DeBrincat, Blackhawks Shoot Down Ducks
The Blackhawks started a California trip in Anaheim against the awful Ducks on Wednesday night. Chicago desperately needed to get back in the win column after two tough losses over the weekend; Anaheim came in having scored twice in their previous three games.
The biggest news for either team heading into the game was the return of Corey Crawford, who made his first start since Dec. 16.
The first period could have cured insomnia. Chicago out-shot Anaheim 13-8 but neither team appeared to want to be there. Crawford was tested a couple times and looked good, but it certainly looked like both teams were simply going through the motions.
If the Hawks needed something to wake them up Rickard Rakell obliged with a terrible hit on Drake Cagguila 35 seconds into the second period.
Rakell hits Drake Caggiula from behind … Rakell has been ejected. pic.twitter.com/Wru7lkxKj6
— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) February 28, 2019
Rakell got a five-minute major for boarding plus a game misconduct. Cagguila struggled to get to his feet and headed straight to the room. He did not return.
Chicago headed to a full five minutes of power play time and immediately took advantage. Alex DeBrincat scored his 35th of the year just 13 seconds into the advantage.
Alex DeBrincat joins Jeremy Roenick (41 in 1990-91 & 35 in 1991-92), Bobby Hull (38 in 1959-60) + Steve Larmer (43 in 1982-83) as the only @NHLBlackhawks to have a 35+ goal season at 21 or younger
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) February 28, 2019
Because the penalty was a major, Chicago stayed on the advantage for 4:47. Unfortunately, the rest of the power play looked like we were back in October – awful.
Making matters worse, Devin Shore scored a short-handed goal to tie the game four minutes later. At the end of the five minutes, both teams had scored once.
At 16:42 with the Blackhawks now short-handed Artem Anisimov stormed up the ice and sniped home his 11th of the year.
On his team's 2nd goal tonight vs the Ducks, Duncan Keith tied teammate Jonathan Toews for the 3rd most career shorthanded assists in @NHLBlackhawks history (15. Most: 29- Steve Larmer)
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) February 28, 2019
These two tweets from StatsCentre are your nightly reminder that the Blackhawks need to retire Steve Larmer’s number, and that he should be in the Hall of Fame.
Back on the ice, the Blackhawks once again refused to care enough to hang onto a lead against a team that has struggled to score all year. Carter Rowney was credited with his fifth of the season, tying the game with 1:23 left in the second period.
The Blackhawks had seven minutes of power play time in the second period and were out-shot 15-10 in the period. For a team that needs wins, that is a pathetic effort.
Chicago didn’t appear to want to win the game to open the third period, either. Troy Terry gave Anaheim their first lead of the night at 5:35.
It took ten minutes for the Hawks to answer the Terry goal, but it was the captain who made a terrific play. Jonathan Toews set up DeBrincat at 15:06 for the game-tying goal.
The assist extended Toews’ point streak to seven games.
As the Hawks tried to find a way to win their game, Colorado won theirs to stay ahead of Chicago in the standings.
The Blackhawks’ big guns showed up in the end – literally. Toews took the puck away and made a terrific pass to Brandon Saad, who made a fabulous reception of the puck in traffic. Saad got the puck to Patrick Kane in space and 88 knows what to do.
With 16 seconds left in regulation, the Blackhawks took the lead for good. Kane’s 40th of the year was the game-winner.
Crawford made 29 saves in his return to the ice.
Toews had assists on the Hawks’ two goals late in the third period, both of which were marvelous efforts. He also won 18 of 30 faceoffs and was credited with three shots on net in 21:47 on the ice.
Kane led Chicago with five shots on net in 23:55. DeBrincat put four shots on net and scored his 35th and 36th of the season while skating 20:18.
After Cagguila left the lineup, Saad was suddenly skating what felt like every other shift. He was very good in the third period, making the great pass to set up the GWG. Saad skated 22:04.
Erik Gustafsson was credited with two assists in the game on the blue line.
That was one ugly game. If we deserved points in the last two games we didn’t tonight. Dcat is amazing – he has become a mini-Ovechkin in my view. The play by Saad on the last goal was terrific. Otherwise we were not good against a very weak team.
Go figure. Play well against Colorado and Dallas and lose. Play terrible against Anaheim and win.
Passing was atrocious. Good thing Anaheim sucks.
Let’s see if Crow’s return and an emotional win gets us hot one more time. Gotta do better than that though.
Hope Cagguila is ok, not a good looking hit. Toews vintage on last 2 goals, great effort by Saad on the winner and Kane and Debrincat provided the finish. Crawford looked terrific in his return for the most part. Good defensive effort in first but not so good after that. A win to start the west trip. On to weekend.
Prospects: Chl
Hagel 1g
Ryczek 1a
Gravel 1a 18 saves on 19 shots win
The first 55 minutes of this game looked a lot like the Hawks we watched fumble the puck all over the ice last season. The passing was awful for most of the game. Clearing the puck was awful too.
But then in the last 5 minutes the clouds parted and the sun came out and Toews made two game changing passes and boom boom Hawks win!
It was nice to see Crawford back between the pipes, but contrary to what Konroyd continues to blather about – Crawford is not a good puck handler and it costs the Hawks a goal when Crawford made an adventure out of a play behind the net. Hey Corey – just stay in your net – please.
Others have said that the Hawks often times play poorly after a 3-day layoff. That was the case today AND it will be the case when they play LA on Saturday too.
Tab, thanks for the write-up and stats. Missed the game. Strange that in a year in which we may get a top 10 pick, K&T may have their best season. What a goal by AA – that thing had some zip.
Like you said, all these stats with Larmer in them making me crazy.
Get that 28 in the rafters already!
Also, how does Kane not win the Hart?
Is it me or does this team fall flat as a pancake every time 50 makes a ‘comeback’? That was really bothering me up until the Great88 did his thing. Love that guy!
When the time comes to recall the Joker from Rockford, lets hope he doesnt have the option to keep his previous number. Which of course needs a permanent home pronto.
Mixed bag of thoughts. Favorite part of the game for me was the number of Blackhawks fans in the stands. Too bad Getz wasn’t playing. The hit looked bad, but not terribly intentional. Gotta speak up and let someone know you’re coming up on them like that; at that speed not sure it would matter. Nice of everyone to play like it was his first game back; I’ll include Corey Perry in that statement.
Stefanie. How does Kane not win the Hart? Simple…No playoffs…No Hart!
Ask Connor Mcdavid, who is by the way the best player on the planet and could easily win the Hart every year.
NHL unwritten rule…No playoffs no Hart… A dumb rule it is!
Note: Nowhere is there a “rule” that says the playoffs are a requirement to win the Hart. But, as Stape points out, winning the MVP award on a team that doesn’t get into the postseason would require a performance that’s an outlier in the game. Unfortunately for Kane, there’s a kid in Tampa who’s having a huge season as well right now and his team is going to be a Cup favorite on the final day of the regular season.
Hart isn’t for best player or best individual effort, its who was most valuable to their teams success. No doubt what Kane means to this team but if not surrounded with a team capable of alot of success, first ace Hart trophy votes be hard to come by.
Hart: “player judged most valuable to his team”
A lot of people like to add that teams success is part of it. It does not say team success has anything to do with it by definition (Unwritten rule no playoffs means no Hart)
No one is more valuable to his team than Connor Mcdavid.
Tab – Who is this “Steve Larmer” you speak of…?
Just kidding, I agree with you 100%.
My fear is that Connor McDavid and Mike Trout will be the best players of their generations and neither will ever win a championship because they’ve both been cursed to play for terrible front offices.
Great win for Crawford. His feet are again wet. Kane back down to earth? A lot of nail biting ahead.
ER – have to agree on Crow’s puck handling ability – I was surprised to hear Colliton praise CC’s ability with the puck because I, like you have never felt comfortable with him playing it and that was proven again tonight
Hawks were fortunate to win – they gave up a shortie, a goal with just over a minute left in the 2nd when Strome din’t check his man and another with Crawford’s misadventure with the puck
Against a good team that would have been more than enough to lose – fortunately the Ducks suck but that doesn’t make the Hawks much better
IMO Saad after his poor start has been consistently good and often great – unless the return on a trade involving him is through the roof you keep him in CHI
You’re certainly not looking to trade him IMO
MS/Travis, yea we play bad and get outplayed by LA then thats 2 for 2. Problem is we would expect to beat ANA and LA (as they are worse=as bad then we were last yr) the way theyve been playing their last 5 and 10 games each respectively. Maybe for the best, a top 6 pick, really we outplayed COL and DAL and expect to win these two games (ANA and LA) we would be at +over .500 and tied with COL, DAL and MIN for the 7 and 8 seed right now.
Maybe hockey Gods want us (and Bowman to get that 2nd in 10 drafts top 10 pick) to get that top 6 pick.
Its all over now.
With back to back games against LA and San Jose this weekend, Crawford and Ward will probably each play one of the games. LA is a bad team that struggles to score – they are currently the 2nd lowest scoring team in the league behind only Anaheim. San Jose is a good team that has no problem scoring – they are the 3rd highest scoring team in the league.
So the question is – do you play the better goalie against LA to give yourself the best chance to win at least one of the two games, meaning you’re (almost) conceding the loss to San Jose? Or, do you play Ward against LA thinking we should be able to beat LA with the lesser goalie and then possibly steal the game against San Jose if Crawford plays great?
It’s kind of an “all in” versus “hedge your bet” decision. Looking at the Hawks remaining schedule, I think if they have any hope of making the playoffs they will need to pick up points not only against teams they “should beat” but also against some teams they “shouldn’t beat”.
Therefore, I’m on the “all in” side of the decision and would play Ward against LA figuring LA is so bad offensively we don’t need a good goaltending performance to beat them, leaving Crawford to try to steal the San Jose game.
All I can say is YIKES !! With these posts…..
As for the Hawks, I thought I was watching a replay of a game from Nov or Dec…..horrible…horrible….horrible. Turn overs, turnovers, turnovers, Crawford ? I still think his best days are past him. The NBCSN commentators were blowing sunshine up his rear end saying that Chicago fans are glad to see him….I disagree !! Crawford was 6-14…why does anyone think that is good or even acceptable ??? It was Ward and Delia that brought this team back to .500….Crawford had ZERO to do with this. With only 19 games left….I bet Crawford goes 6-8….Ward hets the remaining games. And that’s if Crawford doesn’t get another concussion.
DP64– Re: Crow- thanks for the Honest and realistic view on Crow…
Like Seabs- Thanks, you were a warrior… thanks for the run… time to move on
Unfortunately – Hawks will have to pay Someone to take Seabs to the glue factory
DP64, it was Crawford’s first day back and you and others are drawing conclusions without giving him at least a few games under his belt. Why shouldn’t the commentators say positive things about him returning, considering he anchored two (almost three) Cups. Agree that his best days are behind him, but that doesn’t mean he cannot come back and perform at high level, as long as he doesn’t get hurt again or play too many games.
Ward and Delia have played well, but so has the entire team since Crawford got hurt. Example of major improvement: PP.
Playing Ducks made me think of bad contracts. They have two brutal ones in Perry and Kesler and many/most teams have at least one bad one (e.g. Backes, Lucic, Parise,..). My point is that yes Seabrook’s deal is bad, but they happen all the time and I don’t think it’s that big a deal.
If you’re getting it right on the other end with new blood, there should always be favorable deals that act as offsets. Right not 12 and 17 are real good value until they get re-upped. Next year, 28 should be full time and if this year is any indication his play will be worth much more than his entry level deal. Same with the rest of the yutes as they start to fill the ranks. As long as Seabrook can provide decent minutes (albeit reduced going forward) it shouldn’t stop us from having enough money to make sure we are properly filling out the roster (unlike 2011 for example).
Original, thats the thing. Even if Crow isint a top 3 goalie anymore, whats wrong with being a top 4-10.
The team played like shit during the 0-6-2 and 0-8 stretches. It did matter who the goalies were. Even though Ward and Delia played good, the team played good during the 6-2-1 and 7-0 stretches. Point is simple if the goalies switched sections of games played their records would go hand in hand.
I think Crow can still play top 4-10, then thats fine. Seabs needs to go, when we are deep and need cap space and use it to add an elite player or really good player/ufa or trade wise. If were nit picking 15 and any player that caphit isint ideal needs to go so we can stack roster with all elc/bridge/and core only caphit.
dgay.
Jordy, think the same. Its not ever going to be perfect but we can stack it as much as possible. Then when we can trade 7 caphit, do it and add. We did trade Soupys ahen we could, took a hit while doing it, then by time were deep and could stack it we had full room. I think thats what we do here and were not as desperate like Soupy because were way under the cap until guys get raises. So i could be more like 81 trade then 51.
Unless the Four Horsemen are top pair/or top 4 each, were going to need to add an Oduya at some point.
It still seems a ways yet. It should come fast/in terms of roster getting deep. Even then I want us to get deep like about 4 or 5 are now. The other teams are good teams but there not quality deep. We want to be quality deep not just a top 10 team.
Good to see Crawford back. Man, the Ducks look like they just got old.
ANA, LA, whos next. STL looked like it.
We are doing what BOS did. Its the only way to get back to top 5 team. Transitions to younger and faster and adapt to player style, like small fast skilled and very good defensemen.
Thanks Tab.
Yeah Mo but also the analytics say that we played like shit during our winning streak as well. Out Corsi’d badly by some weak teams but won against abnormally weak goaltending. I see the losses to Col and Dal as karma to be honest.
We need more from Murphy. Badly.
I’ll be watching Kahun more closely as the season winds down. I wonder if he’s getting tired. Hasn’t shown much the past few games. Hope it’s just a lull. If Sikura could also pot a few that would be lovely. He has shown the first signs I’ve seen that he could belong here.
Start the goalie that gives you the best chance to win. Against LA that’s Crow. Against SJ it might be Ward if Crow played the night before.
Crow Saturday at 3pm. Crow with a short leash on Sunday at 9pm.
Travis, I am sure your right. I havnt looked or paid attention tot that stuff since we started winning (which was as soon as we mad those roster adjustments)(tank ufas out, other guys in, trades, Dals and Murf back). So when you look at every game since game 1, maybe it is even or close to it, for that.
Once we got to, tied, with MIN and COL at E/0 over .500 the games and things got magnified (before it was always who gives a shit lets just play good and win). Once we got tied for the 7 and 8 seed record wise, its back to the same details matter more and some people freak and/or cant stand the yelling-when its deserved (like the refs in that COL game-‘key’ penaltys not called).
So whatever, dumbasses.
You think, other then certain guys getting better and taking it to where ‘they’ need to for their development, these games 60-80 are anything to go by. Since the top teams are siiting back or flexing muscles. The bottom 10 teams (which we are not/just have that record-see tank ufas thread) are getting beat every/most game. To judge any player really. Kind of like when the whole/or most team plays bad and the score isint good so cant really nitpick at certain guys because everyone (basically) was bad.
I think I am going to watch like we did during that stretch, right after, the roster adjustments-which is the team we really have this yr (the first 25ish games were the tank ufa filled team). Play good and do not worry about losing any game.
2019 Blackhawks
-Are a good mid tier team without a full roster
-have needs to fill to get to a full roster
-lots of sure NHL player coming from recent drafts
-where we had higher and more picks
This is progression back to top team, for the guy who thinks were wasting 19/88.
2021- deep
2020- see if were around +12 at this point/game 60
2019- -2 (would be +12 without tank ufas)(0-6-2/0-8 = 3-3-1/4-4)
2018- -9
2017- 1 seed (Stanley Cup 2015 3 seed)(do not have to be 1 or 2 seed to win)
OTT- 15 (locked)
LA- 10 (locked)
DET- 9 (locked)
ANA- 7
NWJ- 6
gap
Battle for 6 pick
EDM- 3
VAN- 2
CHI- 1
NYR- -1
ER, scroll for the gold.
So now we play without 64, which messes up our checking line to have a legitimate chance of playing top 10 teams and without 91, which messes up the flow of the 1st and 2nd line that has been on a tear since roster adjustments, that started with the PIT thrashing 6-3.