Chicago scores six, but defense and goal-tending yielding eight goals to the Detroit Red Wings in Tuesday night’s loss.
First Period
From the opening puck drop, chants of “Detroit sucks” rained down from the Untied Center crowd Tuesday night. And as those same fans were just beginning to settle into their seats, Detroit forward Tomas Vanek scored on the first shot of the game to put the Red Wings ahead less than 20 seconds into regulation.
A couple shifts later, a huge face-off win from forward Matthew Highmore led to Brent Seabrook throwing a puck on net, only to be tipped in by Highmore, tying the game at 1-1 at the 1:51 mark of the first period.
Blackhawks goalie Cam Ward did not look strong early (or at all), as he let in the second goal of the game for the Red Wings on only their second shot of the contest.
After numerous strong chances were created by Chicago throughout the first period, rookie forward Dominik Kahun batted a puck out of mid-air off a Duncan Keith shot to even the game at 2-2 with around four minutes of play remaining.
Late in the period, forward Alexander Fortin was presented with a partial breakaway, although he was not able to convert. The game entered the first intermission tied at two-a-piece with the Blackhawks out shooting Detroit 14-8.
Second Period
Action paced back and forth early in the second period before Patrick Kane drove the net hard creating a strong scoring chance. Forward David Kampf missed on the rebound opportunity immediately following Kane’s chance. After that sequence, Detroit forward Anthony Mantha came down the left wing boards putting a shot off of Ward’s pads. The shot took a perfect bounce onto the stick of Detroit center Darren Helm, who capitalized on the opportunity and put Detroit ahead 3-2.
Following a Detroit bench minor penalty, the Blackhawks took to the power-play at roughly the 7-minute mark. After playing catch, Patrick Kane put a puck on net that missed just wide left. The puck trickled behind the net and Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews banked a shot off the back of goalie Jimmy Howard’s leg and tied the game at 3-3.
As Chicago looked to have some new life, Mantha jumped on a loose puck at the top of the offensive zone. After a slight move off to the left wing side of the zone, Mantha riffled home his shot top shelf on Cam Ward giving Detroit the lead once again, 4-3, around the 11-minute mark.
As Detroit continued their dominance, forward Wade Megan threw a shot toward the net, only for the puck to take a crazy bounce and end up in the back of the net off of Givani Smith’s stick. Not too long after, Detroit continued their dominance with forward Andreas Athanasiou netting his second goal of the game on the power-play, giving Detroit the 6-3 lead.
As time ran down, Chicago set up in the zone with just under two minutes remaining. Defenseman Jan Rutta gained possession at the point and quickly fired the puck on net. Toews set up in front of the net and tipped home the Rutta shot to cut the deficit down and make the score 6-4 Detroit.
After Detroit dominated play for most of the second period, Chicago would make a last minute push. the Hawks drew a penalty and went into intermission with a fresh power-play on the other side of the break.
Although Chicago was outplayed by Detroit, the Blackhawks out shot the Red Wings 12-8 in the second period.
Third Period
Chicago began the third period with a full two minutes of power-play time. After needing more than one rush to set up in the offensive zone, Kane skated in on the left wing side of the slot and threw a pass across to Forward Nick Schmaltz. Schmaltz tapped the puck past Goalie Jimmy Howard and cut further into Detroit’s lead.
After making it a 6-5 game, Chicago immediately returned to the power-play after forward Brandon Saad was tripped. After failing to convert on their fourth power-play of the game, the Hawks once again returned to the power-play, moments later, for a fifth chance with the man advantage. However, the power-play streak for Chicago would be ruined by Detroit Forward Dylan Larkin, who took a soft pass from Athanasiou in the Hawk zone and put it top shelf to widen the gap to two, and make the score 7-5.
With about eight and a half minutes remaining, the Blackhawks were able to set up and create some offensive zone pressure. Defenseman Adam Boqvist set up Duncan Keith at the left wing point and Keith wired the puck glove side, past Howard, to make it a one goal game.
The hope didn’t remain for long. Detroit regained their two goal lead on a breakaway by Tomas Vanek for his second goal of the game. This all coming after a near miss at the other end by Jonathan Toews.
Chicago pulled the goaltender with two minutes remaining but nothing came of the time with the extra attacker. Final score: 8-6.
Final Thoughts
Dominik Kahun looked at home on Jonathan Toews’ right wing. This could be a good spot for him to start at the beginning of the regular season. The line of Alex DeBrincat, Toews and Kahun looked like they gelled well together for most of the game.
Boqvist wasn’t awful, but wasn’t great. He ended the evening with two assists. He looked good at times on the power-play as the quarterback of the Blackhawks first unit. Head Coach Joel Quenneville noted that Boqvist will likely play in the remaining two preseason games, so it is worth keeping an eye out for any improvements made by the young defenseman.
Chicago’s new power-play system proved well in this game. The Blackhawks converted on two of their five power plays, using the Washington Capitals-like 1-3-1 system. The top unit looked especially strong with Toews and DeBrincat on the half walls, Kane down low, Schmaltz in the slot and Boqvist at the point.
Ward and Anton Forsberg both did not look great in the game. Ward was supposed to play the entire game but was lifted for Forsberg after the conclusion of the second period. One major concern for this team is goaltending, so these final two preseason games could help determine who the number two goaltender will be behind Cam Ward to begin the regular season.
Chicago returns to the Untied Center on Thursday, September 27th, taking on the Ottawa Senators at 7:30pm CST.