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RECAP: Blackhawks Win Overtime Thriller 5-4

  
RECAP: Blackhawks Win Overtime Thriller 5-4
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

The Blackhawks traveled to Detroit for Wednesday Night Hockey, looking for their third win in four games and a chance to sit in a playoff spot by the end of the evening.

After winning two of their last three games in the last week, the Blackhawks traveled to “Mo-town” to battle with the Red Wings for the final time of the season. Brendan Perlini was sick and missed morning skate, giving way to John Hayden on the fourth line. The Blackhawks were also without Brent Seabrook for the second straight game. The lineup was as follows:

Caggiula – Toews – Kane

DeBrincat – Strome – Kahun

Saad – Anisimov – Sikura

Kunitz – Kruger – Hayden

Keith – Gustafsson

Dahlstrom – Murphy

Koekkoek – Forsling

Ward

First Period:

The first period began with an abnormal set of events. Within the first two minutes of the game, there were three center-ice face-offs, quite the abnormal scene for such a short amount of time.

In a similar fashion, it only took a short amount of time for the Blackhawks to get on the board. Only 1:39 into the first, Jimmy Howard stopped a puck behind his net for Filip Hronek to pick up. When Hronek went to pick up the puck, Artem Anisimov stole the puck, wrapped around on his backhand, and squeaked the puck past Jimmy Howard to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead.

The Blackhawks only enjoyed their lead for about five minutes before the Red Wings struck back. After winning a battle behind the Blackhawks net, Anthony Mantha threw the puck out to linemate Tyler Bertuzzi in front. The puck bounced away from Bertuzzi, as well as Slater Koekkoek, before landing on Dylan Larkin’s stick. Larkin set up and slipped a shot through Cam Ward’s five hole to tie the game. The goal marked number 25 for Larkin on the season.

After play continued to pace, the offense would not stop. Cam Ward broke out the puck to Dylan Sikura in the Blackhawks own zone. Sikura, once corralling the puck, sent a cross ice pass all the way to Brandon Saad at the far right-wing blue line. The play sent Saad and Anisimov in on a pseudo 2-on-1. Saad made the Red Wings pay by firing a sweet wrister past Jimmy Howard’s blocker to give the Blackhawks the lead once again.

After Saad’s 21st of the season, the Blackhawks found a little life a few minutes later. With roughly three minutes remaining in the period, Patrick Kane carried the puck into the Detroit zone, dropping it back for Erik Gustafsson at the right-wing point. Gustafsson found Dylan Strome entering the zone with speed and after a split second, Strome dished the puck to fellow former Erie Otter, Alex DeBrincat. DeBrincat received the puck, took one stride and fired home a beautiful top shelf goal to extend the Blackhawks lead to 3-1. DeBrincat’s goal was his 33rd on the year.

The Red Wings did not go away quietly. A late power play for the Red Wings gave them some life before the first frame came to an end. The Red Wings drew iron on their best chance of the power play, and allowed the Blackhawks to squeak into the first intermission still up 3-1. Although the Blackhawks dominated on the scoreboard, they were out shot 15-7 in the first period.

Second Period:

The beginning of the second period had a sense of “deja vu” for Blackhawks fans. After a good defensive play in front of Cam Ward, Patrick Kane picked up the puck with a head of steam. Kane’s speed quickly turned the end-to-end rush into a 2-on-1 with Jonathan Toews. Although looking for Toews, Kane ultimately kept the puck and fired home a perfect wrist shot to once again extend the Blackhawks lead to three goals.

The Patrick Kane goal was the last shot goaltender Jimmy Howard saw for the rest of the night, as he was pulled for backup Jonathan Bernier after going down 4-1.

The rest of the period featured quality back and forth, but nothing to show for it on the scoreboard. Notably, Drake Caggiula was confirmed out for the remainder of the contest in the second period after taking an inadvertent Toews’ stick up high. The Blackhawks were down to eleven forwards for the rest of the game.

Third Period:

The Red Wings came out firing in the third period against the Blackhawks. Once again, one of Detroit’s most dangerous players would prove to be too much for the Blackhawks defense.

After about four minutes of play, Detroit skated into the Blackhawks zone with a chance to do some damage. The puck ended up on Trevor Daley’s stick, as he took the puck around the net on the left-wing side. Before skating behind the net, Daley dished the puck to Dylan Larkin out in front, who muscled through the Blackhawks defense and fired a shot under Ward’s glove to cut the Blackhawks lead to two.

Following that goal, Detroit found momentum. After a possible botched call on the Gustafsson delay of game penalty, the Red Wings were sent to the power play. Anthony Mantha found the puck high in the zone and fired a shot toward the net. The shot ultimately missed wide right, but took a funny hop to the left-wing side of the ice. Sitting on the doorstep of the blue paint was Andreas Athanasiou, who quickly controlled the puck and lifted a shot off of Ward and in. The Red Wings were all of a sudden in striking distance down only one.

Following the power play goal, the Red Wings were sent to yet another power play thanks to a Kane tripping penalty on Danny DeKeyser. Fortunately, the Blackhawks penalty kill came up strong and held the Red Wings off the board.

The Red Wings had no luck as the period wore on, but eventually found some luck with under two minutes remaining in the period. After Bernier was pulled for the extra attacker, the top line for Detroit came onto the ice. As Detroit set up in the zone, Mike Green whiffed on a slap shot attempt only for it to land right on Anthony Mantha’s stick. Mantha fired the puck from the left-wing side of the blue paint to the right-wing side with a no-look pass. The pass ended up landing perfectly on Athanasiou’s stick and he buried the wide-open chance to tie the game at four.

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The game would end up requiring extra time, as the Red Wings scored three in the third to send the game to overtime. Shots were 32-16 in favor of the Red Wings.

Overtime:

From the get go, overtime was full of entertainment. Numerous quality chances for both teams certainly made fans’ hearts skip a beat at least once. Arguably the best chance came via Brandon Saad narrowly missing Anisimov on the doorstep. The play resulted in a 2-on-1 that Cam Ward stopped as he lost his mask.

Just before the 2:42 mark in the extra frame, Jonathan Toews skated up ice looking to create a chance for himself. Toews was able to execute a nice move but could not finish coming from right to left on Bernier. Toews re-gained possession of the puck and found Gustafsson open in the low slot and, without hesitation, “Gus“ one-time a pass over to Kane who was wide open backside for the game-winning goal. Blackhawks win in overtime 5-4.

Quick Hits:

  • It wasn’t pretty: Early on it looked as if the Blackhawks were going to run away with this game. However, a strong comeback from Detroit certainly made things interesting late. Fortunately, Patrick Kane is playing like the MVP this year and had another outstanding night, netting the game-winning goal on a sweet feed from Gustafsson. However, in this case, a win is a win and the Blackhawks can take a wildcard position on Friday if they beat the Avalanche.
  • A bunch of Otters: The Dylan Strome to Alex DeBrincat duo has been spectacular since Strome was acquired from Arizona. The play of the Strome line has allowed the Blackhawks to have balance throughout their offensive lineup. It’s safe to say that DeBrincat may have more than 33 goals this year had Strome been his center all season long.
  • Playoffs?!: That’s right… the Blackhawks sit tied with the Avalanche for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Colorado has one less game played, so they hold the spot. The Blackhawks can leap into a playoff spot on Friday when they welcome the Avalanche to the United Center for a 6:30pm puck drop.

The Blackhawks will host the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night at the United Center. The battle for a playoff spot will begin at 6:30pm CST.  Also, look out for tonight’s pre-deadline Rinkcast.

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