The Blackhawks took a short trip across Alberta from Edmonton, where they dropped a goose egg Thursday night, to nearby Calgary for a Saturday night game against the Flames. The Flames were coming off an emotional five goal third period and comeback win against the Avalanche on Thursday.
Corey Crawford was back in net for the Blackhawks, while Flames backup David Rittich got the call from coach Bill Peters. Joel Quenneville re-inserted Nick Schmaltz into the lineup, while flipping Brandon Saad and Dominik Kahun.
This was your Blackhawks starting lineup:
Alex DeBrincat- Jonathan Toews – Brandon Saad
Nick Schmaltz – Artem Anisimov – Patrick Kane
Chris Kunitz – David Kampf – Dominik Kahun
Alexandre Fortin – Marcus Kruger – Andreas Martinsen
Duncan Keith – Henri Jokiharju
Erik Gustafsson – Brent Seabrook
Brandon Manning – Jan Rutta
Less than three minutes into the game, Duncan Keith earned himself a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for a hit on Flames center Dillon Dube that drew blood. The Flames only took about half of that five-minute powerplay to take a 1-0 lead.
Calgary center Sean Monahan closed out a very impressive tic-tac-toe play across the Blackhawks zone, setup by Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm. Corey Crawford had over committed himself to Gaudreau, which left Monahan more than enough room to hit the open half of the net. Calgary continued with the rest of the power play, but were not able to strike for a second time.
The Blackhawks actually had to play shorthanded for an additional minute and a half after the expiration of the penalty because the coaching staff failed to put a substitute player in the penalty box with Keith getting the game misconduct. Not a good look for a professional sports franchise.
At the 7:14 mark of the first period, the Blackhawks took their turn on the power play and, eventually, ended up with a 5-on-3 for 1:11. Jonathan Toews scored the 300th goal of his career to tie the game shortly into the two-man advantage from Patrick Kane.
300th of his career. Eighth on the year. So far, @JonathanToews has been straight 🔥 this year. #CHIvsCGY pic.twitter.com/5OAA2A9KZD
— NHL (@NHL) November 4, 2018
Chicago was left with another minute and a half of 5-on-4 powerplay time following the goal, but weren’t able to generate any further significant pressure whatsoever. This has been one of the major stories of the Blackhawks this season.
With 26.9 seconds left in the first period, defenseman Jan Rutta flipped a puck towards the Calgary net that eluded everyone, including a surprised David Rittich in net. The play was set up by a good puck retrieval by the Blackhawks fourth line, specifically Andreas Martinsen, which led to the puck making it’s way out to Rutta.
Right Jan the money!#Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/STxqOmmHAr
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 4, 2018
As a result, the visitors headed into the first intermission up 2-1, even though they were out shot 9-5.
A minute and sixteen seconds into the second period, Flames goalie David Rittich took a pretty egregious delay of game penalty for directly shooting the puck into the crowd. The Blackhawks, again, failed to generate more than a whimper of pressure, so Calgary emerged from the goalie gaffe unscathed.
This lack of offense led to a measly 10-7 shot total in the entire first 30 minutes of the game. It took until the 7:19 mark of the middle frame until fans were treated to some actual offense, although it was for the visiting team.
Recently red-hot forward Brandon Saad took a feed from new line mate Alex DeBrincat and powered up the middle of the Calgary zone. Saad then split defensemen TJ Brodie and Mark Giordano, eventually sliding the puck past Rittich with Giordano attempting to haul him down.
That was a #KneelBeforeSaad-worthy goal if we’ve ever seen one!
No. 20 wills himself to the crease and the puck trickles in! The #Blackhawks are up 3-1 in Calgary! #CHIvsCGY pic.twitter.com/TOKhM2tH7c
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 4, 2018
With a minute and a half remaining in the second period Calgary cut the Blackhawks lead in half. Forward Matthew Tkachuk used Blackhawks rookie Henri Jokiharju as a screen and beat Crawford over the right shoulder.
Even though the Blackhawks only generated a total of 11 shots on net, in forty minutes, they had three goals on the board and the lead heading into the third period.
Two minutes into the third period, Andreas Martinsen took a sloppy offensive zone penalty, putting the Blackhawks on the penalty kill. Corey Crawford and Brent Seabrook had to make a couple of superhuman plays to keep the Flames off the scoreboard, but kept them down by one goal, nonetheless.
The Flames continued to pepper Corey Crawford, while his teammates failed to get a single shot on net until the 9:28 mark of third period. The “bend but don’t break” defense along with a tough Crawford in net kept the Flames off the scoreboard a while, at least.
With six minutes left in regulation, Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau hooked up once again to tie the game up late. The Blackhawks defense played the top Flames line pretty well, but Gaudreau’s laser of a pass to Monahan on the back door was just a perfect play.
A minute and five seconds after Monahan tied the game, ex-Blackhawk Michael Frolik banked a pass off Artem Anisimov and into the Blackhawks’ net. Corey Crawford just could not catch a break. To make things worse, that goal was of the game-winning variety.
The Flames added an empty net goal, of the shorthanded variety. Shots heavily favored Calgary (41-15) and, in the end, so did the goals.
Pluses
- Jonathan Toews continuing to score is good for everyone wearing the Blackhawks logo.
- The same could be said for Brandon Saad. I suppose the people screaming for his immediate trade (or burning at the stake) can call off the dogs for a another game.
- Corey Crawford continues to hold this team above water, but he can only bail then out for so long until the levee breaks.
- When one of the few compliments are “the fourth line was noticeable in a good way”, your night might not be going well.
Minuses
- Having to play without Duncan Keith for almost the entire game was a tough pill to swallow. All of the defensemen got an increased workload, most notably Brent Seabrook (team leading 26:48).
- Erik Gustafsson continues to be an absolute adventure in his own end. His terrible turnover in the third very nearly became the game tying goal late in the third period (that came a little late), if not for some bad Calgary luck (maybe some bad decisions, too).
- The Flames deserved to be leading in this game (the entire way) and eventually win. They led both teams in shots (41-15), all possession numbers (65% – 34% in Corsi and Fenwick), and high danger scoring chances (18-8). Corey Crawford was the only reason that Calgary wasn’t up big early.
- Da Cat (El Gato), my frent, has gone a little cold. He has had one assist (this game), and a minus 7 in his last 5 games. Coincidentally, the Blackhawks are on a five game losing streak.