Recap: Blackhawks at Golden Knights 5-2 Loss

The Blackhawks lose their 7th game in a row and their season record is now below .500.

After losing an embarrassing game to the Arizona Coyotes Monday night, the Blackhawks traveled to Las Vegas to take on the Golden Knights 24 hours later.  The lines continued to be shaken up as head coach Joel Quenneville sat Anthony Duclair and Vinnie Hinostroza for Patrick Sharp and Ryan Hartman.  Carl Dahlstrom started the game on the 1st defensive pairing with Duncan Keith in just his second NHL game.  The ‘Hawks seemed like they came out with more of a purpose tonight, wanting to reverse a bad streak of losses.

It was noticeable the Hawks knew they were going up against one of the top teams in the West.  They were heavy on the forecheck and were really skating with the Knights all night.  At least until the third period when the wheels came off the wagon, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

In the first period, the Blackhawks took advantage of an early power play when Tommy Wingels scored on a tipped Erik Gustafsson shot from the point.  Wingels started the game on the first line with Brandon Saad and Jonathan Toews and has been rewarded with power play time for his efforts.  He certainly cashed in on the opportunity.  But just minutes later, the Golden Knights’ Ryan Carpenter stuffed in a shot from behind the net that tied the game at one.  The Hawks were lucky to get out of the period tied because they had three minor penalties in the first alone.

In the second period, Tommy Wingels almost had another chance to score but Marc-Andre Fleury came out to challenge him and knocked the puck away.  Later in the period, Patrick Sharp was awarded a penalty shot because Fleury pushed a loose stick in his direction which is illegal.  Sharp however missed on the shot.  The only goal in the period was from the stick of rookie Alex DeBrincat who scored his 21st of the season on a one-time shot from the slot.

The Hawks started the third period on the penalty kill but couldn’t stop the Knights when Brad Hunt scored on a long point shot.  Two minutes later Riley Smith scored on the second shot in the period, then another two minutes later David Perron scored on the third shot of the period.  The Blackhawks pulled their goalie with three minutes left in the 3rd but Tomas Nosek put the game away with an empty net goal.

The Blackhawks ended the game being out-shot by the Golden Knights 37 to 31.  Jeff Glass wasn’t the best tonight, but I don’t think a cold Anton Forsberg could’ve saved this one either.  The Hawks let up a lot off odd-man rushes and a couple soft goals were let in.  It’s just disappointing that the Hawks went into the 3rd period up 2-1 and just laid an egg.

If you had to take away some positives from this game, you have to start with Alex DeBrincat.  This kid is throwing everything at the net and finding success.  Tommy Wingels was also noticeable with a goal tonight and a lot of good chances.

You have to wonder what the Hawks have to do to get out of this funk.  They have less than a 2% chance of making the playoffs, they have lost seven games in a row, and seem to be in a free fall of sorts.  Do they need to make a coaching change?  Do they need to make a big trade?  Do players need to be benched or given less minutes?  There are a lot of questions that need to be answered as we near this year’s trade deadline, but there’s no doubt something drastic needs to happen.  The number of under-achieving players on this team is unacceptable and seems to be a theme.  This team has packed it in.