After a couple of days off for the holidays, the Blackhawks were in action again Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild. The Wild have been struggling to score goals lately and the Hawks were hoping to capitalize early on the slumping Minnesota group.
Getting his second start this year in the NHL, net-minder Collin Delia looked for an encore to his outstanding performance on the road against the Avalanche last week. Delia has spent most of the season in Rockford getting experience with the IceHogs, but he could get significant time at the NHL level with Corey Crawford sidelined with a concussion.
Let’s get right into the recap of tonight’s 5-2 win against the Minnesota Wild.
First Period
Like many Blackhawks games that come after a few days off, you would assume that it would take a few shifts for the team to find their legs again but that wasn’t the case tonight. The United Center was buzzing, as were the Hawks. Both teams were skating hard and getting quality chances early. The Wild’s Charlie Coyle and Nino Niedereider had opportunities to score but were denied by Collin Delia.
Less than five minutes into the game, Dylan Strome skated the puck up the ice and hit a trailing Erik Gustafsson. Gus faked a slap-shot, went around his defender and found Patrick Kane in the slot. Kane stopped the puck with his skate and shot the puck instantaneously scoring his 18th goal of the season.
Less than a minute later, the Wild turned the puck over right in front of their net onto the stick of Dylan Sikura. Sikura tried to lift the puck of Devin Dubnyk, but the Minnesota goaltender made a great save.
Eleven minutes into the first period, Minnesota’s Nino Niederreiter was called for a holding minor sending the Blackhawks to the power play. But after a couple neutral zone turnovers that turned into scoring chances for Nick Foligno and Jason Zucker, the Wild killed it off.
Immediately after the Wild minor penalty, the Blackhawks Brandon Perlini was called for tripping. The Wild had the puck in the Hawks zone for what seemed like an eternity. Collin Delia hung in and make a few high-danger saves, but ultimately it was too much pressure for the young goaltender. MIkael Granlund was left open in front of the net and scored off a rebound.
After 20 minutes of hockey, the score was 1-1 with the Wild leading in shots 15-4.
In between periods, Patrick Kane called the Blackhawks play “sloppy” and suggested that they need to do a better job of taking care of the puck.
Second Period
In the second period the Hawks came out hard again, this time scoring right out of the gate. Jonathan Toews skated the puck behind the net and found Brandon Saad cutting to the net. Saad fired a quick shot that trickled through Devin Dubnyk putting the Blackhawks ahead 2-1.
Moments later, Eric Staal was called for a minor penalty sending the Blackhawks to the power play again. Erik Gustafsson did a great job of quarterbacking from the point and found Patrick Kane on the right side for a one-timer that also beat Dubnyk.
Bruce Boudreu saw enough from Dubnyk for the night and pulled him four minutes into the second period for Alex Stalock.
Collin Delia stayed sharp even though he was tested several more times in the period. The Wild’s Jordan Greenway had a nice chance on a breakaway but Delia took away the bottom of the net and made a nice save. At the end of the period, Delia made another great save on Ryan Suter with a lot of traffic in front.
The third period was tight for the first five minutes until the Blackhawks were called for a minor penalty for too many men. The Hawks killed off the penalty and shortly after got their own power play from an interference call on Eric Staal. That penalty was also killed off.
With seven minutes left in the final frame, Patrick Kane sent a long pass off the boards but it missed Alex DeBrincat. The Wild’s goaltener Alex Stalock came out to play the puck but he turned it over in his own zone. DeBrincat recovered the puck and passed it to Brandon Saad who scored his second goal of the night into an empty net.
With a few minutes left in the game, the Wild pulled their goalie and scored on a rebound shot by Jared Spurgeon. Delia didn’t really have a chance on this goal either with a lot of traffic and a quick shot from Ryan Suter from the point.
And in the final minutes of the game with the Wild goalie pulled, Dylan Strome found Patrick Kane on the right side who scored his 20th goal this season, also scoring a hat-trick for the game.
What we learned
The Blackhawks defense has been the topic of conversation for the last couple seasons, but the pairing of Connor Murphy and Carl Dahlstrom was impressive tonight. They were tough on opposing forwards and are good at clearing their own net. Both players are far from perfect, but they are making it harder for opponents to score, keeping the Hawks closer in games.
The Blackhawks power play went 2 for 4 tonight and a lot of that had to do with Erik Gustafsson. There are a lot of young prospects coming up through the system who can really quarterback on the PP, but right now the puck belongs on Gus’ stick. He’s been great at getting defenders to commit to fake shots, making cross-ice passes, and creating space for his snipers.
Collin Delia is the real deal (no pun intended…maybe). I know two starts in the NHL isn’t a large sample size this year, but Delia seems poised and focused to get to the NHL for good. He’s come a long way the last couple seasons and he’s making the case that he belongs with the big club. Stopping 46 of 48 and getting his second NHL win ain’t bad at all.
Patrick Kane is on fire and is carrying the Chicago Blackhawks. It’s no secret that he’s a fierce competitor and he wants the team to succeed. His passion is so vivid on the ice and he deserved the attention tonight. Kane continues to be a superstar player in Chicago despite some turmoil on the team. He’s really been a treat to watch of late.
