Hartman, Wild Dominate Underwhelming Blackhawks
What do you want us to say at this point?
On Monday night, the Blackhawks lost a 3-2 shootout decision in Seattle against a terrible Kraken team. That loss ended a four-game win streak. Chicago then had three days off before hosting a Minnesota team that sits ahead of them in the standings.
During those off days, the Blackhawks got almost a complete roster back on the ice. Seth Jones, Kirby Dach and Dylan Strome exited COVID protocol and joined the team on the ice. Head coach Derek King said the Hawks were tired in the third period in Seattle; there shouldn’t have been any excuse for a less-than-stellar performance on Friday night.
Friday night’s game was the first between the Blackhawks and Wild in almost two full calendar years; they last played on Feb. 4, 2020. But they wouldn’t wait two more years to see each other again… these two teams will go at it again on Saturday night in the Wild’s barn.
So how did the Blackhawks look with a healthy roster and three days to get ready?
Marcus Foligno tripped Seth Jones less than 30 seconds into the game and the Blackhawks got a power play. They did nothing, and the Wild scored almost immediately following the end of the advantage. Foligno scored the goal, because of course.
Ryan Hartman scored 69 seconds later to make the lead two goals.
Hartman scored his second of the period and 18th of the season with just under three minutes left in the first period to make the score 3-0 in favor of Minnesota.
The Blackhawks out-shot the Wild 12-10 in the first period, but trailed were chasing three.
At 12:42 into the second after another big hit on Jones, Riley Stillman dropped the gloves with Brandon Duhaime. Stillman handled his business fairly well. As that fight was ending, MacKenzie Entwistle dropped his gloves with Connor Dewar. That fight didn’t do much for anyone other than stir some 1980s nostalgia. Both Entwistle and Dewar got the showers and the rest of the night off for being involved in a second scrap.
So anyways, the Hawks were getting their asses kicked and were now down to 17 skaters in front of Marc-André Fleury.
Fleury was between the pipes for 12 more minutes before Calen Addison added a fourth goal for the Wild. King made the change and brought in Kevin Lankinen to finish up the game with the Blackhawks down four.
Lankinen was beat by Duhaime less than five minutes later and the Blackhawks were down five.
The crazy thing is, the Blackhawks actually generated more shots on net in the second period. Chicago out-shot Minnesota 15-9 in the middle period but the Blackhawks were on their second goaltender and were looking up at a five-goal mountain to climb in the third.
Stillman went into the boards hard during the second period and the team announced he wouldn’t return for the third period because of a shoulder injury.
The Hawks’ best line of the night was Dylan Strome between Brandon Hagel and Patrick Kane, and they were able to end the shutout big with five minutes left in regulation. Strome scored his fourth of the year.
The game finally ended with the Blackhawks holding a nice advantage in the shots on goal column but with a four-goal loss in the books.
Fleury stopped nine of 13 in 31:33. Lankinen was slightly better, but the game was out of reach by the time he came in. He stopped 16 of 17 in relief.
Strome had a terrific night. He skated 20:01 and finished tied with Kane for the team lead with four shots on net. He also won nine of 16 faceoffs; he had won two-thirds of his faceoffs in his previous five games, so the improvement at the dot is starting to show dividends.
On his 21st birthday, Dach skated 16:53 returning from COVID. He won half of his six faceoffs and was credited with three shots on net, two hits and two takeaways.
Stillman skated only 6:50 and we’ll have to wait and see if the shoulder issue keeps him out longer than just Saturday night; we’re assuming the Hawks will need someone else to fill that spot if he wasn’t able to return on Friday.
Love the dog gif. Just questions for tonight: What the heck do the Hawks do on long breaks?? Can anyone here actually say what exactly does Lafferty do well?? I’ll give him that he hustles better than Nylander. What else can Rocky give away to get fans in the seats?? I saw literally ROWS of empty seats. Does anybody know when they changed the rules about a second fight and when the heck did that happen? Can’t remember seeing that. Was there a Hawks player of the game or did Strome win it by default?? Nobody played well tonight. Nobody. They pushed us around and laughed in our faces. Anybody know why our recently acquired “Enforcer” has been getting scratched on the Hogs?? Facing some physical teams coming up and we got ZIP!!! Does Rocky got a clue yet on who the guy is that’s going to run the organization?? The Video Analyst??? LOL!!!!
Glad they lost
Why not give Lank the start tonight?
Why push MAF to the limit
Lank need to play at home sometime and need to play more often .
ian warned us a tough spate was upon us.
Lank will play tomorrow- I don’t see the problem
I couldn’t stomach this game after the first goal that was way too easy – I was right
I still say King and KD combined to kill the Hawks mojo with their combined line up /roster decisions
The Blackhawks just had three full days off. Nobody was being “pushed to the limit” if they had Tue-Fri off. This was a pathetic effort
Hopefully they can give a decent effort tomorrow night and make us forget about tonight. Not much else you can say.
Positive, only Strome”s game.
Bring up Oglethorpe tomorrow.
Lanks tomorrow also.
Try to stay out of the lottery picks
Yes. Funny video Tab.
Lank didn’t play for almost 5 weeks in NHL
Maybe send him to Rockford the get a few games
Stillman not going on road trip
If they’re gonna play Caleb ahead of Galvas which they will it’s not gonna be pretty back there
Ugh….
Blow it up from the top on down. Lethargic pathetic and lazy organization. Hammer you were right on it, the Wild were laughing at the Hawks throughout the entire game. Interim King finally lost his patience with the Captains,s nightly zero Stat line as he gave his minutes to Strome and Dach. This has become beyond embarrassing all the way around. I will go with 8 to 1 Wild tomorrow night up north. They must be ecstatic that they get to play the Hawks regularly again.
Shots on goal meant nothing in this game.
This may have been the most lackluster offensive performance I’ve ever seen from the Blackhawks.
Defense was awful, but Fleury gave up a couple of really soft ones.
King after the game, when asked what the Wild were doing defensively to bottle up the Blackhawks tonight ….. “Minnesota didn’t HAVE to play defense tonight”.
Minnesota is a better team, but the Blackhawks effort was poor. Kane looked sleepy. Got an assist, so he got some praise from the radio guys.
I hope at least that they show up to play tomorrow night. King says Lankinen was scheduled to be in net and will very likely do just that.
Nothing about this game was really all that good. Let’s try and flesh it out. Strome was 50% on the FO and he had 4 SOG and 1 G. Solid night for him. Kane, his linemate, also had 4 SOG and assisted on Strome’s goal. Kubalik, Kurashev, and Dach had 3 SOG and DeBrincat had 2 SOG and 4 Hits. All the Defensemen, except Stillman, had SOG. McCabe had 6 Hits. So he was very physical in the absence of Stillman. So…there was some effort there. The team did outshoot the Wild. But, nothing was really all that dangerous. It was a pretty easy night for Kahkonen, in net.
The not so good. Hagel had 0 SOG. He’s on the 1st line. Yes he got the other Asssit on the Strome goal and he had 1 Hit. But, if he’s going to be on the 1st line, he has to do more.
Was MAF really that bad or was the Team Defense just not there?
Question: Why is Gustafsson in the line-up? During that win streak, Galvas was up and playing much better than Gustafsson ever has. If Coach King is still on his “veteran loyalty” b.s. then I don’t see why he’s there at all. If he’s not going to even try to develop the young players than what is the point? Gustafsson should not be an option. Even if Stillman is out…and I suspect he’ll miss a few games. If the team brings up someone, from Rockford, will Coach King play him or waste his time? Why has Kalynuk been banished from the team? If C. Jones is not any better than Gustafsson, and I truly hope that is not the case, then why not bring up someone? Kalynuk, Mitchell, Galvas, Beaudin, Phillips, or Regula. Those players each have differing skill sets that would look great.
Tomorrow is another day. Bring up a better Defenseman and make the line combinations better.
Kubalik-Strome-Kane
DeBrincat-Toews-Connolly
Hagel-Dach-Entwistle
Hardman-Lafferty-Carpenter
The defense can be better but now with Gustafsson anywhere near the ice. Bring up one of the kids and let’s do this. F this loyalty to veterans b.s. No one should be safe…that includes you, Coach King.
Can someone in the Hawks organization let us followers know what is exactly wrong with Mitchell,Kalynuk,Beaudin, Galvas,Regala,Phillips, that they cannot be trusted to play more than a game here and there restricted to about 7 or 8 minutes? What is the point playing GUS now? It can’t be for trade showcasing,he has been on about 6 teams around the league. They all know what he is. Rotate and mix these young D men with S. Jones,Murphy,and McCabe and lets see what we have and let them grow up playing NHL minutes. This babying them is not working. Just put Connolly,Toews,and Kubalik together and call them your 3rd line and give them the appropriate 3rd line minutes. Get Reichel back up and let him play with Debrincat and Dach. Stop wasting time with players that are not going to be here. Their trade values have been set.
Blackhawks #1 offensive strategy…get to the blue line & dump it into the corner. #2 offensive strategy…get to the centerline & dump it in the corner. #3 offensive strategy…try to unsuccessfully play keep away behind the net and/or scrum in the corners with all 3 forwards poke checking the puck.
Tim W.
I could not agree with you more. If Reichel is the Center of the future, put Dach on his RW. Defensively, I am all in on your idea. Kalynuk, Mitchell, Galvas, Beaudin, Regula, and Phillips. Release Gustafsson and, if no one claims him, Rockford it is.
YAWN…same problem different day.
leadership-yeah Toews is captain, but something has to change. once Hossa was gone IMO leadership took a turn for the worst.
hey how about this stick slaps and high fives after each period from our 1 roung pick DACH. atleast he shows the glass half full.
@TimW- how about either letting them fully develop Mitchell,Kalynuk,Beaudin, Galvas,Regala,Phillips down in the AHL(which wont matter because the coaching sucks down there) instead of RUSHING them and exposing their weakness or breaking their confindents.
whoever thinking Carpenter is great for this team, must have their eyes check. the guy skates with lead in his skates.
Hagel-what he misses with skill he makes up with heart and effort. if this team had 10% of his effort we would be fine.
Hartman-psh this is only one season of scoring…lets see if he can put another great season together, just like bickell in the 2013 playoffs; great in there and then shits the bed.
I’d like to see Slavin given more time – of all the bottom 6ers they’ve tried this year he has stood out as having the best potential but he can’t get in very often
I realize there has to be room to get him in but without Khaira there was – I would play him over Hardman
I’d play Galvas over Caleb tonight
This team looks better with Galvas and Slavin – some much needed speed and skill in their respective roles and that goes for Reichel too although there really isn’t room for him until post TDL or an injury happens
TDL can’t come fast enough to clear out some dead wood and get some of the young guys in
This team just isn’t any good in any part of the game!
Rfd. plays tonight, so with Connelly and C.Jones available, letting youngsters get bigger ice time in Rfd. tonight is an option. Then recall a couple of bodies for road games against Avs and Wings. Waiting for trades to happen and losing games, poor efforts are hard on the patience for sure. Hopefully some youngsters we haven’t seen alot of show some potential at Nhl level by seasons end and the moves made are long term positive upgrades both at Nhl level and in the system.
Yes. When i saw our starting line up on the tv, i was like this is going to be a great game. Boy, really dissapointed.
This morning’s rumor from the Hockey Writers states that Fleury will only be traded if he asks for one and that Kane, Toews and S Jones are the untouchables on the team which would coincide with an earlier comment I had saying that Rocky is only concerned with getting people in the seats. I’m guessing that won’t make fans here all warm and fuzzy. I expect the Hawks to play better tonight and expect the Wild instead of pushing the Hawks around and laughing at them, to slam Hawks into the boards tonight and then laugh at them with no recourse by the Hawks.
No hustle need a tough coach who good would want to come here idea overpay you could get someone laziest team in nhl thank you captain serious you showed the young guys how to dog it for 5 years you should be stripped of the captaincy but no one has the balls to do that or to blow it up lots of cancer on this team
the greatest problem with this team is that rocky is no better an owner than that idiot mc caskey. he has only done two right things. put the games on tv and hired mc donough to sell tickets and reorganize the office. then he let mc donough con him into believing he had a talent level above seat salesman and office manager and put the keys to the kingdom in mc donough’s pocket. all down hill since then. and it will continue downhill if he doesn’t hire a gm from outside the organization and let him trade toews and kane and jones as well if the the offer is substantial.
Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat.
Until we get new Hockey Ops, GM we will be shiite.
Whoever the Coach is doesn’t matter
Whatever the line combos are doesn’t matter
Whomever plays D doesn’t matter
We are now Detoilet circa 2014, there lies a very long road ahead until
we become competitive again.
Dollar Bill: I’ll second that!!!
The off ice structure, who us going to be calling the shots this tdl and especially off season will be huge in shaping where this franchise is going in next few years, no doubt about that.
All the time and outside help (Mike Forde) that Danny boy is getting in order to get the off ice structure right had better pay off
Being patient and doing your due diligence is all well and good until it becomes dithering – right now it’s hard to tell the difference between the two with the Hawks off ice personnel search
You’d think with 2 months to TDL that there should be some announcement say in the next month at least about the GM because the permanent GM should be in charge of TDL not the interim
So if it’s KD then say so or if it’s somebody else then say so
I don’t think it’s a good idea to go into TDL with an interim GM who may not be here after the season
There’s still hope that they could get it right but the silence from the Wirtz’s is getting louder by the day
100% agree, Tim. For the love that’s all holy, why are the hawks playing Murphy, Gus and C. jones?! You wonder why no young hawks player can’t develop… they never get the experience! Let’s keep playing Beaudin for 3 minutes per game. I’m sure it does wonders for his confidence.
BTW….Bickell had the beginning stages of M.S. So….lay off on him.
As for Hartman, yes he is having a great year, and he plays better than 80% of the current Hawks roster and always has….Hawks miss used him as is theír usual poor coaching protocol.
When the captain of the Blackhawks has 4 goals after 40 games and is supposedly an untouchable on the trade market it should tell you all that you need to know about why you need to hire an outsider to become the next GM. “4” goals in “40” games for captain Toews.
Wrap: Danny signed Forde to a 1 year contract to assess the Organization, that was done last month so you can imagine that the wheels on Madison will spin very slowly on this. Meanwhile do you think the Video Analyst will be making the “Big Decisions” for the team before TDL comes up??? Doubt it. What you see is what we got for this year and except for minor deals here and there, this is it. While this is going on Danny talks to the likes of all people: Jed Hoyer. Rocky needs to jettison his kid back to the booze warehouse.
How does King come out and say the team did not come out ready? How do highly paid professional athletes say the same thing as if it is completely normal?
Giving 4 goals on the first 13 shots is the first reason the Hawks lost the game ,the rest is secondary when you know that the Hawks have DCat ,Hagel , Kane ( probably hurt To get the puck behind the goalie.
Let see iff Lank can do the job and stop the bleeding in the first 10 minutes.
Very interesting comment from Eddie Olczyk last night. He said he was walking around the “atrium” talking to fans. Hmmm. Sounds like somebody running for office or in this case, team President.
I’ve posted this here before and was questioned. I can tell you this. Eddie O wants to be the next President of the Hawks.
Craig: Maybe he was heading to the Men’s room. Don’t you think he would have gotten the job already if he wanted it?? It would have been so easy for Rocky to do that, attempt to bring out the “roar” again and try to sell some tickets off of it.
I won’t be shocked to hear about Pat’s lover getting any job in Chicago. But the new contracts with the NHL and his profile in those contracts would likely be a mess to untangle, unless he has provisions for other job offers. And I kinda doubt that would be the case, but I’ve been wrong before.
Still think if it is Ed, we won’t hear about that until late March or early April.