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RECAP: Blackhawks Drop Winter Classic 4-2 To Boston

  
RECAP: Blackhawks Drop Winter Classic 4-2 To Boston
Photo courtesy of NHL.com

The Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks met up in South Bend, Indiana for the 2019 Bridgestone Winter Classic, on Tuesday afternoon. Both teams nailed their special event uniforms and there was no shortage of the circus-like NHL public relations stunts.

This was your Blackhawks starting lineup:
Brandon Saad – Jonathan Toews – Dominik Kahun
Artem Anisimov – Dylan Strome – Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat – David Kampf – Dylan Sikura
Brendan Perlini – Marcus Kruger – Andreas Martinsen

Duncan Keith – Erik Gustafsson
Gustav Forsling – Brent Seabrook
Carl Dahlstrom – Connor Murphy

Newly acquired Drake Caggiula was not able to make his Blackhawks debut because of work visa issues, while veteran Chris Kunitz, and John Hayden both got a birds-eye view of the game from the press box.

After over thirty minutes of fluff and pre-game nonsense, there was actually a hockey game that needed to be played. Shocking, I know…

Period One

Boston came out early and tested Blackhawks goalie Cam Ward, but Ward’s old school veteran style kept the Bruins off the board. The Blackhawks didn’t get a significant scoring chance until the game was five minutes old.

Following a mostly ineffective power play, the Blackhawks took a surprising 1-0 lead. Even more surprising was the player that scored the aforementioned goal. Brendan Perlini scored his fifth goal of the season, and third as a Blackhawk. The goal would have never been possible without the ferocious forecheck of David Kampf, who stole puck behind the Boston net and fed a wide-open Perlini.

After Artem Anisimov was assessed a penalty for tripping up former Blackhawk Joakim Nordstrom, the Bruins took their first shot at the man advantage. Thirty-three seconds into the power play Bruins forward David Pastrnak intercepted a long Patrice Bergeron shot on it’s way to then net. Pastrnak caught Ward committing to the original shot and was able to slide the puck under the goaltender’s right pad, tying the game.

The Blackhawks had another power play chance in the closing minutes of the first period but were unsuccessful once again. Each team also had solid scoring opportunities in the final minute, but the goalies stood tall and sent the teams into the locker rooms tied at one goal apiece.  Shots favored Boston 14-12.

Period Two

The middle frame of the game was pretty slow moving for the first half, as the Blackhawks held an early 9-2 shot lead. Bruins goalie Tuuka Rask remained calm and held the home team off the scoreboard, initially.

Shortly after the 10-minute mark, Blackhawks forward Dominik Kahun gave the men in black a 2-1 lead. Jonathan Toews worked hard behind the net to hold possession of the puck and fed Erik Gustafsson at the blue line. Gustafsson, who is no stranger to the offensive end of the rink, sent a shot towards the Boston net that Kahun slightly redirected.  That slight redirection was all that the puck needed to fool Rask and give the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead.

Unfortunately, A poor Erik Gustafsson penalty in the final moments of the second period eventually ended up turning into the game tying goal. Following an unsuccessful shorthanded Kahun break-a-way at one end of the rink, the puck came back down to the other end and Patrice Bergeron beat Ward, from the slot, following a nice pass from David Pastrnak.

Patrick Kane drew a late penalty with nine seconds remaining and the teams headed into the final intermission tied at two goals. The Blackhawks fought back to take the shots on net lead, 28-24.

Period Three

Just two minutes into the third period, the Blackhawks got themselves into an awful position, after taking two undisciplined penalties to negate their original power play. As a result, the home team faced a 90-second two-man Bruins advantage. Luckily for the Blackhawks, they were able to kill off the Bruins red-hot power play and the game remained tied.

Another sloppy penalty, this time in their own end by Gustav Forsling, brought the Bruins power play back out on the ice just five minutes into the third period. The Blackhawks once again stepped up and killed the penalty off.

If only they could have figured this out in the first two periods.

At the midway point of the third period, the Bruins took a 3-2 lead due to some bad Blackhawks defense. Initially, the Blackhawks lost a faceoff in the Bruins zone, which eventually led to the puck ending up deep in the Chicago end. Gustav Forsling failed to clear the puck under an intense Bruins fourth line forecheck. Eventually, Sean Kuraly found a loose puck in front of the Blackhawks’ net and shoveled the puck past Cam Ward.

That goal stood as the game winner, with the Bruins getting an empty netter in the waning moments. The final shot total favored Chicago 38-36, but they left South Bend and Notre Dame Stadium 3-2 losers.

RECAP: Blackhawks Drop Winter Classic 4-2 To Boston

Photo courtesy of the Chicago Blackhawks twitter

Pluses

  • Nice to see Brendan Perlini get a goal and be noticeable in a positive manner.  I might want to see him succeed more than Dylan Strome.  He really could make that Schmaltz trade absolute larceny.
  • Cam Ward played more than adequate.  He deserved a better fate from his teammates.  Goaltending was not an issue in this game at all.
  • The Blackhawks got shots off the post by Connor Murphy early on, and Jonathan Toews later.  Either could have easily been the game tying goal.
  • Despite playing the least amount (by a significant margin), the Blackhawks fourth line were possession monsters and scored the first goal of the game.
  • Generally, this game was pretty even.  Shots were within two, and high danger scoring chances were within one.  This is the result when a team loses focus as the game goes on.

Minuses

  • Gustav Forsling had a rough game.  His turnovers were costly and egregious.
  • It is about time Dylan Sikura started doing something on the ice that results in something positive on the scoreboard.  His job is to score and set up scoring opportunities.  If he’s not going to accomplish that he needs to be in Rockford and someone else needs a shot like Anthony Louis.
  • The Blackhawks fell to 1-5 in outdoor games.  Can we stop this nonsense for a while?  They simply don’t show well nor do they deserve it.

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