Monday night was Dennis Hull’s One More shift ceremony with the Blackhawks and following the celebration the Blackhawks and Calgary Flames played their third contest of the season.
Eddie Olczyk called Dennis Hull one of the most underrated @NHLBlackhawks of all-time.
“The Silver Jet” took ONE MORE SHIFT on #AuthenticFan Night. pic.twitter.com/1WqS3JzJh7
— NBC Sports Chicago (@NBCSChicago) January 8, 2019
This was your Blackhawks starting lineup:
Brandon Saad – Jonathan Toews – Dominik Kahun
Artem Anisimov – Dylan Strome – Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat – David Kampf – Brendan Perlini
Chris Kunitz – Marcus Kruger – Drake Caggiula
Duncan Keith – Erik Gustafsson
Brandon Davidson – Brent Seabrook
Carl Dahlstrom – Connor Murphy
Fresh off his gold medal in the 2019 World Junior Championships, Henri Jokiharju was still not back in the lineup, while Gustav Forsling was still nursing his upper body injury and “Big John Studd” Hayden was simply just a healthy scratch.
Period One
The Blackhawks had a decent amount of pressure in the Flames end but just four minutes into the game Johnny Gaudreau gave the Flames a 1-0 lead. The Hawks began the play with decent coverage, but it broke down quickly when both Carl Dahlstrom and Brent Seabrook failed to move their feet. Sean Monahan was given far too much time to size Blackhawks goalie Collin Delia up. Delia made the initial save but the rebound squirted out to his left and Gaudreau was left with a gaping net to fill for his 25th goal of the season.
At the mid-way point of the first period the Blackhawks were laying some heavy pressure on the Calgary net, when Duncan Keith jumped into the play to let a heavy show go. The rebound rocketed out to James Neal, who raced the other way on a break-a-way. Neal hurried in on Delia but was denied but the home team’s netminder, keeping the score stuck at 1-0.
With 3:30 remaining in the first period, Patrick Kane looked to be pushed out to a bad angle with no shot, but was able to tie the game nonetheless. He made a pass to himself, between his legs, to enter the Calgary zone but was by the time he was able to settle the puck in a shooting position, he was at the goal line extended, 10 feet to Rittich’s left. He (somehow) saw a spot over the young goalies shoulder and flipped the shot into an impossible area.
Baby pic.twitter.com/mqmCjafbiy
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 8, 2019
That was it for the scoring on the first period, with Collin Delia making 15 saves and David Rittich making 11.
Period Two
Five minutes into the middle period, with not much going on, Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat hooked up to give the Blackhawks their first lead of the night. Kane led the rush into the Calgary zone with DeBrincat to his left, who had his stick cocked and ready for a one-timer. Kane fed a perfect pass to the Blackhawks sniper and DeBrincat wasted no time lighting the lamp.
That Darn Cat!#Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/ljgBH1HSf6
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 8, 2019
The game remained that way until the final 1:18 of the second period. A late Erik Gustafsson holding-the-stick infraction put the visitors on the power play. The Chicago penalty kill broke down and left Sean Monahan wide open in the slot. Matthew Tkachuk found Monahan, who quickly put the puck over Delia’s blocker.
With the power play tally, the period ended shortly after with the Blackhawks leading in shots on goal 12-9
Period Three
With a 2-2 tie, only fifty-four seconds into the third period, Connor Murphy and Carl Dahlstrom made an inexcusable, very lazy change, which gave Johnny Gaudreau a gift of a break-a-way. Gaudreau had plenty of time to size up Delia, but the initial save was made. Unfortunately, the puck squirted down between Delia’s legs and rolled into the net.
Much of the meat of third period was a free for all. There were several open looks on both ends of the ice but the young goalies stood behind their teams like experienced veterans.
With two-minutes left in regulation and the Blackhawks down by a goal, they drew a Calgary penalty. This was the prime opportunity they could have used to tie the game but, instead, gave up an empty net goal to give the Flames a 4-2 lead.
This would prove to be important.
With under 30-seconds remaining in regulation Brandon Saad caught Rittich cheating from the other side of the net and beat him over the right shoulder.
This goal was too little, too late and the Blackhawks succumbed to the Calgary Flames 4-3. Shots on goal favored the Flames 43-35.
Pluses
- Delia might want that Gaudreau goal back, but it could be said that he shouldn’t be facing a break-a-way less than a minute into the third period. He bailed the Hawks defense out several other time.
- In his seconds Blackhawks game Drake Caggiula made himself noticeable in a positive manner.
- Brandon Saad was snake bitten for most of the game, but eventually scored with under 30 seconds remaining. He led the Blackhawks in shots on net with five.
Minuses
- This game may have been Dylan Strome’s worst as a Blackhawk. He took three bad penalties, one of which ended up resulting in a goal. That said, he has been really good since being acquired, so one bad night is not alarming. He just needs to be better.
- Until further notice I will refer to the Blackhawks defense as the #Efense…because they have no “D”. Giving up more than 30-32 shots a night is unacceptable.
- Erik Gustafsson led all defensemen with 26:29, which is baffling. I thought Swedish defensemen were supposed to be solid and dependable in their own end. What happened here?
- Chris Kunitz played 5:14 and had 2 giveaways. Why is this happening? This team needs four productive lines, not 2 1/2 and a bunch of “guys”. They are not strong enough in the top six to be dragging around dead weight lower in the lineup.