Fleury, Blackhawks Hold Off Kraken For Fourth Straight Win
On the 95th anniversary of the first game in franchise history, the Blackhawks played their first game in Seattle.
After what felt like a month away from game action, the Hawks were busy before the game. The team announced two coaching moves: Marc Crawford was named associate coach and announced Rob Cookson has joined the NHL coaching staff as an assistant coach.
The roster got a few tweaks as well. Defenseman Caleb Jones was activated for the first time in the regular season, but forward Tyler Johnson replaced him on LTIR. Brandon Hagel took the morning skate but wasn’t active for the game; Caleb Jones joined his brother, Seth, in the lineup. Chicago rolled with seven defenseman, scratching Adam Gaudette in favor of Caleb Jones.
With all of that as a backdrop, the Blackhawks played a stellar first period against a Kraken team that simply refused to generate any offense. It took 15 minutes for the Hawks to get on the board, but Seth Jones’ 300th career point opened the scoring.
Alex DeBrincat was flying in the first period and picked up one of the assists on Jones’ goal. Patrick Kane was credited with the second helper.
After 20 minutes, Marc-André Fleury may have been bored. He only needed to make three saves in the opening 20 minutes; the Hawks put eight shots on net.
The good news: Seattle has not yet won a game when trailing after the first period. And the Blackhawks did everything right in the first. However, if the first period was a snooze for Fleury, the second was the polar opposite.
The Blackhawks grabbed a 2-0 lead two minutes into the second when Kirby Dach hit DeBrincat with a nice stretch pass and the Cat scored a beautiful goal.
After the goal, the second period was dominated by the Kraken — and Fleury. Seattle out-shot the Blackhawks 15-6 in the second period and Fleury made a few ridiculous saves to keep the Kraken off the board.
BY THE POWER OF FLOWER pic.twitter.com/sXpZbFpIwT
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 18, 2021
An interesting stat after 40 minutes: Dach had taken 13 faceoffs (winning only three). The rest of the Blackhawks took only 12 faceoffs, led by Jonathan Toews (who won three of six). The Hawks’ top line of DeBrincat-Dach-Kane was dynamite, but Dach’s struggles at the dot made it surprising that he had taken more than half of the team’s total faceoffs.
Zero penalties were called in the first two periods and the Hawks’ trend of going extended stretches of time without a whistle appeared again. The teams went more than nine minutes without a whistle in the second period.
Vince Dunn did the Blackhawks a favor at the expense of Dach’s face, punching the Hawks’ young center in the face and getting sent to the box for the game’s first penalty 1:20 into the third period.
On the power play, Yanni Gourde took a few cheap shots at DeBrincat. Seth Jones whacked Gourde after he took a shot at Kane and then DeBrincat lost it. He dropped the gloves with Gourde who appeared to laugh as the fight started. He wasn’t laughing as much when DeBrincat kicked his ass, landing a series of punches before the fight was broken up.
YANNI VS THE CAT. NO ONE SAW THIS ONE COMING. pic.twitter.com/57YJrSKoUb
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) November 18, 2021
Jones picked up an extra penalty for hitting Gourde before the fight broke out. So we went to 4-on-4 and, clearly, Seattle was trying to ramp up the physical play to change the momentum.
With the fight, DeBrincat added a Gordie Howe hat trick to his resume for the year.
And quickly after the Blackhawks’ penalty ended, Kane extended the lead to three.
Philipp Kurashev received a nice outlet pass from Connor Murphy and set Kane up for the goal; they picked up the two assists on Kane’s sixth of the year.
The Blackhawks went back to shutting down the Seattle offense until Dach went to the box for slashing with 7:22 left in regulation. The Kraken had converted only one of their first 23 power plays to start the season on home ice before Dach took a seat in the sin bin. So — of course — with 17 seconds left in the advantage Seattle scored in the midst of a scramble in front of the net. Jared McCann scored the goal.
After the power play goal, Seattle had momentum and kept the pressure on. The Blackhawks were doing a good job blocking shots, but they weren’t able to generate or sustain any offense. With 3:40 left in regulation, Philipp Grubauer went to the bench for an extra attacker. Fleury made another tremendous save (with a little help from Calvin de Haan) about 30 seconds after Grubauer left the ice.
With 1:49 left in regulation, Dunn set up Gourde who unloaded a one-timer and the Kraken were within one. Fleury was under fire and the Blackhawks’ offense was seemingly put away for the night. At the time of the Gourde goal, Seattle was out-shooting the Blackhawks 14-4 in the third.
The Hawks were happy to just get the puck out of the defensive zone, desperate to get changes as frequently as they could. Thankfully, Jake McCabe launched a clearing shot that found the back of the empty net to push the lead back to two (and get the over on 5.5) in the closing seconds.
The Chicago Blackhawks have not lost or trailed since firing Jeremy Colliton.
Fleury stopped 31 of 33 in the game (after facing only three in the first period). He was outstanding.
The Hawks blocked 22 shots as a team, led by four by de Haan.
All seven Blackhawks defensemen were credited with one shot on net. DeBrincat led the Hawks with four shots in the game.
Dach won three of 18 faceoffs in the game; he didn’t win a single draw in the third period. Toews took the majority of the faceoffs in the third, finishing with nine wins in 20 faceoffs; he took six faceoffs in the first 40 minutes.
4 wins in last 4 games with King behind the bench ,that is very positive but let see all the nice positive comment from people who where screaming to kick out Coliton.
Hawks where outshot but found a way to win again .
A win is a win…and I am happy for that. Wins help to ignore where the Blackhawks are struggling. Dach, in bad at faceoffs. The kid has great talent. But…if he’s losing faceoffs at such an alarming level, his offensive powerhouse linemates are going to be backchecking before they can even hope to go up ice. NOT GOOD. I don’t get why Borgstrom gets so little ice time. Is he still weak from his illness or is he just not performing as he should? The offensive output team wide was pretty pathetic. Too many guys with 0 SOG. Strome, Borgstrom, Khaira, and Carpenter had 0 SOG. Toews, Dach, Kurashev all had 1 SOG. That’s not going to cut it.
Lastly, the 1st Period was the only strong period for the Blackhawks. It it wasn’t for Fleury, this game could have gone to OT or the Blackhawks could have outright lost. Yes, it’s a W. But, the team played poorly for 40 minutes of a 60 minute game. This was a win…not a good win…just a win. Perhaps Gaudette can get some playing time instead of Khaira or Kurashev. We shall see. NEXT GAME!!!!
Four!
Nice, the Hawks CAN score more than two in a night!
Hawks have to close out games like this better than they did tonight. The Kraken had no business making this game as close as it turned out to be.
Kane, DeBrincat, Jones and Fluery; how they go the Hawks go.
Would have liked to see Kubalik bury that one timer, but it was nice seeing him put himself in a position to get that shot off. Hope to see more of that this weekend.
I really would like to see Gaudette in this lineup in place of R Johnson.
First big test this weekend, the Hawks should get at least two points. Maybe we get lucky and Edmonton looks past the Hawks, but I suspect we get to see how King handles this roster against superior talent. Hope the Hawks show up on Saturday.
The Hawks played maybe a period of hockey against an expansion team and then went into the turtle to hang on. Outchanced 66 to 33,thats as bad as it gets. Dach,Kane,Debrincat were solid for the game as they displayed what a 1 line team looks like. Fleury was outstanding and is increasing in value. The reason for long stretches of play without stop is that the Hawks do not body check or cycle the puck. They don’t drive the net and besides the 1st line,they play like a bunch of strangers that just got together for an open skate. The Toews line produced an entire 3 shots on net for the game and yes Toews was again terrible as he provided nothing close to tangible offensively and was beaten at the dot . How many more games of this nonsense? What is going to happen sooner,his 1st goal or he gets into hockey shape where he can finish a shift or contribute anything offensively??? If I am on King,s staff I am scouring the waiver wires for players that can actually keep control of the puck and provide some type of attack. Gaudette ,Hagel,and Hardman should be back in this lineup like yesterday. This win is fools gold. This team is about to be exposed in a big way. I hope King has a different demeanor after this game. Lots of soft passengers riding this train.
Hey as long we’re winning, I’m grinning. Don’t mess with the Cat. Bending but not breaking.
A win, now can they step it up against better competition in Edmonton Saturday is next question. With Hardman non covid illness unable to go and he dresses 7D instead of Gaudette, then plays Borgstrom little over 7 mins., kind of puzzling. Definitely need more ozone time than they managed ladt night.
Nice Gordie Howe hat trick for Cat last night, sure shocked Gourde lol.
Good news- MAF increasing his value for TDL/ picks!
Great- that they are actually looking -OK/watchable w King as coach
Reality- team is going no where – w no one other than 88/12 really showing any offense
and the Metrics being so weak.
Dach- His Face-offs are a big issue… guess we can slot Jaylen Luypen w Dach in 2-3 years to take FO (he is supposed to be a beast at the dot- but too small to play C in NHL most likely)
Meh. Earlier in the season they had a few games where they dominated the action and lost, and recently they’ve had a couple three where they were easily the worst team yet have come away with two points. I don’t see much difference between the last few games and the first 3 weeks. This team, outside of getting solid goaltending and some top heavy scoring, does not look like a good hockey team whatsoever. As Bluto said, MAF increasing his trade stock and hopefully we’ll get lucky in the lottery.
maybe dcat can tell dach that it is alright to drop his purse to stand up for himself.
Hey HAWK2010—saw JC on Lower Wacker Drive holding a sign “slob on a knob for $1.99” hard times for the kid coach.
So many unhappy, unsatisfied and pessimistic critics.
It must really suck going through life being miserable all the time. You have a choice: make yourself miserable or enjoy yourself.
I enjoyed watching the game knowing full well this is not a great team that is not going anywhere.
I enjoyed watching Cat-Man-Do, Kane, MAF and others even though there are some who need to improve.
People crack me up here, team wins 4 in a row and now its “meh” and some can’t see the difference in the team from the start of the season and right now!!! Yes we are still deficient in talent in some areas, hopefully that will be addressed next year but a simple adjustment and a new attitude and look what happens. And people still whine about it. Maybe they just miss StanBo and Kid Coach. Yes let’s see how they do against a really good team in their building(with Duncan Keith). Do people think we’d have a chance with Kid Coach running this team?? It’ll be a good barometer for hockey people to see what we need to move forward, while others can go play “armchair GM” here. And where are those “StanBo’s Supporters” been lately around here??
Who is John Galt?–what makes you think this team has turned a corner? do you remember when the revolving door was happening around 1998-2006. Hawks fired many coaches, teams played well under interm coach and bam back to normal.
so again at TDL you may lose MAF, a vet or 2, maybe Dominic. still have a weak AHL team, still really no GM or President, still no HC or others, core is 33-34 yrs old, and the list can go on.
yes a win is a win but look at reality; we will be in the lower 12 for the next 3-5years.
@goose maverick – where did I say this team has turned a corner?
My only comment is that I enjoyed watching the game.
Goose: What part of “knowing full well this is not a great team and not going anywhere” did you miss??
Yes StanBo set this team back years, but there is some talent on this team and people that are interested in becoming a GM here(still hope they are looking for a GM) no doubt are checking out the team to see what we really have. In the meantime, I’ll take what we have right now: some optimism, some better coaching, a different attitude and watching some decent hockey finally. Plus we’ve almost caught up to the rest of the division.
the team is better, but bad. very few players on this roster will be wearing a hawks sweater three years from now. likely most of those will be bottom six forwards and third pairing d-men.
it’s okay for me. during the 2015-2016 season and off season bowman extended seabrook with the worst contract in team history and traded teravainen because of bickell’s contract. since then my only goal has been for bowman to be gone. regardless how it happened it is done. time to be patient and hope the new regime is successful sooner than later. in the meantime i will enjoy the games as best i can.
i hope the wirtzes will bring in management from outside the organization and give them free reign. no sacred cows. move toews and kane if possible. way past time for a new era.
Hammer Time- dont know what standings you are looking at but we played 16 games while others have played the same or a game less and have a 6pnt lead.
second-you might be young, maybe an ankle biter but this is VOL 2 of the 1998-2006 organization.
i could do a couple of roster comparisons from the 1998-2006 shit show to this roster and show you we are not out of the dark; we have just enter it and rock bottom is not far away.
till they settle with Beach & Doe 2, no gm is willing to touch this team! Hammer Time
It’s not because Bowman , Colliton Brookbank and the rest off the coaching staff are gone that the Hawks will become a top team . Toews is 33 and I wonder iff he is not at is last year with the Hawks , Kane is still really good but also 33 and will not become younger, the damage done by the organization in the past few years ( Beach story ) plus the change in direction ( rebuilding then change direction and letting go 3 first choice to get $ Jones ( who is playing very well since arriving). This is not a rebuilding.the Mc Cabe, T Johnson,Gustafsson, didn’t help a lot the Hawks so far but let see when they trade them for draft pick .Fleury was really bad but now playing great in past 4-5 games ( maybe we can get high pick for him in a few months iff he continue to play like last night..overall the Hawks have a similar team they had in past 2-3 years but with no first round pick next year so far . Maybe start the real rebuilding when we get Patrick Roy or another GM .
Goose M
Patrick Roy love big chalenge and could turn around that Franchise I think
The damage done by the Bowmans the organization and Quenneville is almost equal to the good things they did winning the cups
Not easy task to change the direction 180 degree in 1 year or 2 .
Many things have to be done and Hawks need a big head team with a few new faces with strong willingness to change the direction with credibility.
Who can do the job ?
I think Roy is the solution but who knows
Just my 2 pesos .
Wins against Seattle. Yotes, Pens minus Sid, Malkin, 3 top 6D, Nashville brings much joy to my pocketbook. We’ve finally gotten rid of the cancer named Stan and his acolyte named JC. So all in all things are looking up in Hawk land.
Now to have to hold on for dear life and getting outplayed horribly in the 3rd period in all of those games is a trend that shows how bad a team the Hawks are. Good goaltending hides some warts great goaltending hides all of the warts and this team has oh so many warts.
King basically played 9 forwards, a trend that is both worrying and unsustainable. Gaudette is the new Strome and Strome has done absolutely nothing since being freed from purgatory. Why play 7 D when you have Gaudette just sitting, why not see if he could jell w/Toews and Kubs because he can’t be any worse than Khjaira in that spot.
As of now we are a one line team.
Actually in retrospect it appears as if Crawford is actually coaching the team. Whenever there is a timeout and strategy is required it’s Crawford w/the whiteboard, yes that might be normal procedure during a game but Kings the new coach, he should be showing the team what he wants at this stage.
Anyhow regardless of the X’s and O’s Columbus is going to get a great draft pick to go along w/Cole Sillinger thanks to Stan, unless of course we win the lottery.
Hawks2010—never said it will be 1 – 2 yrs turn around, i said we just entered the dark hole.
after Q was released the darkness was starting to show.
not saying bowman was great with team but what gm will touch this team after the jones trade? jones trade “Chicago’s first-round pick in 2021, Chicago’s second-round pick in the 2021 Draft, and the Blackhawks’ first-round pick in either 2022 or 2023”
Roy isnt Danny’s woke boy! and for people saying to try to get the Hunters from the OHL come on man!
I’m impressed with the commentary by Tab Bamford with all the hockey colloquialism remarks ! Very well versed in all of the terminology ! Anyways it’s nice to see the storied franchise doing a bit better! We will see how they do in Hockey night in Canada game of the week against Oil on Saturday night ! That could be a statement game for the Hawks ! POPS 4
Goose I don’t think so. First look at the standings. Couple more wins and we’re right back in the hunt where anything can happen. Second I’ve been watching this club since the late 60’s. Yes the Wirtz better make this right with Beach, IDK what the holdup is on that. But for a potential GM taking this club over, that’s not his problem and if a new “hockey guy” comes in and straightens this team situation out and we’re competitive for the cup once again, one things for sure……he’s going to have a job for a long time here. Saying somebody won’t take this job is just not true, this is an opportunity for somebody to take the reins and make something out of this. There’s some talent here, a new guy for sure is going to get a few years to sort this out and put his stamp on this club. To compare this club to other era’s of Hawk Hockey is counter productive and make no sense to even waste your time with it, yeah I’ve seen some God awful hockey here back in the day but that’s a different time, a different era and I only care about the present and the future. I can remember sitting in the 3rd row of the “Barn” and not have anyone within 2-3 rows of me watching the game. THOSE were the real dark times.
Who is John Galt, Speaking for myself,its not pessimism that I express just for the sake of being negative or that I am a Colliton/Bowman fan. I am just reacting to what I see on the ice each game. When I see a 1 Line team half ass it and get absolutely no contributions from 8 of their forwards with their superstar Center still sitting on 0 GOALS and still creating nothing,I as a fan am going to speak up. Besides dropping back into a 1-2-2 and utilizing a zone coverage defensive system so they stop getting beat up the ice and physically manhandled,they are the same soft team that does not have any dynamic forwards that can play both ends of the ice. Also a team that is getting no Goal production from their centers and now their 1 trick pony is not even winning his faceoffs at over a 50% rate. But I digress. I can accept and appreciate people who are enjoying the games as I too am still an NHL fanatic and will even watch bad hockey when its on.
10 losses in everybody knew this was far from a perfect team. Four wins later why would you think they should be a perfect team, enjoy the wins, no need to keep stating the obvious flaws in them. Are Davidson and King long term replacements, wouldn’t surprise me if they were, but who knows. Lets enjoy the wins when they come instead of complaining about how they win, sit back and see what the coach and Gms auditions bring.
HAMMERTIME, “Decent Hockey”. Come on brother,you really don’t believe that. I know you better than that. Yes,the system is now helping them keep games close against bottom tier teams but this is not even baby steps yet. We need real NHL forwards and not this soft as Charmin group that is out there now. Strome,Borgstrom,Carpenter,Kubalik,Kurashev,Toews, all were cardboard cutouts last night.
Ian, Sorry,I believe as true hockey fans we should be willing and able to identify the flaws of the team you pull for. I was good for the 1st 3 games of the King era as he made the initial long overdue changes to get this team ready to play at puck drop and to put an end to their flawed system of the defensive zone fire drill and continually being beaten up the ice. I believe that the next step is to identify,call out,and sit those who do not provide a contribution or compete.
Dollar Bill: I agree with you on things looking better, just think if StanBo didn’t get busted, Kid Coach would still be here!!! I don’t care what King does right now, it just doesn’t matter right now, the thing is we are playing better, players aren’t tuning him out and they are hanging in there when they are being pressured instead of caving in like a house of cards. Plus I can actually watch the game without throwing something at the TV now and curse out the old regime. I’m excited about Saturday night to see how they will play against a good team, on the road, see Duncan Keith again who was lambasted here by the “know it all’s” here but seems to be doing well again and not playing 25-28 minutes a game like he had to here and to see how this team responds to all of this. Big night Saturday and I’m bringing the popcorn.
Tim W: Yes I know this is a flawed team, no question about that but right now we are finding out what we got from a different perspective, players can’t hide and the ones that aren’t performing will eventually be cast aside, everybody is playing(or coaching, or GM’ing) for a job right now. But in this moment of time, I’m enjoying what I’m seeing here, there’s some spark, some grit and they are trying. Its all we can ask for right now as fans, the rest will be sorted out later.
Goose
I wrote ( ((not.. you said ) )). I said 1-2 years .
Anyway it will be a minimum off 2-3 year to start the new Hawks philosophy.
First à GM who don’t name a second head coach (Crawford) when the Hawks have King for head coach.
Hawks need new Blood on top of the pyramid.
Hawks 2010, have to wonder if the reason Crawford never received the Associate coach tag under Colliton was because they almost always assume the interim title when head coach is fired. This way they could make King the interim Head Coach and still show Crawford the respect of seeing him as more than just another assistant wit Associate title. A number of teams, not sure presently who or how many off hand, have or had Associate coaches, some like Kirk Mueller for example never became Head Coaches before leaving.
Wrap, I know it’s low hanging fruit but I am going 9-2 Oilers Saturday night. What you got?
Tim W. I’ll go on a limb and say 6-4 Oilers.
Ian
Interesting way to see it and make sense ,no ego is hurt .
It will be very emotional in the next year when Hawks will have a new GM and hopefully a big change in all area .Now that Seabrook,Crow, Keith are gone it’s just a question of months before Toews and maybe Kane leave .
Sad but inevitable I think .
As much as I hate to not win and want the top 1/2 picks draft getting a 10-20 pick would be fine since we’re not keeping it. If we were 3-10 be pissed off since really without a full roster and enough of the right kind we donot have and getting back to having 5-7 elites again we should be bottom 5 with a shot at 1/2 pick.
Say Jones is dunks spot we need another seabsyboy and hammer on D. UFA there as we already went the trade for Jones/which is fine just need to get most of elites back to full amount from ufa because it costs too much doing most by trade. Getting a top pair and 1/2 elite top 6 fw ok.
Good with winning some games really we need that 1/2 or win/make playoffs without 1st. Although the 30-35 pick is a good player for us so it is worth that instead of a 50-55 pick. Which we can get in trades anyways.
Guess we’re at where are we standings and how many teams are within range for playoffs at trade line for trading every playoff player we have to get picks. Big picture is load young wave and add elites ufa and get a young core coming with 77 Reichel 12 and have a middle age core Jones age/elite ufa get in summer. So half core is 27-29 when we get them and other is Reichel 77 12 age range. Then when oldest core guy is getting older we have young guys ready and just add another elite from ufa at 27/28 cycle through.
Once the Reichel 77 12 start there prime yrs/I know 12 then it’s time to fill roster with quality deep ness of the Tim kind.
Thought expansion team was suppose to have better roster. VAN is tanking they are better then that/last few hrs they are food or tank on purpose? Amazingly LA SAN are winning enough to still be ahead. DAL ISL are better teams then that they prob know now reg season means shht.
Boy MTL sucks when they can’t play an all Canadian division even thought they were build for playoffs.
What happens to ARI they could win some but they are the DET of the last few yrs now. Good for DET win enough stay ahead.
Still got a shot. With 88 12 and now Jones those players alone prob get us more wins then we want NEED right now to reload.
Load young wave new gm!