1 Win Recap

"Invisible Enemy"

by Ray
Tweet to @Rayzer_14

Tonight marked the return of Artemi Panarin to the United Center for the first time since this summer's blockbuster trade for Brandon Saad. Both players had outstanding debuts for their teams as Panarin had 3 assists against the Islanders last night. Saad scored a hat trick in the Hawks blowout win against Pittsburgh.
Let's get right into it before the Hawks score any more first period goals.

Oh wow, ok. Guess that happened already. 1 minute 33 seconds in, in fact. Patrick Kane scores his second of the season on a great 3 on 2 rush. Good players find the open ice, great players finish off the play. He did both. Ryan Hartman initially wanted the pass to go to Nick Schmaltz but he was tied up by two Jackets defensemen and the puck found the wide open Kane's stick. He fired it above goalie Jonas Korpisalo's glove to give the Hawks an early 1-0 lead. That goal came at a cost though, as Schmaltz was pinned awkwardly between the defensemen and left the game. He attempted another shift during the period but it was unsuccessful. Plug in Q's lineblender, it starts early this year. Reports have it that Schmaltz has an upper body injury and will not travel during the road trip this week.

Lance Bouma kicked the crap out of Zac Dalpe in a scrap a few minutes later. Dalpe never stood a chance.

Hey look! A powerplay goal! After going 0-6 Thursday night, great puck movement and crashing the net led to Brandon Saad's 4th goal of the season as he banged home a rebound chance against his former team.

The Hawks seemed to have had most of the posession time in the first, however the shots would have indicated differently. 11 for Chicago, 9 for Columbus.

After an early Hawks penalty kill in the second period, the physical activity ramped up with some pretty solid hits. This of course prompted Foley and Konroyd to go on their first "MOAR HITZ" charade of the year. The leading hitter from Thursday? 5' 7" Alex DeBrincat... That might be the only thing that is remembered about him before he gets sent to Rockford next week. I will say though, I felt he was owed an assist on Sharp's goal Thursday. He wasn't initially, but apparently that was changed sometime Thursday or yesterday and he was given one. Right move.

Of course, as I was writing about "MOAR HITZ" sure enough, #DickFuckingPanik delivers a beautiful hit on Seth Jones deep in the Jackets zone to get the puck loose to Saad who sent a perfect pass to the Captain who nailed a rocket one timer off the post and in to make it 3-0 halfway through the Second.

Sure enough, 3 goal leads are the worst ever lead in hockey and 30 seconds after the Toews goal, Columbus strikes back with a little bit of luck. An attempted pass hits a sprawling Hartman and Sonny Milano taps in the puck while it is lying along the goal line to make it 3-1.

Two minutes later the three goal lead is restored thanks to Jan #RotoRutta 's first NHL goal. Nice recognition by both Kane and Rutta to find the open area with nearly all 10 players below the faceoff dots led to a pinball like, but still very easy goal to make it 4-1 Hawks.
Columbus woke up during the period and took over the shot lead 25-22.

The start of the third period wasn't exactly the smoothest for the Hawks as they gave up an early power play chance and allowed the first four shots on goal. Made for a little bit of a tense moment, but they fought through it and that was the end of the night for the Jackets.

The third was fairly uneventful after that with the exception of the glorious return of #DickFuckingPanik again to score his second of the year. He caught everyone sleeping after the faceoff in the offensive zone and fired it past Korpisalo for the final goal of the night. 5-1 Hawks Win.

Columbus wins the shot battle 33-29.


The Good

• The special teams. As I mentioned before, the poweplay finally got on the board after a rough start last time out. The penalty kill however looks so much better. They gave up the one goal vs the Pens Thursday, but it was a 4v3 situation and with that insane Penguins lineup it's almost a certain score. However before the Pen's scored, it looked like a start of a solid kill. Even without a decent penalty killer in Tanner Kero in the lineup tonight they killed both penalties. They're being much more aggressive on the puck, and that is something they need to do more of to have this success.
• Fast starts. This has been great to see. Kinda reminds me of 2013 a little bit where they just ran over the competition before they knew what happened. Keep this up.
• Kane and Saad. Look the fuck out, other NHL teams.
• Jan Rutta. I've been pretty impressed with how he has played. His decisions with the puck have been solid and he isn't afraid to make moves out there. Whether its pinching offensively or making a move in the defensive zone to avoid the forecheck, he's been effective out there. It was nice to see him in motion and involved in the play where he scored.
• Corey Crawford. He had another solid night in net. Wasn't challenged too much at times, but made the big saves when he needed to. Hey, Crawford haters. "WHERE'S YOUR DARLING NOW?"
• Edzo and the Blue Jackets Organization. During the first intermission, Pat Foley had Eddie Olczyk in the booth to talk about his health condition. If you haven't heard, Olczyk has been dealing with cancer treatments, and it was really encouraging to see him looking that well. It was also nice to hear how many times the Blue Jackets have contacted him during this time. Stick taps to you Jackets. Hang in there Edzo. We're thinking of you.

The Bad

• Jonas Korpisalo. Yikes, there were some bad rebounds by him tonight, but at least he wasn't Niemi bad. I know the Jackets were playing their second of back to back games and it's way early in the season, but after the way he played against the Hawks during the preseason, I would have maybe considered playing Bobrovski back to back, especially after a shutout. But hey, I'm not Jack Adams award winning coach Torts. What do I know?
• Zac Dalpe's punch riddled face. Ouch.
• Artemi Panarin. *crickets*. Ok he wasn't bad, but he was pretty invisible tonight at times. It's obvious that the Jackets powerplay will run through him. Which is a bit of a shame because there is a lot of talent on that team other than him.

The Ugly

• Michael Kempny's Puck Handling. Need I say more? There are sometimes where I cringe watching him in pressure situations in the D Zone. I was kinda hoping it would only be a year long nerves thing last year, but it still looks scary at times to me. Hopefully Ulf Samuelsson can help him get more comfortable handling the puck in those situations. We really don't need another Campoli moment.

See you guys in a few weeks when I recap Hawks-Preds. Thanks for reading and following along.
@Rayzer_14 on the Twitterz.

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Regular Season OpenerBlackhawks vs Penguins10-1 Win Recap

"No One Gets Left Behind"

by Gatekeeper
Chirp at Gatekeeper

After all the circus-like hoopla and festivities ended Thursday afternoon, there was still an actual game to be played against the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Quite a way for the Blackhawks to test out their newly revamped roster in front of their home crowd. The Pens were coming in on the rear end of a back-to-back, which saw them raise their cup banner the night before and waste a third period comeback and lose to the St. Louis Blues in overtime. Talk about a real kick in the groin. The Blues got to see what an actual Stanley Cup banner looks like up close, though, so they had that going for them. The Blackhawks, on the other hand, certainly didn't go easy on the visiting Penguins in their home, and season, opener. In fact, they put on a real show for the United Center faithful. Not only did they put on a show during the game, but they really pulled at everyone's heartstrings by surprising us all with a Bryan Bickell One More Shift celebration before this one.




The first period could not have possibly gone any better. The Blackhawks scored FIVE goals and chased the starting goalie before the Pens knew what hit them. Five goals on twenty one shots was the tally as the Hawks finished the first period of their season. What more really needs to be said? This was about as perfect a period as we could expect. It would not have been all that surprising to see the Hawks put up at least another goal or two, with the pressure they had.
Officially, the Penguins had 12 shots on net, but I can not remember more than 7 or 8.

The Pens were able to get their only goal of the night, early in the second period, but the Blackhawks continued to steamroll over them with three more unanswered goals. The shots were even, at 14, but clearly the Blackhawks were in a zone.

The third period was just a formality, until the Pens pulled some meathead shenanigans in the waning moments. The Hawks did finally get to double digits, a franchise record for a season opener, which obviously didn't sit well with the champs. Phil Kessel and useless big dummy Ryan Reaves earned late misconducts, as a result. Anyhow, One down, 81 more to go.

The Good

• Just over six minutes into the game, with the Blackhawks buzzing the Pittsburgh net already, Patrick Kane set up Ryan Hartman with a fancy behind the back reverse pass that Hartman put into a wide open net. Antti Niemi was lost as to where the puck was, and was looking over the wrong shoulder. In his defense, they teach you to move to the other post once the player crosses the midpoint of the net. This one looked bad on Niemi at first glance but it was all defense, or lack thereof.
• Moments later, Brandon Saad then gave the Blackhawks a 2-0 off a 2-on-1 with Richard Panik. It must be pointed out that the rush began when league golden boy Sidney Crosby left a drop pass for no one in the Hawks zone, and Saad took the puck the other way. No mention on the broadcast, though. How shocking.
• Twenty eight seconds after the Saad goal, Nick Schmaltz jumped into the action and squeezed a backhand past Niemi, on the back door, after another fancy Patrick Kane setup. That was three goals in 1:13.
• Less than two minutes after that third goal, Brandon Saad notched his second goal of the night off a terrible Antti Niemi rebound. Niemi was absolutely flailing through a sea of bodies while Saad bore down with most of the net wide open. That said, Niemi got NO help, either. Four goals on thirteen shots and Niemi didn't make it ten minutes into the game before he was yanked. Supposed "elite" top 5 goalie according to NHL rankings, Matt Murray, did no better.
• With three minutes left in the first period, Patrick Sharp scored his first goal back with the Blackhawks and their fifth of the game. I was very hesitant about having the old guy back but he looks good enough to be well worth $800,000.
• After the Penguins ruined the shutout, it was Patrick Kane's turn to actually score a goal, after setting up two in the first period. He rushed up the right side past Brian Dumoulin and roofed a short side backhand over Murray's glove in highlight reel fashion.
• Richard Panik was the next in the long line of Blackhawks to get his name in the goal column when Nick Schmaltz picked up a rebound to Matt Murray's left and dished to Panik for a slam dunk.
• Speaking of Nick Schmaltz, he was the recipient of the 8th goal of the night, his first, on a one timer from Patrick Kane in the second period. This assist was Kane's 4th point of the game.
• Five minutes into the third period, Brandon Saad completed the hat trick on a nice feed from Jonathan Toews. At least the crowd threw more than 8 hats on the ice this time.
• The exclamation point, and tenth goal, was from Brent Seabrook late in the third period. He was, for some reason, down low in front of the Pittsburgh net and whacked a puck out of the air, past Matt Murray.
• Brandon Saad, right? This kid is something really special and he is just in a zone. He already has two hat tricks, including his preseason one against Detroit, in only a handful of games back. Think he's happy to be back? I sure am glad he is. Saad makes it much easier to stomach the loss of Artemi Panarin, for sure.
• The "improbable" Dick Panik looked like he is just carrying his career best season right into this second full season with the Blackhawks. He looks stronger and more confident, if you can believe that.
• John Hayden continues to make plays happen. If he keep this up, he will force Quenneville to move him up the lineup, which is a wonderful problem to have.
• It'll be lost in all the craziness, but Corey Crawford pretty quietly had a great night. His break-a-way save in the second period on Evgeni Malkin was a prime example of how well he played. He saved 28 of 29 and was perfect at even strength.
• I am not a big Jamal Mayers fan as an analyst but Adam Burish and Brian Campbell were pretty entertaining in the intermissions. Burish, especially, was pretty charismatic. We need to have these guys involved more, and less Konroyd/Mayers.

The Bad

• The only real Pens highlight of the night came on a 5-on-3 advantage. When you have to face Crosby, Kessel and Malkin all on the ice together for a powerplay, there isn't much you can do. Sid easily found Kessel on the back door which ruined the shutout for Corey Crawford.
• When you score 10 goals, there usually isn't much to complain about but the Hawks were 0-6 on the powerplay.

The Ugly

• The Pens played former Blackhawk Antti Niemi in net and the Hawks shelled him. I remember a "supposed" expert once telling me what a good goalie Niemi was before his first season in Dallas, and how good the Stars would be with the Niemi/Lehtonen combo. He has since put up .905 and .872 save percentages, and had to basically beg for a backup job with the Pens.
• I know I have been labelled the Alex Debrincat hater, so it is my duty to point out that the Blackhawks scored TEN goals and the dynamic golden boy didn't have a single point. the only other forwards that didn't end up with a point on the scoresheet were fourth liners Tanner Kero and Lance Bouma. His lone highlight was a hit on Ian Cole, at the whistle, in the second period.
• Olli Maata, Connor Sheary, and Kris Letang were all each minus five. YIKES!

The Lineblender
Left Wing - Center - Right Wing
Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Richard Panik
Ryan Hartman - Nick Schmaltz - Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp - Artem Anisimov - Alex Debrincat
John Hayden - Tanner Kero - Lance Bouma

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Michal Kempny - Connor Murphy
Gustav Forsling - Jan Rutta

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PreaseasonBlackhawks vs Bruins1-0 Shutout Win Recap

"BORING"

by Gatekeeper
Yell at Gatekeeper

The Blackhawks preseason came to a close last night, at home, against the Boston Bruins. For those of you that spent your Saturday night at the United Center, I feel for you. It was a boring game. Most of the players seemed uninterested and most roster battles have been decided already. Since I wasn't even supposed to recap this one, you'll have to excuse the Cliff Notes version:

The Good

• One player who was interested was Corey Crawford. He pitched in a 38 save shutout, and looked ready for the regular season. He was aggressive and square to the puck all night. I am sure that even in a shutout, the meatballs will find a way to complain about him.
• The only goal of the game was a powerplay snipe by Patrick Sharp. Shades of the old sharpie at the left circle, before anyone knew just who Artemi Panarin was. Sharp had about 3 inches to score this goal and used every bit of that. For as much angst that the Sharp signing caused me on July 1st, seeing him out there and scoring gives me the chills. He may not be the Sharp of 2013-14, but the team seems to enjoy him being back.
• Anton Khudobin was excellent for the Bruins. Any time you lose a game 1-0, it is not on the goalie. This game was a coin flip as to who was going to win.
• The Blackhawks won an amazing 65% of their faceoffs, and they were 1-5 on the powerplay.

The Bad

• Both Connor Murphy and Jonathan Toews left the game early with minor injuries. Quenneville said after the game that they "Should be alright".
• No one really stood out. Not even "the amazing" Alex Debrincat. Jan Rutta continued to look good, but even he had some issues. Speaking of Debrincat, I said earlier that I understand them keeping him on the roster, but that doesn't mean I think that he's going to make it more than 10 games before he runs head first into the NHL wall.

The Ugly

• The Bruins looked like they had tied the game almost midway through the third period, but Jake Debrusk interfered with Corey Crawford's ability to make the stop and the goal was negated. Honestly, Crawford wasn't making the save on the clean backdoor chance from Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson(say that name 5 times quickly), anyway.
• I still see no redeeming qualities in Lance Bouma. He's probably going to make the team over John Hayden, and that is a damn crime.

The Lineblender
Left Wing - Center - Right Wing
Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Richard Panik
Patrick Sharp - Nick Schmaltz - Patrick Kane
Alex Debrincat - Artem Anisimov - Ryan Hartman
John Hayden - Tanner Kero - Lance Bouma

Duncan Keith - Connor Murphy
Gustav Forsling - Brent Seabrook
Michal Kempny - Jan Rutta

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PreseasonBlackhawks at Detroit4-2 Win Recap

"First Game at Little Caesars Arena"

As we inch closer to the regular season, we saw a nice win for the Blackhawks in the preseason. In their second to last game of the preseason, we saw them play a young Detroit team missing many of their big-name players. The Blackhawks were also missing key players like Kane, Saad, Seabrook, Keith, and Crawford. In their first appearance at Little Caesars Arena the Red Wings new facility, the ‘Hawks won 4-2.

The first period started a little slow and with some sloppy plays, but things would start to get better pretty quick. At 4:54 we saw the first of 10 penalties in the game when Red Wing Robbie Russo slashed Gustav Forsling. The power play was just ok early on but got better in the later periods of the game. Shortly after at 8:23 we would see the first of the Blackhawks penalty kill unit because of a Laurent Dauphin tripping penalty. On the PP, the Red Wings had what looked like a sure goal when Ben Street shot at a sprawling Anton Forsberg. With a wide-open net, the shot went high and hit the crossbar. Later, The Blackhawks would go on the penalty kill 2 more times after a David Kampf interference call and a Tomas Jurco slashing call.

The second period started with the Red Wings on the power play, where they scored the first goal of the game. Justin Abdelkader had the puck down down low, and passed to Niklas Kronwall at the blue line. Kronwall would let a shot go that Red Wings rookie Michael Rasmussen nicely redirected past Anton Forsberg. The period went on seeing a couple good shifts from the makeshift second line of Artem Anisimov, John Hayden, and Vinnie Hinostroza. We saw Anisimov put the puck through a defenders legs to a stuff attempt, and John Hayden have a good shot attempt which resulted in Artem Anisimov getting robbed on the rebound, with a wide-open net. No scoring would come till late in the period.

At 13:50 Richard Panik got the Blackhawks on the board and tied the game. Alex DeBrincat held the puck at the line and tapped it to an open Jonathan Toews, who would make a great cross-ice pass to a wide open Richard Panik. Panik sent a one-timer past Petr Mrazek. The Wings would take the lead back about two minutes later when Libor Sulak put a shot past a sliding Connor Murphy to the glove side of Forsberg.

The third period is where the Blackhawks hit their stride. At the 1:41 mark of the third period, Tanner Kero chipped a pass to a streaking Vince Hinostroza, who weaved through two defenders. Hinostroza then sent a slick backhand pass to Tommy Wingels on the back door, who put a well placed one-timer past Petr Mrazek. Next, the highly anticipated Alex DeBrincat would score his second preseason goal on the power play, as the Wings' Sulak was given a two-minute minor for hooking against Laurent Dauphin. After taking a pass from Gustav Forsling, DeBrincat then made a nice backhanded pass to defenseman Cody Franson. Franson looked to pass the puck to Jonathan Toews but the pass went all the way through the crease to back to DeBrincat, who let go a nice wrist shot over Mrazek. The Red Wings would challenge the goal for offsides but failed resulting in the ‘Hawks going on another power play. For those unaware, new this year, a failed off-sides challenge results in a two-minute minor for delay of game, instead of just losing a time-out. The final goal of the game would come at 18:35 when Laurent Dauphin made a nice steal at center ice and backhand the puck into the empty net.

The Good

• Alex DeBrincat- The kid is looking more confident with the puck and is usually in the right position at the right time. While still getting pushed around a bit, it seems DeBrincat is learning how to win his battles. Two points on the night 
• Artem Anisimov - While not finding the score sheet Anisimov proved his worth with a few good shot attempts and his line created some good chances. 
• The Penalty Kill - The 'Hawks would go five for six on the PK.  They seem more aggressive and have better cycling better than we saw last season, so far. 
• John Hayden - Hayden very well may play himself into a roster spot. While not scoring in this game, he would end up with three hits and 2 shots on net. The more Hayden plays,  the more he shows his skill, speed, and physicality. He also seems to cause a little disruption when he is on the ice, almost starting another fight in front of the goal. 
• Vinnie Hinostroza - While I don't know if he will make the opening night roster, watching Vinnie was fun tonight. As we know Hinostroza is fast, he is really starting to show the offensive upside. He is starting to make more smart plays and is also seeing the plays much better. 
• Anton Forsberg - Forsberg would have another good night in goal, saving 32 of 34 shots. As of now expect Forsberg to be the backup. 

The Bad

• Power Play - Not horrible but the 'Hawks went one for four on the power play. Seeing a couple more shots and some more zone time would be nice, but they were also missing some major pieces on the power play. 

The Ugly

• Tomas Jurco - Yet again another game where he was invisible. Other than occasionally touching the puck Jurco had zero shots on goal, one hit, and a giveaway. Can we please get rid of this failed experiment. 

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PreseasonBlackhawks at Boston4-2 Loss Recap

"Born In A Rut"

by Gatekeeper
Yell at Gatekeeper

The Blackhawks sent their kid squad to Boston to face the Bruins, Monday night. Most of the regulars were left back in South Bend and it showed. The only regular players that were in this game were Brandon Saad, Connor Murphy, and Corey Crawford. That should tell you some things right off the bat. Not only that, but the roster listed Luke Johnson as #82, and playing defense. Jordan Oesterle gets no respect. It's preseason for everyone, I suppose.

If not for the final minute, the first period was a complete disaster. The Hawks gave up two goals on the first handful of shots and then later gave up a third goal before they were able to stop the bleeding.

The second period couldn't have possibly been any worse, so there was only one way to go: UP. The Hawks were able to hold the Bruins off the board while scoring a goal to bring the game back within one goal.

In the third period, the Blackhawks gave up a powerplay goal that put the game out of reach and, much like Saturday night, they didn't have enough time to complete the comeback. Not a terrible showing for the Blackhawks, but certainly not an overly impressive one, either. Let's hope we get to see more regulars in the final two preseason games.

The Good

• Brandon Saad was able to cut the lead to just 2 goals, with under a minute remaining in the first period. Cody Franson, hit Erik Gustafsson across the ice. Gustafsson then turned and saw Brandon Saad just about 5 feet to Malcolm Subban's right, wisely hitting Saad's tape with a pass which was redirected by Saad off Subban and into the net.
• Midway through the second period, a gassed Jordan Oesterle desperately flicked the puck up to Tanner Kero. Even though the pass was behind him, Kero was able to corral the puck and make a slick pass to the streaking John Hayden. Hayden drove hard to the net,
  protecting the puck, and beat Subban. The puck hit the back post and was originally waved off, but the war room in Toronto signalled the horn and ruled the play a good goal.
• For the second game in a row, the Blackhawks were pretty good at the faceoff dots, winning 58%.

The Bad

• Corey Crawford only saw 23 shots and gave up 4 goals. Thank god it is preseason.
• The Golden Child Debrincat had his time to shine, and was virtually invisible. Three shots on net and no points. If I didn't know he was on the roster for the game, I might have even doubted that he played.

The Ugly

• Under a minute into the game, on the first shot on net, David Pastrnak caught Corey Crawford deep in his net, and Pastrnak ate him up from a sharp angle.
• thirty six seconds after the Pastrnak goal, defenseman Jeremy Lasuzon flipped an innocent dump in shot towards Corey Crawford, and Crawford just flubbed it. If you thought the first goal was bad, this one was even worse.
• About 8 minutes later, the veteran Bruins caught Gustav Forsling hanging onto the puck too long and trying to stickhandle with one hand on his stick right up the gut, in his own zone. Marchand and Bergeron stripped him, and the late forward Anders Bjork was the lucky recipient of a backdoor tap in goal.

The Lineblender
Left Wing - Center - Right Wing
Brandon Saad - David Kampf - Ryan Hartman
Lance Bouma - Vinny Hinostroza - Tomas Jurco
John Hayden - Tanner Kero - Alex Debrincat
Jordin Tootoo - Laurent Dauphin - Tommy Wingels

Gustav Forsling - Connor Murphy
Erik Gustafsson - Cody Franson
Jan Rutta - Jordan Oesterle

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PreseasonBlackhawks vs Blue Jackets3-2 Loss Recap

"Tempo of the Damned"
by Gatekeeper
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.


The Good

• 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.

The Bad

• Jean-Francois Berube, more on that later...
• Alexandre Fortin was reassigned to Rockford following the game, and rightfully so.

The Ugly

• 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.

The Lineblender
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

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