Blackhawks Need Overtime, 2 Reviews To Beat Canadiens
In the last week, the Chicago Blackhawks:
- went to Arizona and got their asses kicked by the worst team in the league,
- went to Vegas and beat one of the better teams in the Western Conference,
- went to Columbus and beat the Blue Jackets,
- came home to face the only team fighting the Coyotes for the title of worst in the NHL, the Montreal Canadiens.
Chicago celebrated the end of one career and the beginning of another with the Habs in town. Andrew Shaw, whose career was spent between Chicago and Montreal, was honored before the game. And Lukas Reichel, the best forward prospect in the organization, made his NHL debut.
The Hawks were without both Kirby Dach and Dylan Strome, who were put in COVID protocol before the game. They got Brandon Hagel back and got their first look at recently acquired Sam Lafferty, both of whom were activated out of protocol. Erik Gustafsson and Jakub Galvas were in on the Hawks’ blue line with Jake McCabe and Seth Jones still in protocol.
So lots of moving pieces for the Blackhawks, but Montreal was flying into Chicago after getting beat pretty soundly in Boston on Wednesday night.
The first period was what you wanted from the Hawks. They out-shot the Habs 13-3, looked sharp and controlled the play. Jonathan Toews set up Dominik Kubalik for the game’s first goal and Chicago took a 1-0 lead to the room.
The second period gave us a 20 minutes microcosm of the 2021-22 season for the Chicago Blackhawks. For as good as they looked in Vegas and Columbus and the opening 20 minutes of this game, they completely crapped the bed in the second period.
Montreal controlled the flow of the period and Jeff Petry tied the game at 12:41 into the second period. Almost 18 minutes into the period, Alexander Romanov put a big hit on Lafferty. It looked like a clean hit, but a big one. And Ryan Carpenter decided to play the role of Andrew Shaw on the night Chicago celebrated 65. He jumped Romanov and the two dropped the gloves. When the officials broke up the fight, Carpenter raised his hands to get the crowd excited as Shaw used to do.
Nice touch, Carpy.
The result: Carpenter got five for fighting AND the two for instigating AND a 10-minute misconduct. Romanov got the five for fighting.
Mike Hoffman scored 31 seconds into the resulting power play to give Montreal the lead.
For good measure, the Hawks were short-handed a third time late in the period when the puck left the rink. The Hawks were able to kill that penalty, but the second period was a disaster for Chicago.
Montreal out-shot the Hawks 17-6 in the second period and took a one-goal lead to the third period.
But the Habs are where they are in the standings for a reason, and they gave the Blackhawks chances early in the third. Petry did the Hawks a solid and took a bad penalty two minutes into the third and the Blackhawks made the Habs pay. For the first time in more than a month, Patrick Kane scored a goal!
Smoke em if you got em, folks. 88 found the back of the net.
With 3:10 left in regulation and the game still tied at two, Kane took a high stick to the chin and got the Hawks’ a much-needed power play with Laurent Dauphin, one of Montreal’s more frequent penalty-killing forwards, in the box.
The power play did nothing.
And regulation came to a close without either team breaking the tie, so we headed to overtime. For the 12th time in 36 games, the Canadiens were picking up a point in the standings.
Marc-André Fleury stopped 26 of 28 in three periods. Chicago put 30 shots on net.
Reichel had three shots on net and skated 15:55 in regulation. He lost all three of his faceoff attempts, but the Blackhawks haven’t drafted a player since… Marcus Kruger… who won faceoffs consistently in Chicago so that wasn’t a shock.
Montreal won the faceoff in overtime and didn’t even try to shoot the puck… but kept control of it for 90 seconds. Philipp Kurashev did a marvelous job of receiving a pass with about 2:40 left in the overtime and attacked the net. He was mauled by Hoffman and was going to get a penalty. However, the puck clearly crossed the line as the bodies crashed into the net and took it off its spot. The league dialed up the on-ice officials for a video review to determine if the goal would count.
The call on the ice was no goal. Replays clearly showed the puck cross the line as the goal was moving. So we patiently waited for the decision of the war room.
The review determined the puck crossed the line legally and it was a good, legal goal.
Then the official held a single finger in the air. “However…” we had a second lengthy review to determine if Kurashev was offside when he received the pass that put him off to the races. Because they couldn’t look at both points of interest at once, they now had to go back and look at it again.
The officials determined Kurashev had control of the puck and the good goal counted. The Blackhawks won 3-2 and Montreal was understandably pissed.
Kurashev had a good night and deserved a goal at some point. Two long reviews gave him the game-winning goal. And what looked like a disaster in the second period turned into an awkward overtime victory.
A win is a win
Never saw a finish to game like that, kind of fitting type of ot goal on Shaws night. A wins a win as said above. Reichel has promise hope he reaches it.
Win without $ Jones and Mc Cabe . Who according to Chicago BlackHawks website in NHL are not playing for Chicago anymore .
Believe it or not but have a look and they are not in the Stats anymore
Their web site is really bad .not professional at all . Go see skater stats and $Jones is not in the stats 21-22 . Unbelievable .
Hawks get another 2 pts tonight
3 in a row ..not to bad
I used to be disappointed when Kane obviously chose to coast – of late, it just looks like he’s just physically struggling against whatever is ailing him, no jump … it’s sad
But Kane and others skating and rotating positions more on PP looks better
Yep. Great 1st. Garbage 2nd. MEH 3rd. Lucky OT. I’m not sure why Montreal didn’t attack in OT. Their plan was just to exhaust Kane and DeBrincat and deal with the next pair. Kurashev, who I have been down on since last year, has been playing well and got the GWG. Kudos for his play and OT effort. A well deserved 1st Star of the Game.
I have questions. Toews with zero SOG. I just don’t understand that. He’s the captain. He knows the team needs offense. Shoot the puck. I get that he had DeBrincat on his LW and Hagel on his RW but they can feed you the puck and you can shoot it. It’s frustrating.
Entwistle had the fewest TOI of any forward. Carpenter was in the sin bin and still skated more. C. Jones had the lowest TOI for defensemen. King’s decisions on TOI for players is puzzling.
The Canadiens were really hitting the Blackhawks. So, I was looking for the 4th line to answer those hits. Carpenter and Lafferty had 2. Carpenter had the fight and 17 PIM’s. Khaira had 1 hit. ONE!!! He had 0 SOG. He was pretty invisible. A neat trick for such a big guy. Maybe he needs a little reminder about that. Hardman or Connolly should get a little playing time and Khaira can have a seat.
Stillman was your offensive defenseman with 4 SOG. That was an odd stat. The kid is playing hard so I will give him that.
Was anyone else a bit nervous when Gustafsson went over the boards for OT? I really don’t need to see Gustafsson anymore. Let’s see Mitchell or Beaudin or…novel idea…Kalynuk. Galvas was okay. He made a few glaring errors when he was gassed. So…that needs to be addressed.
Lastly, while Reichel was 0-3 in FO’s, he did look pretty good out there. He was feeding Kane when he should have been taking shots. But, I get that. Hopefully, Kane will advise the kid to “take the shot” when it’s there.
Three in a row!
Kurashev was really good tonight, glad that he got the GWG after all the chances he had.
Thought the kids looked really good, Reichel played well, Galvas looked like he wanted to convince everyone that his first game was not a fluke.
The sheepish smile on Kane after his goal was priceless, “is that I all had to do to score?”
Loved the Kubalik goal, great pass, great finish.
I really enjoyed Pat and Edzo in the booth, even their love fest with Shaw to start the second was silly fun. Wish the Hawks play in the second matched that fun energy.
I really liked what I saw with Reichel, not because he did anything exceptional, but rather he did not look out of place at all. It seemed like he was processing everything in real time and was still able to keep up with the action. I look forward to see how he responds in the next few games. Very promising debut.
Without Jones Dach and Strome the usual hard pressed to score Hawks were really hard pressed
Reichel is gonna be good – we need his speed and skill set – good to see
Galvas was good again – he should play ahead of Caleb and Gus once Seth and McCabe are back but that won’t happen until someone is traded or in Covid protocol or injured – so maybe he’ll be around a while yet – he should be up to stay post TDL though
I don’t know which is harder to watch – Gus trying to play defense in OT or DeHaan trying to pass the puck in OT – I would have liked to see Galvas given a chance on the back end
Putting Cat out to take the opening FO in OT is getting pretty tired at this point – I’m sure he hasn’t won one of them
Lafferty did alright – got some speed and physicality – deserves another look for sure
They really need Seth back – someone to move the puck with precision on the back end
A win is a win but it wasn’t pretty
Glad to see Kurashev given some OT time and really happy for him that he scored
They got the win with a make shift Covid Lineup and luckily playing a poor Canadian team. Reichel looked good and moved well into scoring positions. Kalynuk and Mitchell should have been playing in this depleted lineup and so should Hardman ahead of Khaira. Toews has to be much more relevant offensively. I just don’t understand elite players throwing 0,s up across the stat sheet. Looks like they are showcasing Fleury for his trade deadline bidders. Is Lankinen still sick???
Reichel had some impressive moments and some tentative ones. But, overall I was impressed with his game. Whoever said that he is 175 pounds is way off the mark, this kid is 160 pounds tops! Can we get this kid some asteroids?
I enjoyed watching Lafferty play more in one game than I have watching Nylander play in 50+ games.
Galvas came back down to Earth. Last night is what he looked like when I watched him play for Rockford, not bad, but nothing special.
Did you see the defensive turnovers when Gustafson was on the ice? Man, that guy is a TO machine!
Except for that goal, Kane was absolute dog-shit last night! Kurashev impressed me and so did deHaan last night!
Tough 10 game stretch up to allstar break coming up if no more cancellations. Wild 3 times, 2 at home, Avs twice, 1 in each rink, at Blues in division games, host Ducks and Canucks, with Detroit, Seattle road games in there too.
Can we PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop putting Gus in the lineup. It’s over, move on, he sucks, let one of the kids play. This cat has 9 lives I swear!!! It’s a waste of a spot. You’ll role this D-Bag out but only put Beaudin out for just over a minute. You’re messing with his head at this point. Come on, wake up. This is for the future of the BlackHawks not seeing how many wins you can get (or with Gus, how many losses he can contribute to).
Wait, just caught my comment. On second thought, role out Gus for over 20 minutes a game. He will contribute to many losses and then we get a lottery pick. Now it’s up to management to pick the right player though *SIGH*……
reichel just looked so smooth out there. great speed, fluid skater, made smart positioning decisions in my opinion, anticipated the pucks movement well. and the few shots he took looked really good. I’m excited to see what he can do while he’s up here
anyone besides me done with king?
i am not quite ready to anoint galvas for the hall of fame or even pencil him in on the backline for next year, but he might have a future with the hawks and gustafsson has none. made me sick to see gus with five minutes on the power play last night and galvas with one. also entwhistle with three+ less minutes even strength than lafferty and khaira. nothing against lafferty or khaira , but how have they earned playing time over entwhistle?
On Kane’s goal I thought Delia was in the net, it was a Mr Softee.
Galvas wasn’t good at all, but Riley looks to be improving with more ice time
imagine that, give a youngster more icetime and they might improve as a player.
See Entwhistle, Mitchell for that discussion.
I’d love to hear the logic behind playing Gus, he’s our best option, improve his trade
value, QB the great PP or all the above.
Reichel is going to be good, I’d prefer him on line w/out Kane who he will always defer to.
Playing him w/Cat and Hagel or Hagel and Entwhistle or even add Dach to the mix as a
winger and let them develop chemistry, that was once a thing in hockey. In todays game
at least here in Chicago it’s all about line blending, a highly over rated part of the game
unless you have a Coach Q to implement it.
Hopefully they’re trying to trade Fluery by improving his stats playing against Les Habs
@Hawk29 – I am in complete agreement with you and Milbury re: Coach Clown King! Entwhistle deserves top-6 minutes, and he sits him for that long. King is a moron! But, what do you expect, this guy was probably raised on some Canadian prairie and then forced to live with some random family where education was not in the forefront of his life. And, even Milbury said that he was a lackadaisical player and not overly bright. Yeah, he may have a great sense of humor and maybe he could pull a prank on a teammate or two, give them a wedgy or set up wake-up calls for the whole team at 4AM, but overall I think he is a moron!
Iff that goal is scored against the Hawks in overtime I would be really upset and I think the league as become really unpredictable and unprofessional in the past 5-10 years .not just the goals but also the way the ref control the game with penalties and bad jugement in bag hit to the head .I don’t think the goal is good yesterday from Kurashef in a playoff game or iff they had played in Montreal .
Very strange ending . The league need to kick out Butman and start to make rules .
Reichel needs to add some weight and strength. 1st game he was tentative which is to be expected, had the puck taken from him a couple of times, has bursts of speed thou. Took him a bit to catch on defensively. Play him vs. Anaheim to see if how he responds in his second game and against a more physical club. Still not sold yet on him being here, but some commentor’s points are well taken. Carpenter has really stepped up this year as a leader on this team. Kudos to Carp.
I don’t think Entwistle is a top 6 talent but he could be a very good 3rd liner
It seems to me that he was a victim of having Borgstrom as his C as was Kurashev – that line would have played more with 77 centring them
King was leaning on his 4th line more because he trusts them more defensively
He can’t really double shift Toews or Reichel to get Enwistle and Kurashev more TOI – however I’d just like to see more TOI for the Borg line – I don’t think they’re anymore of a defensive liability that the 4th line
Entwistle is probably a 4th liner in long term, having 4th line guys who are comfirtable playing up the lineup if needed without being a liability is something needed too. I think the blueline missing Jones and McCabe was probably why King played the 4th line so much, as well as Dach not being with Entwistle and Kurashev for sure too.
Hawks29, get the feeling more and more King is just a place holder until a permanent replacement is named after the season and the other spots filled. Agree with developing chemistry with each other among the youngsters, definitely a needed piece of the puzzle.
ian
likely you are right why king played the fourth line as much as he did. that is all well and good when coaching a team that is competitive within the league and needing to win every night.
however, there wasn’t a guy on the fourth line last night who figures to be on this team in the future and entwhistle might. whether that spot is on the third or fourth line is immaterial. king trying to steal standings points at the expense of playing time for first and second year guys getting experience is just wrong. watching the hawks be manhandled after the first period by the lowly canadiens tells you everything you need to know about the hawks ability to currently be competitive in the nhl. the mitchells, entwhistles, slavins, etc. need their minutes when they dress with the varsity. the game and roster situation for any particular game should not matter. better they play in difficult situations to experience them than to play the guys who won’t be here in the next year or two to try to steal some standing points. they are dead nuts in rebuilding mode. the toi should be doled out in regards to that.
Hawks 29 agree playing the young guys should be more of a priority at this point to sitting them to win. What pisses most is that some of the players quit on the team almost every game for stretches, they can’t be competitive most games until that is addressed.
Ian, Hawks 29 – we’d all like to see Entwistle et al play more and they will – patience
You still want some trade value for Carp DeHaan Gus etc – it’ll be a balancing act until TDL
Interesting to read these comments, it seems there were multiple versions of the game playing last night. The version I had was pretty bad, Hawks looked very sloppy….MTL outplayed the Hawks.
Slavin over Lafferty and Hardman and Khaira. Let’s see Beadin at least 10 mins tonight please assuming he is really still with the team. Entwistle could develop into 2nd, 3rd, or 4th line player but looks like a keeper regardless. From the little I’ve seen of Slavin, he seems to have his brother’s ability to play simple and smart hockey and plays hard and reasonably fast too. Definitely could be a keeper too. Reichel looked great. A lot of pressure to be asked to centre Kane at home in a 1st NHL game at 19 and I thought he handled it well. Showed bursts of speed, good anticipation, made some miscalculations sure but he certainly didnt look out of place. Give him at least 13 mins tonight and consistently for the next 3 or 4 games and lets get a proper look at what he can do and how he fits when he gets to know how some of the other guys play.