Patrick Kane’s Six-Point Night Leads Blackhawks Past Ducks
In their last game, the Blackhawks played as good a first period as they had in some time. Maybe this entire season. But a couple unfortunate bounces and a few big (lucky?) saves and Chicago only took a 1-0 lead to the room after a strong effort for 20 minutes against the Lightning.
It took the Blackhawks only 98 seconds to get on the board in this one. Coach Derek King put the Alex DeBrincat-Dylan Strome-Patrick Kane line back to work and they flexed early and often.
Less than 90 seconds after Strome’s first goal, the Blackhawks got a power play and it looked like they were going to have that close-but-no-cigar luck once again. A few good looks went wide. DeBrincat whiffed on a chance. And, with the young skill on the Ducks’ roster and the way this season has gone for the Blackhawks, a little part in the back of your mind wondered if this was going to be a replay of the Tampa game.
The Anaheim Ducks are not the Tampa Bay Lightning. And John Gibson is not Andrei Vasilevskiy.
DeBrincat scored at 7:05 to make it 2-0 Hawks. Kane and Strome with the assists.
Kane scored at 13:53 to make it 3-0 Hawks. DeBrincat and Jake McCabe with the assists.
Ryan Carpenter — Ryan f***ing Carpenter — scored at 17:14 to extend the lead to four.
And with that, Patrick Kane had four points in less than 18 minutes of hockey.
Chicago wasn’t done for the period. Brandon Hagel and Jonathan Toews worked a perfect passing sequence and Toews finished the short-handed goal to give the Blackhawks a 5-0 lead at the end of the first period.
The shots were 13-6 in favor of the Blackhawks. And the night was over for Gibson, who was replaced in net by Anthony Stolarz. Anaheim thought maybe changing goaltenders would change the momentum in the game.
They were wrong. Hagel scored 19 seconds into the second period to give the Blackhawks a 6-0 lead.
And, for 24 minutes, the Blackhawks had as many goals in the game as Anaheim had shots on net. The effort was ugly, brutal, pathetic, fill in the blank with your favorite word for craptastic from the Ducks.
But we aren’t allowed to have nice things in Chicago this season. Not for long, anyway. So even a six-goal lead felt somewhat uncomfortable.
Jakob Silfverberg ended Marc-André Fleury’s shutout bid at 4:31 into the second.
That’s okay… we’ll be fine, right? It’s still a five goa….
Trevor Zegras scored a power play goal at 7:19 and then Adam Henrique scored 38 seconds later and suddenly, in less than four minutes, a six-goal lead was cut to three.
The Blackhawks had clearly taken their foot off the gas, and it showed. And Anaheim, to their credit, showed some push despite getting their asses kicked hard for the first 21 minutes of the night.
It felt like the next goal was going to be huge. Thankfully, that next goal came from Strome, giving the Blackhawks a 7-3 lead with 5:10 left in the second period.
When the dust settled after a second period that was a hot mess for both teams, the Ducks had out-shot the Blackhawks 19-7 in the period. King ripped his team a new one in the second intermission; they are clearly not good enough to take their foot off the gas against anyone at any time.
Chicago came out and did a much better job of settling the action down. The teams had covered the over to start the game and the adjust over (8.5) after the first period with the five-goal second. So the bettors were happy, the fans in attendance were happy, the viewers at home were happy and potential trade partners for Kyle Davidson were paying attention.
It took more than 17 minutes for either team to get on the board in the third period, but you might be able to guess where the next goal came from. Kane to Strome — again.
The hat trick for Strome was great to see. And his fifth assist of the night gave Kane his first career six-point game. DeBrincat added an assist to give him a four-point night as well.
The DeBrincat-Strome-Kane line had 14 points combined in the game. FOURTEEN.
This was the third consecutive multi-point game for Strome, who now has 15 goals on the season. He also won 11 of 14 faceoffs in the game. Strome has been fantastic since his most recent trip to the press box and has legitimately opened the door for questions about him staying in Chicago — not in the coach’s dog house.
Kirby Dach didn’t factor in the scoring but this was a really good game for him. He had terrific energy, made good decisions with the puck and was on the attack most of the night. This was the player fans have been begging to see more consistently since the bubble. He was playing the wing with Hagel and Toews (maybe someone paid attention to me begging for that line for a couple months?) and that line was solid.
This was a really good game. Yes, the Blackhawks got a little smug, in the 2nd Period, and Anaheim fought hard to get back into the game. Good on the Blackhawks to pull their head out of their collective backside and reassert themselves.
The 1st Line had 14 points. That’s just ridiculously good. No complaints. 2nd line was solid. I think we all wanted Dach on the RW and he proved us correct. Keep him there and just let the kid read and react. Let Toews do the thinking. Hopefully, King keeps Dach on the RW and the kid just blossoms. That would be such a plus. 3rd line…kind of invisible. T. Johnson had the most TOI, of that line, with 12:21, which led the 3rd line. That’s because he had 2:13 on the PP. Otherwise, Kurashev was joined by Borgstrom as the low men on the TOI stat line.
Defensively, things were really interesting. Yes, the guys had a good game. I don’t think Regula should be sent down. He does some really good work on the ice. I like his play. But, here’s where things get odd. The defensive pairing of Murphy-McCabe led the defense with TOI. S. Jones was 3rd on TOI with 20:38. S. Jones stat line wasn’t eye popping. 1 SOG, 2 HITS, and 5 BLK’s. The blocks is impressive. He was laying his body out there. Good for him. Regula had more TOI than de Haan and C. Jones. The kid is showing his stuff and making the most of his time. Everyone on defense was a +2. There’s nothing glaring, about the defense tonight. Just interesting with the TOI dispersement.
MAF was MAF. That’s all.
Really great win for the team and especially for the fans. On to the next game.
Wondering if any scouts in attendance. Tough decision on Strome now. Can’t remember who said “keep Strome away from 88 and 12 please” Was either just before or just after JC was let go. If Morrison was around he would find it. Thinking 3yrs at 4mil per is what he’s playing for.
Strome was very happy in the post game. And of course the question about a trade came up. After muttering “I knew you were going to ask that!” he settled into an answer that made it sound like he might not expect to be around the Blackhawks much longer. He said that he likes playing in Chicago, but if someone wants him that’s fine too. He said matter of factly that it’s a part of hockey and it’s out of his control. But he kinda sounded upbeat about it to me. He’s a young guy who’s playing good hockey, maybe sees a chance that he’ll get on a good team, and seems to have a lot of confidence.
Fun game to watch, I can’t remember the last time the Hawks scored five goals in a period. I almost feel bad for the Ducks. Strome and Kane have been in a Vulcan mind meld lately and throwing the Cat on that line seems almost unfair… I know it won’t last and probably isn’t sustainable against the best of the NHL, but damn was that fun to watch for one night.
I honestly hope the Hawks can move at least two of DeHaan, McCabe and Murphy by the trade deadline this year. I could handle seeing the Rockford shuffle to end this year after watching Regula play tonight.
Carpenter IMO is doing a lot to make himself attractive to a team looking to shore up fourth line depth. Maybe the Hawks can get a 3rd rounder for him?
If the Hawks do end up moving Strome (I hope they don’t,) I really do hope they get more than just a late first rounder for him. He is playing really well and the team really has no one capable of replacing his spot in the lineup yet. If a team wants to bring secondary or even tertiary scoring for a playoff run, it better be ready to pay big.
It was a very entertaining game after a couple of really disappointing results. Looking for fun moments to finish the season, and this game was filled with them.
@Regula – this kid better not be out of the lineup again! We just lost two games without him. Stud!
@Kane – I wonder what his trade value is today?
@Strome – Same as Kane! Do you think someone will give us a #1 and a prospect?
@Hagel – If we get a #1 and a high end prospect, I say trade him!
@MAF – Just say YES to a trade – a #1 in 2022 or 2023
@DeHaan, @Murhpy, @McCabe – varies – 3rd or 4th rounders
@Carpenter – Nice goal, now maybe we can trade you for a 4th rounder
Great game last night!
Fun game to watch, take them when we can get them. Like you said Tab, Anahiem isn’t Tampa and Gibson isn’t Vasilevsky, making them pay in the 1st was huge obviously.
In fairness to KD he doesn’t dictate what tdl market brings, rather tdl market will dictate what he can recoup. Hopefully it is favorable, Strome trade value never higher, as is the fan base wanting to keep never been higher.
Tommy I
You read my mind… SELL at the high… buy low
Kane/Strome/Hagel- their market values have NEVER been higher this year… SELL SELL SELL!!!
Thank goodness the Dach w/ Kane lines are over
Hagel even made Toews look relevant on one or two shifts
@Mr. Blutarsky (Bluto) – Thanks! Now that we had such a break-out night, get as much capital as you can in terms of picks and high-end prospects. I understand that the TDL market will dictate trades, but everyone needs a high-end HOF goalkeeper (MAF to Toronto), a HOF forward still in his prime (Kane to Colorado), a young centermen who can become an excellent secondary scorer for a playoff starved contender to play alongside his brother (Strome to NYRangers), a young emerging cost-controlled star needed to push a young team into the playoff who has multiple 1st round picks and high end prospects to deal (Hagel to Columbus for our pick back, plus a high end prospect), several veteran blue-liners and role players for mid-round draft picks (DeHaan, Murphy, McCabe, and Carpenter) – use the line from the Godfather, ask for a 3rd rounder for each, but don’t insist!).
Friedman saying MacIver being brought back to be named associate Gm.
I still never understood why the DCat/Strome/Kane line was split up last year. Its always been good and its always been available. With the way strome has been playing, if he gets traded now it will feel like we just suffered through waiting for him to get to this point and then hand off a good player to some team that is already good and didn’t have to wait. Just doesn’t seem right haha.
Can we just keep Hagel, Dcat, Kane, Strome, Dach, and Murphy and build around them? Trade the rest, I don’t care.
Out of curiosity I looked up +/- for the hawks. I know they’ve played a drastically different number of games, but it was interesting to see Caleb Jones leads in the category at +3 and Seth Jones is dead last at -24. Which one is getting paid 9 million?
tommy ivan
ian is 100% spot on. davidson does not determine the market. if davidson is not of a mindset to “ask for the moon then take what he can get” then he doesn’t understand the current situation with the hawks talent pool. this team needs any draft pick more than it needs the contracts of slow, aging, offensively challenged d-men. he cannot afford to be caught up in what value he places on his players.
the most important aspects of trading any of their third pairing d-men is to free up cap space, create toi for rockford d-men, and get the best pick you can to accomplish those goals. holding onto any of those slugs because he can’t obtain the draft pick/picks he is hoping for is a fool’s errand. even a seventh pick for any of them is better than them being blackhawks next year. same logic applies to any of the bottom six forwards littered throughout the player pool.
@Hawk29 – I agree with what you said 100%. I would ask for a 3rd rounder who knows who bites, but not insist! Remember, there is a Peter Chiarelli or Stan Bowman born every minute! If the “intern” can unload any of our defensive “vets” for just salary relief, I would be thrilled with that. It will allow Regula, Mitchell, Phillips, Kalynuk, Galvas, and even Beaudin an opportunity to get used to regular NHL duty.
@Tommy Ivan…can I have some of whatever you are smoking.
You are in a dream world by thinking one good game and every GM in the league is going to call offering their first rounders. Every trade you suggest is way over evaluating our talent
One example, love Hagel But he is at best a second line winger and you want a top 10 pick and a prospect from Columbus…why would they ever do that?
Another, Jake McCabe is on a four year deal and a pylon…we would have to give away a third rounder for someone to take him!
Ducks are simply dreadful . . . Hawks played well on both ends. Great to see “Carpy” get one, works so damn hard every shift. like to see him stick around a rugged version of Marcus Kruger. With some scoring skills and so good on penalty kill. ( get the silly Captian Johnny off penalty kills, wasting his energy)
i love Caleb Jones over his over rated brother. Caleb is one of the more consistent d-men this year, has more speed out of the d-zone, a little more physical, handles the puck well, no down side yet and he’s young. I hope he sticks, love his game, and you can see on the ice, he’s learning, head up, and he’ll get better. SETH has seen his upside, too soft, not very aggressive for his size, very good on power play, but average at best on D compared to Connor M.
Sam Lafferty is also on my love list, you can see what “speed” buys you, plus he is physical in the corners, good with the puck, strong hands and strong on his skates. Give me two more like him, image him with Kane. That is the type of speed we lack, need to push, he gets in on the dump in every time, watch him, effort, always closing. He gets a few goal under him and he can step up.
Kane and Strome or Kane and ME whomever is next to Kane ( last year Kubalik benefited) should have 25 to 30 goals. NO better SET UP man in the history of NHL than Kane. Get rid of Strome while we can, he’s okay, still cant make his own plays, still soft, but with KANE even my man Jerry Korab would have 30 goals.
Hagel is going nowhere. . .save the bluster. This next Hawks team will not be built on draft picks like last time, it will be in development and trades and finding a great coach. We have no good goal tender in the pipeline.
GOOD NEWS is the NHL is average at best so in one year or two the Hawks should be competitive and make the playoffs, which is all i ask. Stanley Cup runs are hard, but getting in the conversation in 2023 in the NHL is easy, no real power house teams. Great goaltender, solid /more physical defense and some speed up front!
Strome sucks, TRADE HIM NOW !! He is slow, no hands, can’t win a face off, can’t defend…..oh wait, that was what the majority of this boards comments from about 2 months ago…..hmmmmm
How does that Crow taste now Gents ?
I ways said he has a shitload of talent, if he gets playing time to show what he can do…..look at him now….
Trading Hagel is not going to get us into the top 10 of the draft and even it did I would question it. We all know what he brings. We stole this guy. How about for once, just once, we just play it smart and keep the talent we have rather than go fishing for something bigger and have it blow up in our face.
Do not trade Hagel.
Strome’s play of late shows just how badly JC handled him – at this point I say keep him – now that they finally moved Dach to wing next year you’ve got Strome Toews Reichel down the middle probably Lafferty as 4C
Trade MAF (if possible) CDH Kubalik Carp and one of Murphy McCabe although that may have to be after season
Kane was magic again last night although we’ve come to expect that – the really good news is Regula who looked totally comfortable is big skates well has pretty good puck skills and seems to read the play well – need room for him
@Nick Schmaltz – the return for Schmaltz is Strome and Regula…not too shabby for someone who was flabby!
3 days ago
Bolts blow away Blackhawks 6-3 ( against the fourth best team in the league ) not many fans where expecting a win from the Hawks
Yesterday
Kane’s leads Blackhawks past Ducks 8-3
Would it be nice sometime to see something like
Kane and the Hawks completely destroyed the Ducks 8-3
Because that’s what they did to the poor Ducks who are a stronger team then the Hawks ….not many fans where expecting a decisive win from the Hawks .
Just my 2 pesos
Don’t want to beat a dead horse but if we have to listen to Colby Cohen during games they need to mute him sometimes. This guy just never shuts up. Makes me want Konroyd back.
Finally…..some positives to speak of. Kane is amazing at the offensive end of the ice. Strome’s trade value is higher because of Kane. Dach didn’t lose a face off draw all night ;) Regula is a keeper, and so is Caleb Jones (wish I could say that for his expensive brother)