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Game Recap: Blackhawks fall to Wild 4-3 in OT

  
Game Recap: Blackhawks fall to Wild 4-3 in OT
Dominik Kahun scores his first goal of the season on Thursday evening against the Minnesota Wild.

After taking a late lead, Chicago gives up an opportunity for their third win of the season by letting the Minnesota Wild tie the game with under a minute left. For the fourth consecutive game, Chicago would play overtime, only to fall to the Wild 4-3.

For the fourth straight game, Head Coach Joel Quenneville sent Cam Ward to protect the crease as the Blackhawks opened their series with Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. The most notable addition to the lineup was the young winger Alexandre Fortin, who was recalled from the IceHogs upon the news of an Andreas Martinsen’s injury.

With some movement due to a few new faces in the lineup, the Blackhawks lineup was as follows:

 

Debrincat – Toews – Kahun

Saad – Schmaltz – Kane

Kunitz – Anisimov – Fortin

Hayden – Kruger – Kampf

Keith – Jokiharju

Gustafsson – Seabrook

Manning – Rutta

Ward

Forsberg

 

The Blackhawks opened the contest flying high. The Nick Schmaltz line had a very good first shift to begin the game. However, nothing would come from the strong shift as teams traded chances early in the first.

After heading to the penalty kill, Chicago was able to draw a penalty and negate a Minnesota powerplay, setting up a 4-on-4 situation. After a faceoff win by Jonathan Toews, Chicago was able to gain possession around the 10-minute mark of the first period.

Jan Rutta found Alex Debrincat heading up the right-wing boards, where he handed the puck off to Toews. The Captain continued his hot start by splitting two Minnesota defenders at the Wild blue line and drawing another penalty. Instead of heading to the powerplay, Toews set up and found open ice to the right of goaltender Devan Dubnyk and found Debrincat for the first goal of the game.

As the 13 minute mark approached, Toews won another faceoff in the offensive zone, allowing Brent Seabrook and Erik Gustafsson to set up a play at the point. Gustafsson quickly dished the puck to Debrincat, only for his shot to be blocked by a Minnesota defender.

After the puck ricocheted off the Wild defender and right to Toews, he found winger Dominik Kahun who put a shot top shelf over Dubnyk’s shoulder, increasing Chicago’s lead to two.

Kahun erupted into pure jubilation after scoring his first career NHL goal and recording the third point of his rookie campaign.  Toews quickly fetched the puck for the Kahun to mark the beginning of what could be a successful career for the German forward.

The Blackhawks went into the first intermission with the 2-0 lead, despite being outshot 16-11 by the Wild.

The second period was much different than the first. Chicago came out flat, as Minnesota dominated possession from the start of the period.

After consistent pressure by Minnesota’s Staal line, forward Jason Zucker was able to gain possession off of a failed clearing attempt by the Blackhawks. Zucker steamed into the Chicago zone and down the right wing side of the ice. After Jan Rutta fell, on what Rutta felt was interference, Eric Staal was wide open backdoor and Zucker found Staal for the tap in as Minnesota cut Chicago’s lead in half.

The Blackhawks would not be able to fend off the Wild pressure. As the second period began to wind down, the same Minnesota line responsible for the first goal, was able to set up in Chicago’s zone after a fluttering pass from Jordan Greenway.

Greenway found Staal from behind the net, and without hesitation, Staal dished the puck to Zucker who found the back of the net with 2.8 seconds remaining in the period.

Chicago would take the tie into the second intermission even though Minnesota controlled the period, out shooting the Blackhawks 12-9 in the middle frame.

As the third period was in its infancy, Chicago was able to draw a penalty on an Eric Fehr tripping call. The Blackhawks powerplay has been abysmal to start the season, going the first three games without a goal, despite having ten powerplays.

After yet another key Jonathan Toews faceoff win, Blackhawks rookie Henri Jokiharju was able to get a puck into the high slot on a blocked shot attempt. Kane picked up the loose puck and played catch with Alex Debrincat.  After slight hesitation from Kane on the right-wing half wall, Kane found Debrincat in the slot for his second goal of the game.  This was the first powerplay tally of the season for Chicago.

The Blackhawks were able to fend off the Wild attack for most of the third period. As time ticked away, though, Minnesota gave Chicago a late powerplay chance and an opportunity to close out the game. With under thirty seconds remaining in the third, Minnesota gained possession and sent Dubnyk to the bench for the fifth attacker.

After a stellar save by Cam Ward, who looked very solid all night long, Eric Staal threw a puck on net. Minnesota defenseman Ryan Suter was out in front of the crease and tapped home the rebound with just under 23 seconds remaining to tie the game 3-3. For the fourth straight game, Chicago would need overtime to determine which team would get the second point in the standings.  

The overtime began with a 4-on-3 powerplay and the Blackhawks sending Kane, Keith, Debrincat and Toews out for the opening shift. Chicago generated a few looks on Dubnyk, but Minnesota was able to gain a whistle as the penalty expired, sending play back to 3-on-3.

With just over two minutes remaining, Patrick Kane and Alex Debrincat found themselves with a 2-on-1, only for Kane to be denied on a beautiful save by Dubnyk. In response to the big Dubnyk save, Cam Ward would make a spectacular save of his own on Minnesota’s 2-on-1 after Chicago’s chance.

High paced action continued late into overtime. With under two minutes remaining, Ryan Suter found Zach Parise who began pushing the pace up the right wing boards. Parise put a perfect pass onto Jason Zucker’s stick at mid-ice, sending him on on a breakaway against Cam Ward. Zucker buried the chance five hole and sent the Wild home happy with a victory. Final: 4-3 Wild.

Positives

  • Chicago’s powerplay finally capitalized tonight against the Minnesota Wild. This was their first effective powerplay of the season. Ideally, the necessary adjustments will be made to allow the powerplay to be more effective than it has been to this point.
  • Alex Debrincat has scored two notable “first” goals this season for Chicago. He opened the season scoring in Ottawa for the Blackhawks and, on Thursday night, netted the first powerplay goal of the season for the Blackhawks, which was his third goal of the season.
  • Jonathan Toews continues his turnaround. He has looked like the $10.5M per year player that he should be, and is continuing to show why he is one of the best players in the league. Toews had two assists, both primary, to bring his point total to eight in four games.
  • The top line, as a whole, is gelling well. Debrincat and Kahun have proven to be good linemates for Jonathan Toews, as both have started off the season strong. Debrincat had two goals in the loss, and Kahun registered his first NHL goal late in the first period.
  • Alexandre Fortin was very noticeable throughout the game. He was using his speed to generate opportunities for himself. Don’t be surprised if he plays another game on Saturday and Quenneville lets him run with the third line in hopes of generating some offense for that line.
  • Cam Ward looked very strong in this contest. 42 of 46 is quite impressive, given his stats coming into this game. If he can play like this, it gives Chicago some hope that they will have a chance in most games. However, he cannot do it on his own…

Negatives

  • Chicago’s defense continues to give up too many shots. Minnesota had 46 shots on net against Cam Ward. If this team wants to have sustained success and win games, the defense needs to do better at suppressing the oppositions shot numbers.
  • The supporting cast has still not shown up. Despite having four assists, Nick Schmaltz hasn’t taken a next step to continue his growth on this team and prove himself as a top-6 center. Brandon Saad still only has one assist through the first four games, and the bottom six is responsible for two goals this entire season. Saad and Schmaltz specifically need to step up, but Artem Anisimov needs to step up as well and play like the $4.55M center he is expected to be.

What to watch for:

  • Chicago’s next game will mark Duncan Keith’s 1,000th NHL game. Keith will reach the mark in under ten games after fellow alternate captain, defenseman and long-time teammate Brent Seabrook accomplished the same feat. Chicago hosts the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, October 13th at 7:00pm CST.

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