The Blackhawks entered Friday night’s game in Amalie, FL with an 8-9-5 record and struggling to demonstrate how their recent coaching change has had any meaningful impact.
Worse still, last night’s opponent was Eastern Conference powerhouse Tampa Bay, sporting a 15-6-1 record. Pretender meet contender.
Oddly enough, this was the game where new Chicago head coach Jeremy Colliton chose to draw human traffic cone Brandon Manning back in to the lineup, supplanting Henri Jokiharju. But perhaps, in the face of a fast, relentless Lightning attack, Colliton saw a benefit in experience over youth and talent.
Well, perhaps, in theory.
The Blackhawks lines and pairing were as follows:
Saad-Toews-Kane
Schmaltz-Anisimov-DeBrincat
Fortin-Kampf-Kahun
Kunitz- Johnson-Kruger
Keith-Seabrook
Gustafsson-Forsling
Manning-Rutta
Corey Crawford got the net for Chicago, while, if there was any good news for Chicago coming in, lefty goaler Louis Domingue was between the pipes for the Lightning, replacing the injured Andrei Vasilevskiy.
FIRST PERIOD
It took the Lightning all of 29 seconds to get Tyler Johnson inexplicably wide open in the slot and a 1-0 lead at 19:31.
Johnson was set up again by linemate Nikita Kucherov at 12:45, making the score 2-0.
By midway through the period, the Lightning held a 12-4 shot advantage. Only a brilliant glove save by Corey Crawford at 10:17 prevented Johnson from getting the unlikely first period hat trick.
But, have no fear, the Lightning’s Brayden Point would beat a helpless Crawford at 9:55, making the score 3-0—all tallied against the Hawks’ top line.
To this point, the Hawks were consistently behind the play and the Lightning up and down the ice.
About a minute later, Alex DeBrincat found Artem Anisimov wide open in front of the Lightning net, giving Chicago a bit of life, 3-1 Lightning at 8:50.
Perhaps emblematic of the Hawks’ fortunes, Alex Fortin got free for a long stretch pass and clean breakaway on Domingue at 6:45—only to have his stick shatter when he tried to launch a wrister. And just to make the sequence complete, Ryan Callahan undressed defensive stalwart Erik Gustafsson between the circles in the Chicago zone and put his own wrister past Crawford, making it 4-1 with 5:08 left in the frame.
The Lightning ended the period on a power play, taking a 19-11 shots advantage into the dressing room. For those keeping score at home, that’s a 57-shot pace.
But sure, “accountable” hockey genius John McDonough assured the fanbase that the roster was better than its record when it was 6-6-3, and replacing the Hall of Fame coach was just the thing needed to turn it around.
Right.
SECOND PERIOD.
The Hawks killed the remainder of the penalty to start the period. But found themselves back on the penalty kill at 16:21 after a too many men call, which Chicago eventually killed. And, within 2 minutes, the Lightning were back on the man advantage, following a Jan Rutta penalty. If there was a positive for the Hawks to this point in the game, it was penalty killing—as the Hawks executed their third straight kill against the Tampa power play.
Bright spot: Jonathan Toews scooped up a Domingue rebound and outworked Point for a late second period goal, making it 4-2 at 1:11 left in the second.
And that was how the period would end. Shots were 7-6 Chicago for the period, and certainly Corey Crawford needed the rest. The Hawks had a little life going into the last 20 minutes.
THIRD PERIOD.
Action was fairly even for the first seven-plus minutes, with the Hawks getting a few nice chances on Domingue.
The Hawks got a power play at 11:44 and generated a decent amount of pressure, but no goals, before Steve Stamkos took a tripping penalty with ten seconds left on the first penalty. The short 5-on-3 failed to convert.
On the ensuing 5-on-4, the Hawks first shot was, you guessed it, Patrick Kane from the right halfboard right into Domingue’s crest, after the puck had been pushed around, you got it, the perimeter for thirty-odd seconds. Penalty killed.
Crawford was pulled at 2:50 of the third, in a desperate ploy to even up the game. With the extra attacker, the Hawks were able to generate quite a few fruitless chances in close at around 1:45-1:35.
After that, pfffffffffft. Final score, 4-2. The Hawks did finish the game with a 32-29 shot advantage, for what that’s worth.
THE GOOD.
A few Hawks came to play and compete in this game. Unfortunately, most of them were lower line players like Marcus Kruger, Fortin and Dominik Kahun. The Anisimov line was OK and got a few nice chances, including one of the goals. You’d like to say more for Toews with an effort goal and 73% in the dot, but he and the rest of his line were all -2 and sleepwalked through the first period. Crawford was also OK, in spite of the first period barrage and terrible defense in front of him.
THE BAD
The team as a whole showed up and played like it was hungover or just ready to mail it in. It is almost unfair really to criticize the inexperienced Colliton as one normally would in this circumstance—but without question, this lack of preparation and drive cannot be laid at Joel Quenneville’s feet either, can it?
THE UGLY
Erik Gustafsson continues to be a really bad defensive player, at the defense position no less. Enough said there.
The Hawks are 8-10-5 and head across Florida to face the Panthers tomorrow night. We’ll have the Rink.com preview Saturday AM. Comment on this one below.