The St. Louis Blues came into Chicago last night, looking for revenge after an overtime loss to the Blackhawks on home ice last week.
The game was marked by a celebration of Duncan Keith’s 1000th regular season NHL game—a significant and telling milestone, as it recognizes a remarkable career but also serves as a reminder of just how many miles are actually on the Keith vehicle at this point.
Naturally, the Hawks had a big pre-game event, highlighted by a career accomplishment video that reminded us all what a great competitor Keith has been, driving the franchise’s on-ice success for over a decade.
Also, that the era of “Duncan Keith’s Blackhawks” is really coming to an end.
For this Hawk fan, I’ve always maintained Keith was the real engine of the Hawks’ elite game since 2005; and I never saw a better Stanley Cup performance—by any player—than Keith’s in 2015, when he won the Conn Smythe Trophy. It’s not a coincidence that as his career and ability winds down, so do the fortunes of his team.
As for the game against the Blues . . . in net, Cam Ward brought his .867 save percentage and 4.41 GAA against the similarly challenged Jake Allen for the Blues.
Also, there was a slight shakeup in the Hawks lines:
DeBrincat-Toews-Kahun
Fortin-Schmaltz-Kane
Kunita-Anisimov-Hayden
Saad-Kruger-Kampf
Defense pairings
Keith Jokiharju
Gustafsson Seabrook
Manning Rutta
FIRST PERIOD
Before two minutes were gone, NBCSN announcers Pat Foley and Ed Olczyk found a way to pump the tires of Ward and Nick Schmaltz, which was basically the only “action” of any note—aside from the usual Erik Gustafsson/Jan Rutta puckhandling and positioning gaffes—until Henri Jokiharju nearly put a point shot past Allen at 13:00.
The Hawks got a power play at 10:08, when Brandon Saad drew a penalty at the St. Louis goal mouth. It ended with Artem Anisimov banging home a rebound of the power play’s first shot by Saad. 1-0 Chicago at 8:09.
At 6:55, Chicago got another man advantage on a St. Louis delay of game caused by relentless pressure from the Hawks best line, centered by Jonathan Toews. The Hawks got some pressure on this power play, but no goals, until St. Louis’ Robert Bortuzzo took a goalie interference call, giving the Hawk an 8-second two-man advantage. Ryan O’Reilly won the ensuing faceoff, making it just a 5-on-4, which Patrick Kane finished, taking his time and firing the puck through a mass of humanity tangled up in the Blues crease at 3:59. 2-0 Chicago.
Allen robbed rookie Alex Fortin, who was in the right place for his first goal, on a point blank chance at 1:22.
Due mostly to lengthy power plays (and successful ones), the Hawks ended the period with a huge shot advantage: 23-10.
SECOND PERIOD
The Hawks continued to dominate in the early part of the second, with a 5-1 shot advantage in the first six minutes. The game started heating up at about 12:30, with both teams trading some higher quality chances.
The Blues had been outshot 33-12 for the game when Nick Schmaltz took a slashing penalty at 10:51. St. Louis generated a few shots then put together some 5-on-5 time in the Hawks’ end, with Brayden Schenn finally scoring at 7:25 on another delayed penalty to Schmaltz, taken 200 feet from his net. You could see it coming, and it did. 2-1 Hawks.
Toews got called for a questionable offensive zone slash at 6:09, putting the Blues back on the power play, which the Hawks successfully killed. Alex DeBrincat then took an interference penalty at :015 and ended the period in the box.
Shots for the period were 16-12 Chicago. Clearly, though, you could feel St. Louis coming on late in this period and the damage could have been worse.
THIRD PERIOD
David Perron scored on the St. Louis power play to open the third. 2-2 at 18:16. Yet another Hawk penalty, this time on a beaten Rutta, turned into yet another Schenn goal, beating Ward 5-hole to give St. Louis the lead, 3-2 Blues at 15:13.
Before long, St. Louis forward “Big Pat” Maroon coughed up a puck in the neutral zone which came back the other way, allowing Toews to set up DeBrincat for the equalizer, 3-3 at 6:54.
St. Louis outshot the Hawks in the third, 12-6.
OVERTIME
It was an exciting back and forth 3-on-3 session, that concluded with a nifty pass by Gustafsson that was tapped home by DeBrincat at :09 left. Same scenario as last week in St. Louis, same result, a 4-3 Hawk win.
THE GOOD
The Toews line. Continued dominance much of the night. The Cat, 2 more goals.
The lineup shuffle. Saad had a good first period (at least), while Fortin is defying expectations yet again and showing himself to be an NHL-worthy player. Granted, while I’m a known Fortin fan, did he look out of place at all on the Hawks’ second line? His speed creates opportunities for himself and others and he generates turnovers on the forecheck.
Jake Allen and Cam Ward. The Blues goalie deserved better—giving up the gamewinner at the end of OT on the Hawks’ 50th shot—than the lousy support he got from a team that looked like it was skating in QuikCrete all night. Ward was good much of the night, with the exception of perhaps the third St. Louis goal.
THE BAD
Nick Schmaltz. Although he did finally crack 50% on faceoffs last night, does this guy really care? Hard to say. Sure, every game there is a flash of speed or a nifty pass, but the little things that win hockey games often seem like they’re too much trouble for #8. Not to mention engaging in any physical contact.
THE UGLY
The Hawks took a couple too many lazy penalties, especially after jumping out to a 2-0 lead. And they paid for it.
SUMMARY
The Hawks continue to rely on the “Big Three” of Toews, Debrincat and Kane for late-game and OT heroics to win games. The team gives up a lot of shots, but in their wins, they generally get more shots off. This formula is in reality not sustainable (see Marc-Louis Paprzyca’s insightful piece posted yesterday on our main page), however. But it is allowing Chicago to bank points for the eventuality that the formula stops working. And certainly it’s fun hockey to watch.
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