Alex DeBrincat – Jonathan Toews– Richard Panik
Brandon Saad – Nick Schmaltz – Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp – Artem Anisimov – John Hayden
Lance Bouma – Tommy Wingels – Ryan Hartman
Duncan Keith – Cody Franson
Jan Rutta – Brent Seabrook
Michal Kempny – Connor Murphy
The Chicago Blackhawks travelled home from Minnesota to meet the Montreal Canadiens, back at the United Center, for a Sunday night contest. One thing was evidently clear, after the back-to-back shutout wins. This team was relying too much on Corey Crawford. As good as he is, this pace cannot last, and it didn’t last the full 60 minutes in this game. The Canadiens were playing a very inexperienced goalie in fellow left handed goalie Charlie Lindgren and, like so many inexperienced goalies before him, the Blackhawks made him look like an All-Star.
Both teams had the offensive pressure turned up to a solid eight for the first half of the opening period. The Canadiens goaltender looked really comfortable and calm in net, saving all 14 shots he saw. Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford was showing no ill effects from playing back to back days, either, making nine saves of his own.
The Blackhawks had the first powerplay of the night, shortly after the midway point of the first period, but were not able to register much more than a blip on the radar. They also finished the first period with 14.6 seconds of powerplay time, which was hardly enough to really generate anything. As a result, the first period ended scoreless.
The second period opened with the Blackhawks finishing the remainder of the powerplay they were awarded late in the first period. Once again, they failed to register much more than a minor blip on the radar. This was a common theme throughout the game, with the Blackhawks going 0-3, overall.
As play went on in the second, the Hawks dominated in shots on net, leading 14-6 late in the period. Luckily for the Blackhawks, the Canadiens were also not able to muster up enough pressure on their two late powerplays to break the scoreless tie, generating only two shots on net in the process.
Just two minutes into the third period, the duo of Michael Kempny and Connor Murphy had what you might call an “adventurous” shift. Said shift ended with Jonathan Drouin cutting around the Blackhawks defender Murphy, and beating Crawford cleanly, to take a 1-0 lead.
Just a few minutes later, Connor Murphy was, once again, at the center of a scoring play against. Murphy was slow to play the puck deep in his own end and turned it over. Canadiens defenseman Joe Morrow ended up with the puck and sent a shot through an Andrew Shaw screen for a 2-0 Habs lead.
That was pretty much “all she wrote” for the Blackhawks, in this game. They pulled their goalie and had the expected amount of pressure, but were not able to solve the young Montreal goaltender. As the final horn sounded, Lindgren had shutout the Hawks with a 38 save performance, while Corey Crawford’s shutout streak and winning streak came to an abrupt end.
Pluses
- Cody Franson played solid, once again. His contribution on the powerplay, alone, should keep him in the lineup. That is all logic though, and logic doesn’t always win with Joel Quenneville
- The Blackhawks showed some rare physicality with Brandon Saad taking a kamikaze path to the net in the second period, and the duo of Seabrook/Wingels taking on 6’6” man mountain Michael McCarron.
Minuses
- Looks to me like Ryan Hartman has a case of the “Half-ass Flu.” I watched him make several less than 100% style efforts for lose pucks, and just floated around much of the night.
- If anyone on defense has played subpar enough to sit, it has been Connor Murphy. He had a rough night, especially back-to-back-to-back bad shifts in the third period which resulted in two goals against. I want to love this guy, but he is making it very hard.
- Lefty goalies always seem to cross up the Hawks forwards, and this game was no exception. Charlie Lindgren stymied the Blackhawks all night but, honestly, it didn’t seem like he had 38 shots on him.
- Nick Schmaltz and Tommy Wingels had rough nights at the dots, each losing five of seven draws. Hell, even Artem Anisimov was better than 50% at the dots.
- Lance Bouma played a team low 9:03, which might be some foreshadowing for a Tanner Kero appearance in the near future.