As the Blackhawks season continued to roll on, their next stop was in Carolina. While the Blackhawks were still searching for their win, the Canes had come in without a blemish on their record.
The Blackhawks were once again without Patrick Kane, who is still out with Covid-19, but had a new face in the lineup, Issak Phillips. Phillips was recalled from Rockford to replace Ian Mitchell on the roster. Phillips was drafted in the fifth round of the 2021 NHL draft and signed an entry-level contract on March 31st.
While it was a night to remember for Phillips, it was a night the Blackhawks will want to soon forget.
First period
For the second straight game, the Blackhawks jumped out to a lead. Early in the first period, Jonathan Toews dug a puck out from behind the net and fed Brandon Hagel who buried the pass for his first goal of the season. The early lead for the Blackhawks did not last long as the Canes Tony DeAngelo tied the game up at one.
Just past the midway point of the first period, Carolina’s Brady Skeji was sent to the penalty box for high sticking. On the season the Blackhawks were fifth-best in the NHL on the powerplay and their early powerplay success continued as Erik Gustafsson swung the puck to Phillip Kurashev who found Adam Gaudette for the backhanded goal. It was Gaudette’s first goal of the season and the Blackhawks’ ninth powerplay goal this year.
The lead for the Blackhawks was very short-lived. The very reliable penalty kill for the Blackhawks yielded a goal from the Canes Jordan Staal to take the lead. After the Staal goal, the flood gates opened for Carolina. Forward Derek Stephan snuck a goal through Kevin Lankinen’s wickets for their third goal of the game. With a team struggling like the Blackhawks are this season, they can ill afford to give soft goals like the Stephan goal.
With Carolina cruising long, the Blackhawks Jake McCabe coughed up the puck in the neutral zone which led to a two-on-one breakaway for the Canes. Jesperi Kotkaniemi fired the puck past a helpless Lankinen for Canes’ fourth goal of the period. For the period, Carolina outshot the Blackhawks 19–10 and lead on the scoreboard 4–2.
Second Period
In the second period, the Blackhawks committed an early penalty that led to an early Carolina goal. On the penalty kill, the Blackhawks seemed disinterested in playing defense making it way too easy for Sebastian Aho to give the Canes a three-goal lead.
Later in the period, the Blackhawks were victims of a wonky bounce when a puck deflected off a Blackhawks defenseman that lead to the sixth goal of the game for Carolina’s Andrei Svenchnikov. To add insult to injury, Tyler Johnson left the game with an apparent arm injury after being illegally cross-checked by Vincent Trochek.
When the second period mercifully ended, the Blackhawks only trailed the Canes 6–2.
Third Period
In the third period, the Blackhawks came out with some fire in their bellies. Reese Johnson tried to fire up the team by fighting the first star of the night Tony DeAngelo. The third period boxing card also had another bout scheduled as Connor Murphy and Andrei Svechnikov dropped the gloves for the second fight of the period.
In the third period, the Blackhawks drew four penalties against Carolina for a grand total of eight penalties for the game. Alex Debrincat capitalized on one of the four chances to cut the lead in half. Despite their best efforts in the third period, the Blackhawks fell to Carolina 6–3.
Analysis: The good, the bad, the ugly
The good
Alex Debincat scored his second goal in two games and has been playing really good hockey. He is currently the Blackhawks’ best player.
Issak Philip made his NHL debut at the age of 19.
The Blackhawks drew eight penalties for the game. It was the most powerplay chances the Blackhawks have had in a single game since 2018 against the Montreal Canadiens.
The bad:
Erik Gustafsson is not a very good defensive player and it is costing the Blackhawks more than in years past. His poor defense in the first period directly lead to one Canes goal.
Erik Gustafsson makes some really curious decisions not to play defense whatsoever sometimes
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) October 30, 2021
The ugly:
Despite taking a lead in their second consecutive game, the Blackhawks have failed to win a game this season through eight games. Breath easy fans, the Blackhawks would need to lose six more games before they tied their franchise record.
The Blackhawks have yet to score over three goals this season and have yielded at least three goals in every game this season.
The Blackhawks continue their road trip as they take on the Blues on October 30th at 7 pm CDT.