The Blackhawks returned home from a brutal road trip to meet the Colorado Avalanche, Tuesday night. In a bit of a role reversal, it was the Blackhawks that were the team suffering through the slog of a lost season, while the Avalanche were attempting to climb up the standings and securely plant themselves into playoff position.
In the continuous shuffling of PTSD riddled goalies, Joel Quenneville decided that Jean-Francois Berube was the sacrificial goalie of the evening. The lineup will be pretty static for the remainder of the season, with limited call-ups available and Jan Rutta fighting injury.
These were the Blackhawks starting lines:
Brandon Saad – Jonathan Toews – Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat – Nick Schmaltz – Vinnie Hinostroza
Tomas Jurco – Artem Anisimov – Anthony Duclair
Patrick Sharp – David Kampf – Matthew Highmore
Duncan Keith – Connor Murphy
Erik Gustafsson – Brent Seabrook
Carl Dahlstrom – Jordan Oesterle
Surprisingly enough, the Blackhawks had their first scoring chance under a minute into the game, at the hands of Connor Murphy (surprise). Unfortunately for the home team, Semyon Varlamov was able to narrowly keep the deflected puck from sneaking under him and into the net.
A few more Blackhawks solid scoring chances in the first five minutes of the period eventually resulted in the opening goal of the night. Newly extended defenseman Erik Gustafsson picked up a puck on the half wall and attempted to hit an open Patrick Kane on the back door. The puck went off the skate of Avalanche defenseman Patrick Nemeth and past a surprised Varlamov.
Power plays for each team yielded no additional goals, so the teams headed into the first intermission with the Erik Gustafsson goal as the only one on the board. The Blackhawks led the Avalanche in shots on net, 12-9, as well.
Overall, it was a period mostly spend in the Colorado zone, which was a significant improvement over the weekend.
The Blackhawks pressure continued in the second period right where it left off in the first. Hawks forward Brandon Saad had an excellent chance just seconds into the period but, again, Varlamov was able to narrowly hold the lead at only one goal.
Nick Schmaltz had a wonderful dangling toe drag move for a 1-on-1 chance with the Colorado goaltender, five minutes into the middle period, but shot the puck right into the goalie’s chest.
After the flurry of Blackhawks chances early in the second period, the tide then began to turn for the Avalanche, as they peppered the Blackhawks goalie with shots for most of the latter half of the middle period. Colorado tied the game on the power play, with under four minutes to play in the second period. Tyson Barrie controlled the puck on the cycle and was able to feed Nathan MacKinnon wide open across the Hawks zone. MacKinnon hesitated for a second but was still able the beat JF Berube pretty easily.
The Hawks seemed to have grabbed the lead back with just over a minute remaining in the period, but controversy struck. Patrick Kane made a spin-o-rama pass to the crease and the puck ended up in the net, but it was ruled as kicked into the net by Brandon Saad. The game remained tied heading into the second intermission as a result, with Colorado holding a lopsided 18-7 shot advantage.
The third period was generally even in shots, chances, and even late period power plays. The Blackhawks penalty kill unit, in particular, looked really impressive at a critical point of the game. Neither team was able to break the tie, so the game went to overtime
In overtime, the Blackhawks took all of nine seconds for Jonathan Toews to win the opening faceoff to Duncan Keith; who hit Patrick Kane with a pass; who then sent a lead pass back to Jonathan Toews. The Captain easily redirected the puck past Semyon Varlamov to end the game and give the Blackhawks something to celebrate about.
Pluses
- Erik Gustafsson had a fire under his butt all night, and had a couple more solid chances to add to the score.
- It will be overlooked, but JF Berube had a great night. Fans are quick to pile on either goalie for having average-to-below-average games, but this should also be considered a goalie win. Saving 33 of 34 shots is above and beyond the call of duty.
Minuses
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- Duncan Keith had a better game but was still struggling. He is clearly taking this season hard, and it frustrated. Once Jan Rutta is healthy, give the poor guy a night off.
- The goal replay/reversal is just getting more embarrassing with each day. If there is an angle that the NHL is seeing, which shows definitively that Brandon Saad kicked the puck towards the net and it did not hit the heel of the stick, we all deserve to see it. Otherwise, this was yet another in the long line of incorrect calls. I keep bringing it up, but if you are going to cry that the league needs more goals scored and you are going to pull 50/50 goals off the board, I have no sympathy. But, hey, bigger nets and smaller goalie gear will make a difference. Even MJ is disgusted:
