The Blackhawks took a 6-2-2 record into St. Louis last night, for their third meeting of the season with the Blues.
The talking heads on WGN and NBCSN, as well as the voices of Meatball Nation, have been all abuzz over the Hawks’ unlikely start. But clearly Chicago has made hay on teams like the Rangers, and alternately the Blues—who were until recently a Central Division powerhouse, but off to 2-4-3 start this year.
The Hawks lines and pairings:
DeBrincat-Toews-Kahun
Saad-Anisimov-Kane
Fortin-Johnson-Schmaltz
Kunitz-Kruger-Hayden
Keith-Jokiharju
Gustafsson-Seabrook
Manning-Rutta
The heroic Corey Crawford started his fifth game of the Hawks’ last six, versus Jake Allen, who was off to a bad start, obviously mirroring that of the team playing in front of him.
FIRST PERIOD
The game had barely begun, when just 18 seconds in, a Blues rush overwhelmed the Hawks, and Ryan O’Reilly, left alone by Hawk defenders, beat Crawford off a nifty pass by Zach Sanford. 1-0, St. Louis
It would not be long, however, before the Hawks evened things up. At 16:43 after a clean Artem Anisimov faceoff win (because . . . faceoffs matter), Patrick Kane beat Allen from the high slot. 1-1.
O’Reilly would return the favor to Sanford at 14:32, with three Blues’ forwards seeming to casually play catch from board to board in the Hawks’ end—while Chicago’s season long clown car defense did its clown car thing—and Sanford buried a resulting easy chance. 2-1, St Louis.
The Hawks struggled to clear their end virtually every shift the O’Reilly line was on the ice, with Brent Seabrook taking a closed hand on the puck penalty at 10:53 in the high slot. Chicago killed the penalty, but it was clear through the first 15 minutes of the first period that the Blues brought a fierce and calculated, deep forecheck—and the reeling Hawks had to be bailed out by Crawford on several occasions.
The Hawks mounted a surge in the last few minutes of the frame. After two long shifts of sustained possession in the St. Louis end, first by the Kruger line and then the Toews line, it was Anisimov who generated a turnover, then found the twine off a Kane feed with 1:10 left in the first, 2-2.
Shots for the period were 17-10 St. Louis, a margin suggesting that the Hawks were perhaps lucky to escape the period tied.
SECOND PERIOD
The O’Reilly line’s mastery carried over into the early second period, when a Seabrook turnover at the blueline turned into a quality chance for the Blues and an Erik Gustafsson hooking penalty. On the ensuing power play, Vladimir Tarasenko—who you knew was way overdue—beat a screened Crawford at 18:19. 3-2 St. Louis.
Just over a minute later, a beaten Jan Rutta tripped Tarasenko, putting the St. Louis power play back on the ice at 17:10. The Hawks killed it off.
But at 14:46, after a clean Smokin’ Nick Schmaltz defensive zone faceoff loss (because faceoffs still matter), and more clown car defense, a wide open Tyler Bozak beat Crawford high from 15 feet in front of the net. 4-2 Blues.
The Hawks got their first power play at 7:33, when Alex Fortin was taken down on an offensive zone faceoff puck battle. Chicago generated a couple of nice chances off the break but failed to convert, and struggled to really set up in the St. Louis end.
But Anisimov and Kane combined yet again, late in the second this time, to beat Allen at 3:01. Kane’s second goal of the night. 4-3.
Not long after, Anisimov nearly clicked again, feeding a flying Brandon Saad on a bang bang play that was stopped by the St. Louis goalie, but ended with a trailing Sanford plowing into Allen’s head in the goal mouth. As a result, Allen left for the dressing room, replaced by backup Chad Johnson at 1:01. Shots were 11-6 Chicago in the period.
THIRD PERIOD
Marcus Kruger took a delay of game penalty at 17:08, dousing any momentum the Hawks may have carried over from late in the second. But an improving Hawk penalty kill was able to keep the score 4-3.
Later in the third, with Joel Quenneville shortening the bench and double-shifting his top players, a tired Hawk team turned the puck over in their end, leading to Tarasenko’s second goal of the night, the backbreaker, 5-3 Blues at 4:03.
Crawford was pulled not long after for an extra skater, which led to the inevitable empty net goal by Alex Pietrangelo at 1:58, 6-3. After some scuffling late in the game, and a Hawk penalty, Alex Steen provided the coup de grace with seconds left, 7-3 final score.
THE GOOD
The Saad-Anisimov-Kane line accounted for all three Hawk goals. Henri Jokiharju misplayed the first St. Louis goal but was otherwise rock solid most of the night.
THE BAD
The Toews’ line was ineffective, Dominik Kahun was -3, and Alex DeBrincat was -4 with a couple of glaring defensive zone miscues.
THE UGLY
Awful defensive zone coverage and sloppy puck protection on breakouts. St. Louis fearlessly exploited the Hawks’ obvious vulnerabilities in their own end from the opening horn—and it worked. Rutta struggled and was either injured or stapled to the bench for much of the third period.
This game clearly illustrated the weaknesses of this Hawk team; they just aren’t very good in their end and while they only had one power play, they failed to generate anything, as usual.
Look for our preview of tonight’s Edmonton game, coming later today on The-Rink.com. Comment on this game below.