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RECAP: Blackhawks Beat Panthers in OT Thriller

  
RECAP: Blackhawks Beat Panthers in OT Thriller
courtesy of NHL.com

Saturday afternoon the Blackhawks took the trek across Florida to face the Panthers, in Sunrise, after a terrible showing in Tampa less than 24 hours prior.  With every mounting loss the Blackhawks sink deeper into despair.  What they needed was an emotional win.

Head Coach Jeremy Colliton decided that Corey Crawford took enough of a beating in Tampa, and started Cam Ward in net.  Chris Kunitz, Luke Johnson and Jan Rutta all took the night off, as well. Prior to the game it was announced that Brandon Davidson will undergo surgery on Tuesday for his knee, and would be out and undetermined amount of time.

This was your Blackhawks starting lineup:
Brandon Saad- Jonathan Toews – Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat – Artem Anisimov – John Hayden
Nick Schmaltz – David Kampf – Dominik Kahun
Alexandre Fortin – Marcus Kruger – Andreas Martinsen

Duncan Keith – Gustav Forsling
Erik Gustafsson – Henri Jokiharju
Brandon Manning – Brent Seabrook

The Blackhawks came out with much more urgency than they had the night previous, getting a solid chance just a minute into the game. James Reimer shut the door, although this pressure was a welcomed sight.

As it turned out, the pressure didn’t last much longer.

At the 14:12 mark of the first period, the Panthers took the first lead of the game. Mike Hoffman found a soft area across the Blackhawks zone and Keith Yandle set the shot up on a tee for him. The Hoffman laser beat Cam Ward, who really didn’t have a chance.

Brandon Manning tried to fire his team up following the goal by engaging in some fisticuffs with former Blackhawk Troy Brouwer but that did nothing to swing the momentum.

The Panthers took a 2-0 lead at the 6:20 mark of the first period when Erik Gustafsson failed to get a puck deep into the Cats’ zone and it quickly came back the Blackhawks way. The Hawks actually had decent numbers back in their defensive zone, but all three players went to the puck carrier, Colton Sceviour. Sceviour dished the puck to Jared McCann who stopped, went forehand/backhand and beat Ward.

That was all of the action in the first period, and the Panthers headed to the locker room leading in shots 16-8.

Just 49 seconds into the second period David Kampf took matters into his own hands to put the Blackhawks on the scoreboard.

Yes, THIS David Kampf.

Kampf channeled his inner vintage Jonathan Toews driving around and through Panthers defenders, eventually tucking the puck around Reimer’s right skate for a highlight-reel goal.

At the 14:26 mark of the second period, the Blackhawks fought back to tie the game. Brandon Saad drove the puck up the right Panther’s half boards. Once Saad cleared the defenseman, he saucered a backhand pass towards the crease. Patrick Kane was driving to the net and redirected the pass over the Cats’ goalie.

Roughly three minutes after Kane tied the game, his defensive miscue gave the Panthers the lead back. Kane left his man (Aaron Eckblad) to lazily float through the neutral zone which allowed Eckblad to take a nice feed back in the Blackhawks’ zone from Mike Hoffman and beat Ward.

Soon after the Cats recaptured the lead, they were assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which us usually a good sign for an opposing hockey team. Teams not named the Chicago Blackhawks.

Shortly into the power play Colton Sceviour lost his stick and was forced to defend without one for the remainder of the Hawks man-advantage. In typical Blackhawks fashion, they failed to get more than a dribbler or two in the area of the net.

The problems didn’t stop there, though.

Following the unsuccessful power play, the Panthers held possession long enough to forced a couple of tired (and old) Hawks defenders to attempt to keep up. Eventually, Frank Vatrano tipped a puck past Cam Ward to put the Panthers back up by two goals.

As a result, the Blackhawks went into the second intermission down 4-2 and were out shot 18-10 in the period.

At the 10 minute mark of the third period, some solid shorthanded forechecking by Alexandre Fortin led to a break-a-way. Reimer made the original stop but the puck went off Fortin’s skate and into the net. Since there was no distinct kicking motion, the goal stood as called on the ice.

With 5:43 left in regulation the Blackhawks thought they tied the game off the stick of Brandon Saad but puck ricocheted off the crossbar. Much like the rest of the season, the visiting team was snakebitten.

Clock ticked down to 1.2 seconds remaining in regulation before the Blackhawks managed to tie the score. Alex Debrincat found himself just outside the Panther’s crease after a nice no-look pass from Brandon Saad behind the net and muscled a puck through Reimer to send the game to overtime.

In overtime, the teams traded some excellent opportunities until the 2:32 mark of the extra period. Erik Gustafsson circled in the Florida zone, turned and fired a puck past a surprised James Reimer to win the game.

Pluses

  • Who doesn’t like a comeback?  The Blackhawks came back from two goal deficits twice.
  • Gustav Forsling has been sort of invisible; in a good way.  He had two assists but with this team, if you’re not being noticed for a bad goal or play, you’re doing pretty well for yourself.
  • in addition to Forsling, David Kampf, Brandon Saad, and Patrick Kane also had two points a piece.
  • Some of the goals weren’t pretty but Cam Ward made 34 saves and faced the majority of the high danger chances.
  • Nick Schmaltz led the Blackhawks in most possession metrics, but he also started in the offensive zone almost three out of every four starts.

Minuses

  • With the multiple comebacks you have the multiple deficits that the Blackhawks originally gave up.
  • Just because he scored the game winner doesn’t mean we all forget the terrible Erik Gustafsson rush and resulting turnover that led to the second Panthers goal.
  • That terrible 5-on-3 1/2 power play that eventually ended in the Panthers scoring was inexcusable.  Find a lane and shoot the puck.  If there is no lane, MOVE THE PUCK FASTER!
  • The high danger chances favored Florida 16-10.

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