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RECAP: Blackhawks fall 5–2 to Blue Jackets

  
RECAP: Blackhawks fall 5–2 to Blue Jackets
Cole Sillinger celebrates his goal during the Columbus Blue Jackets' 5–2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Matt Marton / USA TODAY Sports)

The Chicago Blackhawks entered Saturday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets having lost five in a row. Their last loss was a 5–0 shellacking at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche. With only pride left to play for this season, the Hawks decided to play one of their worst games of the season against the Blue Jackets.

Here is the lineup the Hawks rolled out.

The Hawks made some changes to their lineup. Anthony Beauvillier went from the first line to the fourth line and Ryan Donato was moved up to Connor Bedard’s wing. In addition, Petr Mrazek got a rare night off and Arvid Soderblom made his 21st start of the season.

First period

The Blue Jackets got on the board early with a goal from Alexandre Texier. Seth Jones committed an egregious turnover in his own zone that directly led to the goal. The Texier goal was scored a little more than 30 seconds into the game.

The Blue Jackets were not done in the first period. With under 10 minutes to play in the period, Boone Jenner potted the second Blue Jackets goal for a 2–0 lead.

The Blackhawks did cut the deficit in half with a goal from Philipp Kurashev.

The first period ended with Hawks trailing 2–1.

Second period

The Blue Jackets scored two more goals to put the game out of reach. Mathieu Olivier scored the first goal 3:09 into the second period. Cole Sillinger recorded his 11th goal of the season to give the Jackets a 4–1 lead. The Sillinger goal was assisted by former Blackhawks disappointments Alexander Nylander and Adam Boqvist. Nylander was acquired by the Blue Jackets a few weeks ago.

Third period

In the third period, Kurashev had a breakaway opportunity that did not land on net but it rebounded off the boards to Ryan Donato, who scored the goal.

Columbus scored an empty-net goal to make the final score 5–2.

Analysis

The losing this season has taken a toll on the Blackhawks, and the team did not show up to play in this game. The team was sloppy and disinterested for most of the night. Despite all of the losing the last two seasons, Luke Richardson has had his guys ready to play most nights. He now faces his toughest test as the Blackhawks’ head coach, as he has to try and motivate a demoralized and under-talented team to play hard for the final 21 games.

The struggles of Arvid Soderblom continued yet again. As I said in a previous recap, the Soderblom experiment is over in my mind. He is now 0–12–1 in his last 13 starts and has not won a game since Nov. 24. He has only allowed less than three goals in just four appearances this seasons. Since his last win, he has not allowed less than three goals in any start.

Bedard continues to take a beating on the ice. Against Colorado, he was slashed with no call, and in Saturday’s contest, he was cross-checked in the back into another defenseman on the Kurashev goal. The NHL and the referees better get the whistles out of their pockets if they want the league’s brightest young star to continue to play this season.

The lone bright spot on the night was the continued to play of Kursahev. He was instrumental in both Hawks goals and was named the second star of the game. In a season with many disapointments, Kurashev continues to provide a little bit of light.

The Blackhawks’ next game is against the Avalanche in Colorado on Monday at 8 p.m. CST.

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