The Penguins hosted the Blackhawks, Saturday night, for a rematch of the Hawks regular season opening game. A game in which the Blackhawks smashed the Pens 10-1. The chances that this game would go that same way were slim to none, because the Blackhawks were no longer that same team. Not to mention, the defending back-to-back Stanley Cup champs were not going to get run over, yet again, this time at home.
These are the staring lines:
Brandon Saad – Jonathan Toews – Richard Panik
Nick Schmaltz – Artem Anisimov – Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp – Ryan Hartman – Alex DeBrincat
Lance Bouma – Tommy Wingels – John Hayden
Duncan Keith – Cody Franson
Gustav Forsling – Jan Rutta
Connor Murphy – Brent Seabrook
The game opened up with the Blackhawks having three “grade A” scoring chances in the first five minutes of play, but Pens goalie Matt Murray turned all of them away. This is something the Blackhawks would continue to have the entire night, which might be a sign they are starting to pull out of their slump.
Matching minor penalties to Kris Letang and Richard Panik in the middle of the first period generated little pressure and even slowed the pace of the game down to bit of a crawl. Speaking of a crawling pace, the Blackhawks gained their first powerplay shortly thereafter and laid the usual eggs, despite a Brandon Saad shot off the post.
The Penguins seemed determined to give the Blackhawks opportunities taking a third penalty before the game was 15 minutes old, and the Pens finally got their wish. Jonathan Toews won a powerplay faceoff deep in the Pens zone and Alex DeBrincat eventually worked the loose puck to an open Gustav Forsling. Forsling snapped a low shot through Matt Murray and the Blackhawks had a 1-0 lead. That was how the first period ended with the Blackhawks leading in shots on goal and well, 12-9
The Blackhawks began the sandwich frame by killing off the remainder of a late first period penalty, and both teams turned up the pressure once again. Both goalies were up to the task, keeping the game 1-0.
Midway through the second period, Corey Crawford took a hard hit to the head by Evgeni Malkin and ended up in the quiet room for concussion testing. Anton Forsberg came into the game for only a short time and never saw a shot, as Crawford was back in shortly.
Drama aside, the period eventually ended with the same score as the first period, even though the Pens had a late powerplay. This set up a tight, one goal third period
The Blackhawks continued their pressure in the third period, making this four straight periods of solid consistent play. Something Hawks fans haven’t seen since the opening two games of the season.
Pittsburgh were gifted a goal by Duncan Keith, while shorthanded, when he tipped a Matt Hunwick shot past his own goaltender. There wasn’t really anyone to blame goal this on, just a bunch of unfortunate circumstances.
The good news was that just 21 seconds later the Blackhawks scored yet another powerplay goal, off the stick of red hot Artem Anisimov, to regain the lead 2-1. Anisimov picked up a puck off the end boards and stuffed it past Murray. Nothing special, just some hard work down low in the zone.
That lead seemed to only last a few minutes, as the Pens scored a questionable goal, that Joel Quenneville challenged for goalie interference. The Pens’ Olli Maata was ruled to have interfered with Crawford and the goal was pulled off the board.
Thanks to the great play of Corey Crawford, the Hawks held on to their slim lead and eventually won a big one goal game.
Pluses
- Gustav Forsling is starting to come around. His second goal of the year came on the powerplay in the first which is one of the things he is specifically on this team to accomplish.
- The Blackhawks had three or four partial or full break-a-way chances in the first period alone, and that play continued. Matt Murray was the only reason the game remained 1-0 going into the second intermission.
- After four straight solid periods, it is still way too early to proclaim the team “fixed”, but they are trending in the right direction.
- Alex “El Gato” Debrincat continued his point streak with his first period power play assist.
- The Saad/Toews/Panik line were beasts all night, and dominated in possession. They could have easily had two goals.
Minuses
- Both Corey Crawford and Connor Murphy were injured in the second period. Both missed some time, but returned. Crawford was taken into the locker room for concussion protocol, and Murphy was injured blocking a shot.
- Steve Konroyd, once again, giving fans wrong info, claiming that Patrick Sharp “still has wheels.” This is the exact opposite of the truth, and how fans end up misinformed. To top it off, Pat Foley called Carl Hagelin “Nick”.
- Shots on net were probably right where we should have expected for these two team, but expecting your goalie to make 35 saves every night is asking for trouble.