Dylan Strome Hat Trick Leads Blackhawks Past Red Wings
After putting Brett Connolly on waivers, the Blackhawks rolled out the same lineup for a third straight game with Marc-André Fleury in net against the Red Wings.
The Red Wings came in losers of two straight and six of their last eight. The Blackhawks had lost their last four.
The Red Wings entered the game ranked 24th in the NHL, averaging 2.67 goals per game. The Hawks came in ranked 30th, averaging 2.29 goals per night.
Can you feel the Original Six excitement?
Hawks fans felt some kind of excitement for the first 20 minutes of the game. Chicago actually came out flying, putting pressure on Detroit early and often. It took ten minutes for the Hawks to break through, but the second half of the opening period was silly. Dominik Kubalik scored the first trade-value-helping goal of the night at 10:24.
Then Dylan Strome took over the period.
At 12:40 into the first, Strome scored a power play goal. Almost exactly two minutes later he scored again. And with 32 second left in the opening period he set up Sam Lafferty for his first goal with the Blackhawks.
After 20 minutes, the Blackhawks were winning 4-0. Strome had three points and Patrick Kane had two assists, Chicago had a 16-8 shot advantage and Fleury really hadn’t been pressured much.
Unfortunately for the Blackhawks, NHL games are three periods — not one. This has been a frequent problem for Chicago over the past few years, and that was certainly the case on Wednesday night in Detroit.
The Wings made a change in net, pulling Alex Nedeljkovic for Calvin Pickard after 20 minutes. Nedeljkovic stopped 12 of 16 shots against him in the first period (a .750 save percentage for those at home). Pickard was making his 2021-22 season debut.
All the Hawks had to do was take care of the puck and stay out of the box… right?
It took them less than six minutes to screw it up.
Calvin de Haan made a beautiful pass to Robby Fabbri, who was in a prime scoring position. He was able to… wait… Fabbri is on the Red Wings. Yup. The brutal de Haan turnover ended up in the back of the net. It was 4-1.
Tyler Bertuzzi scored 56 seconds later and it was starting to feel like the wheels were loose.
Seth Jones went to the box ten minutes into the period, but the Hawks survived the penalty kill.
Strome went to the box 14 minutes into the period, and the Hawks were able to kill off a second penalty in short order.
But former Blackhawk Pius Suter, who broke the Hawks’ hearts the last time they faced each other, scored with 13 seconds left in the period to cut the Blackhawks’ lead to one.
After dominating the first period so well, the Blackhawks took a huge dump in the second. Detroit out-shot the Hawks 13-11 in the seconds and erased three of the four goals they were chasing.
It felt like the next goal was going to be enormous in this game because the momentum had shifted to far in favor of Detroit.
Suter did the Blackhawks a solid at 5:16 into the third and went to the box for hooking Jonathan Toews. Chicago hadn’t on their two previous power plays — both of which came with Suter in the box — but the third time was the charm in every way. Strome scored the power play goal to give him his first career hat trick and extend the Hawks’ lead back to two.
Exhale a little. That goal was huge. It felt like the Blackhawks were able to settle down to start the third period after thoroughly soiling themselves in the second.
Givani Smith wanted to grab the momentum back so he started throwing punches at people eight minutes into the third. He mixed it up with Connor Murphy just enough that both players got two minutes for roughing. But Smith then shoved de Haan for no good reason at all as the officials were breaking up the mess (and de Haan sold the hell out of it) and he got an extra 10 minute misconduct for his effort. He was sent to the showers 11 minutes early.
As the teams skated 4-on-4 the Blackhawks took advantage again. Caleb Jones picked Bertuzzi’s pocket and started a 2-on-1 for Alex DeBrincat and Toews. DeBrincat was on the finishing end and the Blackhawks were up three once again.
Because we can’t have nice things, Ryan Carpenter went to the box moments after Toews was checked head-first into the board. And, of course, the Red Wings scored early in the advantage to cut the lead back to two. Moritz Seider was on the shooting end of the PPG.
With 4:32 left in regulation, Dylan Larkin ripped a shot that found its way into the net. And, once again, the Blackhawks lead was only one.
Because this game was excessively drunk, it took 46 seconds for the next goal to be scored. And, thankfully, it came off the stick of Brandon Hagel.
Hagel’s goal made him the fifth Blackhawk skater in the game with a multi-point night. He joined Strome, DeBrincat, Kane and Seth Jones.
DeBrincat scored his second of the night to give him three points off a takeaway into an empty net with 103 seconds left in regulation. The Blackhawks lead was back to three for a third time in the game.
And that’s where it would stay. Fleury made a couple more saves in the final minute but the game was out of reach. Final: 8-5 Blackhawks.
Fleury stopped 28 of 33 — good enough.
Strome had a great night. He won 10 of 17 faceoffs, led the Hawks with six shots on net and had four points in 16:46.
Erik Gustafsson, who continues to waste a roster spot, skated 9:21 in the game. He should follow Connolly onto the waiver wire.
Caleb Jones finished the night +5 to lead Chicago skaters in that category.
Need to see more ptoduction from Strome like that, that’s where he can earn his stripes putting up offense. Hope it’s the real thing, combine that with being able to show strong on fos he has potential, we’ll see. Like to say a nice win but fact is they looked every bit as bad as they did good. Next up Avs.
Mitchell got in a scrap in Rfd. against a tough customer in Caramossa tonight, held his own pretty good.
Just as good as the pass from deHaan to Fabbri was, you forgot to mention how great the pass from Leddy to Hagel was. It was a thing of beauty. It caught him perfectly in stride.
What was King planning on doing with his timeout in that 2nd period. I sure hope he’s not back next year
Didn’t expect to see that!!! Was a nice pass from Leddy to Hagel. Strome’s trade value is the highest it will ever be. We keep waiting for Gus to get dumped, but they just keep trotting him out there for some reason. He’s got photos of somebody. Waiting for the Sam Lafferty FanClub to show up to see the heaps of praise thrown upon him.
In the battle of epic giveaways the award goes to Calvin daHaan for his beautiful pass into the slot to the wide open Fabbri to allow DET back into what should have been a blowout although the margin of victory over Hawk legend (you know him you love him) Nick Leddy was slim as Leddy drilled a bullet directly to Hagel just as Detroit seemed certain to tie the game late in the third what with the way the Hawks can never hold a late game lead
A win in that game should only count for a point it was so bad
Strome obviously a bright spot – I’m beginning to think that I’d rather package up Kub in a trade to bring back some assets and keep Strome – lots of time yet for Strome to turn into a pumpkin but he has played well of late with much more intensity – see if he can keep that going
I’m not a Jake McCabe fan – the future would look better if we didn’t have him and his contract here for the next 3 years
I am however still a Seth Jones fan
Gus one way or another won’t be here after TDL so it’s hard to worked up about him
That Caleb was a +5 is the very definition of statistical anomaly
Maybe they’ll score vs the Avs or not
Holy cow! So many weak D-zone passes and clearing attempts all night, and Tab brushed by the fact that the Hawks couldn’t get out of their own zone for the first 3 1/2 minutes of the game with a smothering Detroit forecheck until the dams broke wide open
At 6-3, I thought to myself “self, any other NHL team could implement a good defensive scheme to put a lid on this thing, but this is the Hawks and I don’t think they have one” – was quickly proven correct
Wow thats pretty impressive accomplishment fot the Cat.
I have been up and down on the Strome Train. Last year I wanted him to grab the reins and he did no such thing. This year, he was not given a fair shot to do anything except fail. That was the Colliton Effect. King must have seen something and worked hard with Strome. Strome has done all he can to improve his FO%. His faceoffs got better, his play got better, and now he’s scoring. His confidence seems to be sky high. Maybe he’s a late bloomer and he will be that 1st Rd guy that PHX saw when they drafted him. I hope so.
Dach’s 1st Period FO% was 100. He was a perfect 4 for 4. Was he too starting to get it? Well…the other 2 periods saw him go 2 out of 8. He finished 6 out of 12 with a game FO% of 50%. It’s a start…I guess. Maybe Toews, Strome, and the coaching staff can get him on track. If he turns out to be a NHL Center, that would be great. Seriously.
Hagel has been a bit of an anomaly. Last year he was hitting everything and he appeared to be Shaw Jr. This year, he seems to want to be a skill guy more than that energy guy he was. He was constantly noticed last year. Yes, he scored tonight, and that’s great. I’d like to see him go back to that energy guy. In my opinion, it will make him, and the team, stronger and more dangerous.
It was a strong game for the offensive side of the game.
Defensively? This game was a dumpster fire. Tab addressed the Gustafsson issue. Coach King is being “loyal to the veteran” to his own demise. Get Kalynuk out there and sit, or release Gustafsson. No one will take him and he can go to Rockford. de Haan? He has these peaks and valleys in his season. He’ll have games where he just cannot be taken out of the lineup. Then…tonight. Surprisingly, Caleb Jones had a pretty strong game…at least statistically. As did McCabe, Murphy, and S. Jones. They weren’t terribly physical, but, they were almost good enough to be worth praise. Almost.
Overall: When two bad teams meet, this is what you get. A dumpster fire of defense and an explosion of offense. The win is nice and the Hat Trick for Strome was excellent. DeBrincat was firing as was Hagel. The odd guys out were Borgstrom and Kurashev. ZERO SOG. The W was nice. Now, get Kalynuk into a game.
DCat should be able to get in front off BHull with 152 goals
Iff Strome can get another 2-3 games with 1-2 pts /game then we should get a few team looking at him for a trade .
$Jones is really impressive when he control the puck , very calm and very intelligent Dman ..still don’t like the contract but he is better then I tought and he his proving that he is a top player.
For a few second DeHaan tought he was $Jones and made a great pass but to the wrong player …hahahah that was funny .
My number one player is still Hagel ( best deal in past 5 years to sign him for 3 years at that price.
And DCat WOW what a sniper ,good that we kept him when he was falling apart
Now he is a top player in the NHL and it’s not over yet .
2 very poor and bad teams playing sloppy and undisciplined hockey for the most part. Great game by Strome. Now let’s stack them back to back etc. How about Dehaan,s equally horrible turnover in the 3rd on the Bertuzzi goal . I know he is a veteran but he should have been plastered to the bench in the 2nd period after his ridiculous turnover. He was directly responsible for 3 Wing goals. The Borgstrom experiment should also come to an end. He does not process the game at an NHL level. On to the Avalanche.
if king had a set he would of sat DeHann for the whole period, and would be scratch for the next game. that would get to the player really fast and would know it could happen to you. but yet again the hawks play “everyone gets a trophy award” and no consequences happened.
and then there was DACH…
I left for a training session while the score was 3-0, and thought the Hawks would cruise to victory. I guess a couple of bad passes out of the back allowed the Wings back in the game. Just from the highlights it looks like Cat and Strome played well together. I didn’t see much from Kane and Toews. Did Dach play? I don’t remember him being on the ice.
I think at this point I’d rather see the hawks keep a player like Strome, even if he doesn’t pan out into anything great, rather than let him walk like so many others. Nylander has 10 points in 11 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and while I like Lafferty quite a bit so far, a lot of times it seems more of an issue of the system than the player. Hinistroza, Suter, Boqvist, Gaudette, Nylander, just to name a few recent players that the hawks gave up on, but there’s SO many throughout the last 5 years or so.
From Kings comments on not sure how long Strome will around, obvious the wish to trade him is still there. Hopefully he can up his value to make it a worthwhile return.
Did the backup goalie shuffle, Delia played last nigh, called up and Soderblom/Morris with Rfd. for back to back games, each get a start maybe. With Blues game for Sunday rescheduled to 12th now, no back to back games for Blackhawks later in February, so wouldn’t be surprised if Fleury starts all 3 games prior to allstar break.
I have to say I was not prepared for all the scoring going on last night. It really did feel like a throw back game and that was a lot of fun to watch. I missed a couple of the previous games (didn’t miss much apparently,) so it was nice to finally catch a game that was so entertaining.
Yay Strome! It is gratifying to see him playing well right now. I am not sure how well he is going to fit in the modern NHL, but if he can consistently bring the effort he has been playing with lately, he may thrive. Whether that is with the Hawks or another team entirely depends on what value the Hawks can get by either trading or keeping him. Either way, I hope he can keep this up!
I am hoping the same as most people concerning Strome. I would love to see him make it am easy decision to keep him with how he finishes the season.
Yet a big part of me can’t help but think his trade value peaked in the 3rd and we didn’t take advantage with an in game trade!!
AND if you’re gonna score 8, do it vs Detroit
A little lineup tweak now might go a long way………..if King were to move Dach to the right wing on Toews and Debrincat`s line and move Lafferty back to third line center ( or wing when or if Johnson comes back off LTIR ) in Dach`s spot it might go a long way to helping Dach`s short term and long term development. Less responsibility for Dach for now playing the wing which can help him work on simplifying his game while playing with two good players all in hopes that he`ll get or make a few more chances for himself, perhaps rack up a few points, and build his confidence.
Food for thought !
Jim Ross: I like that, makes sense. Dach seems to be in a rut.
What a terrible GM Ken Holland is. Why would you pay $2mil for a twice 30 goal big intimidating forward. He does have baggage so he might know that if he is not on his best behavior he could be gone. Guess time will tell how good of a GM Holland is. Any body know how he did with his old team?
JR Roman: Because he’s a big intimidating 30 goal scorer that can defend himself. If he messes up, he’s gone. Wouldn’t want him on my team but if your desperate, he could help you.
Hammer agree with you. Are we not a desperate team? By desperate I don’t mean desperate for wins. I mean desperate for an identity. Are we a fast team? I think not. Lafferty is the only one that looks fast. Dcat Hagel maybe Kurashev. Are we a finesse team. Doubt it. Not the way the starting D trio of Murphy deHaan and McCabe handle the puck. Then add Gus, nope. Are we a tough ream to play against? Countless times I read here that we get manhandled, pushed around, get laughed at other team just toying us or going through the motions. Our muscle guy might of played two games and maybe skated 6 minutes total. So I believe we are a desperate team for an identity.
I got us as a motion team. If we keep skating and moving is how I see us winning games but not enough games. Because the other team recognize that and adjust. They start to play heavy and hard and we have no answer for that. A 30 goal scorer with a mean streak that can protect and scrap helps get an identity. An old number 20 by the name of Secord was that type. He was pretty good. Would probably help protect our youngsters for 3 years til we are ready.
Just for camparison Jack Hughes who along with Kakko was considered head shoulders above their draft class. He has a 29% fo and still centering their top line, just scored his 11th goalof the year, Dach 6 34% fo and Kakko has 5. Hughes played 142 nhl games, Kakko 151 and Dach who wasn’t considered as far along on draft day just 122 yet. Patience is needed.
Thank you for the pause in throwing Dach out already, Ian.
Dach’s progress hasn’t been what many of us wanted/expected, especially after he looked so good in the bubble. But his sophomore season was lost to the wrist injury and this year’s roster is trash. There’s room for development still… but the org needs to work with him to reach that potential.
Ian
Excellent post
Kids need time to grow and to become man physically and mentally.
That’s a reason to leave Rachel and other kids (play )in Rockford .when you have fun playing the game then it’s easier to develop without the NHL pressure and fans pressure who wants a super star from a 19-20 years old on their first 1-2 year.
Guys like Teply,Slaggert,Phillips, needs another 2-3 years to be able to compete with NHL men .
A few guys here where sure Mitchell was ready last year and I wrote that he was not ready yet , now they are disappointed to see him going back to Rockford again this year. But it’s part of the growing.He played big minutes for 25 games in Rockford so far this year and he still need more at 23 y o . Maybe he will play in NHL in the future , he didn’t grow much physically and still needs a 5-10 kilos at 79 kilos. Who knows ?
I am not sure he can become a top 4 Dman in NHL ..maybe a number 6-7
Tab/Ian
Dach does not have the it factor. no way. cant get water to come out of a sponge if the sponge does not absorb water.
nor do the hawks have coaches to develop him or others. a 3 pick of the draft, he should be making others stand out or make others play better, neither is the case with this pick.
place dach with NAIL YAKUPOV
case close move on from this kid.
I’m not giving up on Dach yet but as Jim Ross said maybe a shift to winger would take some pressure off him especially for faceoffs for a while?? But with Toews out maybe it’s not possible.
JR Roman: We could use a type of player like E. Kane, just not E. Kane. I would however take 3 Al Secord’s thou in a heartbeat.
Ian I have no idea how you are comparing Kirby Dach to Jack Hughes without thinking that I am so glad that you are not the GM of the Hawks.
Hughes is 4 months younger than Dach.
Hughes is looking like a potential star while Dach is looking like a potential third liner.
Instead of making it sound like Hughes isn’t having a great year so far by just stating that Hughes got his 11th goal of the year.
How about putting up some stats?
Hughes 25 games played 11 goals 14 assists 25 points compared to Dach 40 games 6 goals 8 assists 14 points.
Hawks have showed no patience with their young players instead guys like Boqvist and Dach were fast tracked to the nhl for no good reason whatsoever.
Ian you were also advocating for these guys as well as Reichel to be brought up to play games in the nhl so now you are telling us patience is needed.
Goose – totally disagree with your Dach assessment. I think your point would be easier for me to agree with if he had played two full seasons leading into this one. But as Tab said, his second season was non existent because of his wrist and the first one wasn’t a full season either. If we walk away from this kid now we will be sorry, but it would fit with the basic organizational blindness we’ve been guilty of over the past few years.
Stape having patience as a fan while Dach finds his game at Nhl level, has nothing to do with being a self proclaimed expert in how he should be developed. I hear alot about how prospects rushed by Blackhawks ruined their development, then hear alot about those prospects having success in Nhl now, unfortunately they gave up them too quick and didn’t have patience with them and success is elsewhere. Hughes is 29% on fos and still a no.1 center, Kakko has 5 goals this year, whats your point, both where considered generational type talents and far ahead of their draft class who are still trying to thrive at nhl level is mine.
Will Dach develop into the great forward that SB claimed he would be. Time will tell. My issue is not that he was with the NHL team instead of Rockford , but how he was used. A lot of pressure was put on him early. Playing top line minutes , power play , penalty ,kill may have done more harm than just easing him into the line up with third line minutes. We have no idea where his confidence level is. IMO not too many rookies come into to the league and light it up ( there are exceptions ). The hawks under SB rushed the rookies in order to sell tickets. Remember Tevo with Q. Slow and steady