It was an emotional scene in Vancouver at the Rogers Arena Wednesday night. Daniel and Henrik Sedin were honored with an hour long pregame ceremony as they had their numbers retired to the rafters. I guess it was only fitting that the Hawks were in the building tonight to see their old rivals honored.
Thousands of fans streaming into Rogers Arena three hours before puck-drop. The Sedins ceremony starts at 6 local and is going to last about an hour (!). One the one hand, cool. On the other, fans are going to be out of gas by the time the game actually starts.
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) February 13, 2020
With the Vancouver fans all pumped up for the ceremony, the Blackhawks needed to have a fast start. They did just that as the Hawks recorded the first 13 shots of the game. From the onset Chicago dictated the game and puck possession.
It was not until 14 minutes in to the first period when the Blackhawks thought they scored the first goal of the game. With Patrick Kane flying down the near side of the rink, a quick shot on net slipped past Vancouver goalie Jacob Markstrom. Brandon Saad was crashing the net and ending up behind Markstrom, the goal was called off because of goalie interference. Head coach Jeremy Colliton ended up challenging the play but after review the referees kept the call on the ice no goal. With the failed challenge the visitors were assessed a delay of game penalty. Vancouver took advantage of the penalty and scored a very nice looking goal by Bo Horvat. The play was set up nicely with great passing from J.T. Miller and Brandon Sutter.
Bo knows how to finish a beauty passing play. pic.twitter.com/fRhAZhWuAa
— NHL (@NHL) February 13, 2020
After the first period the Blackhawks led in shots 17-7. Clearly outplaying the Canucks but with nothing to show for it.
In the second period the Blackhawks had two power play chances but came up empty on both of them.
Just six and a half minutes in, Vancouver struck again on another nice passing play with a goal by Adam Gaudette.
After 40: #Canucks lead 2-0. Shots: 33-15 Blackhawks. pic.twitter.com/tgpp0REewf
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) February 13, 2020
The game started to get chippy as well in the second period. Kirby Dach put a huge hit on Antoine Roussel that left Roussel down on the ice for a bit. The period also featured the first of two fights in the game as Drake Caggiula and Tanner Pearson dropped the gloves about halfway through the period. It was a bit surprising to see Caggiula engage in the scrap considering his concussion issues earlier this season.
About one minute after the scrap, Corey Crawford came up huge with a big save on a breakaway by Elias Pettersson to hold the Vancouver lead to only 2-0.
After the second period the Blackhawks were still up huge in the shot column 33-15, which was the first time all season that the Hawks had more than 30 shots after two periods.
First time this season the #Blackhawks have had 30+ shots through first two periods per @ckamka.
— Scott King (@ScottKingMedia) February 13, 2020
To begin the third period, the visitors were a man short as Zack Smith was injured near the end of the second period. Smith did not return to the game.
MEDICAL UPDATE: Zack Smith (left hand) will not return to tonight’s game. #CHIvsVAN
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) February 13, 2020
Needing a huge period to win the game, Chicago came out strong again controlling the puck possession. This was just not enough as they could not find the back of the net in the third period as well.
Connor Murphy and Gaudette got in a scrap that led to a slashing call on Gaudette to give the Hawks a power play chance early. Once again the power play for the Blackhawks was very weak, creating very few chances in the game. They ended up being 0-5 on the power play in this game.
With three minutes left in the game, the Hawks pulled Crawford from the net for an extra skater and Brandon Sutter ended up scoring an empty net goal to ice the Canucks the 3-0 victory.
Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom was the story of the night as he stopped all 49 shots that the Hawks sent his way.
Jacob Markstrom became the first goaltender in @Canucks history to register multiple 40-save shutouts in a single season. #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/Eckua0kIX4
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 13, 2020
That’s a 49-save @pepsi shutout for Jacob Markstrom (@j_markstrom).
You heard right… 49 SAVES! pic.twitter.com/hzQpAfFHPi
— NHL (@NHL) February 13, 2020