As the trade deadline rolled closer, the Blackhawks played the last game of this five game home stand before heading out to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets on Saturday. The Sharks were coming in on the heels of a 7-1 loss to the Nashville Predators the night before, while the Blackhawks beat the Ottawa Senators in a shootout, on Wednesday night.
Joel Quenneville kept the same lineup that the Blackhawks won with on Wednesday, with the exception of Jan Rutta, who was activated from injured reserve, Friday. Patrick Sharp, Lance Bouma, and Carl Dahlstrom all took their seats for the night in the Joel Quenneville Shrimp Cocktail Suite.
Jean-Francois Berube made his first start in a Blackhawks uniform, after recently returning from injured reserve and being called up from Rockford. Anton Forsberg is expected to start against his former team on Saturday night.
The Blackhawks lines for this game were:
Brandon Saad – Jonathan Toews – Tommy Wingels
Tomas Jurco – Artem Anisimov – Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat – Nick Schmaltz – Anthony Ducliar
Vincent Hinostroza – David Kampf – Ryan Hartman
Duncan Keith – Jordan Oesterle
Connor Murphy – Brent Seabrook
Erik Gustafsson – Jan Rutta
The Blackhawks jumped out to a big 9-3 shot lead in the top half of the first period, and had several nice chances against the Sharks goaltender. The Sharks, on the other hand, fought back in the bottom half of the period to test Berube, and he was also up to the task. The period ended scoreless, even though the two teams combined for 26 shots (15-11).
Just over five minutes into the second period, Blackhawks defenseman Jan Rutta celebrated his return to the lineup by giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead.
Nick Schmaltz and Anthony Duclair drove the puck deep into the Sharks zone and Rutta joined the play as the trailing defender. Duclair fed him with a pass that he tried to one time. San Jose blocked the shot, but Martin Jones had committed to the original shot, which gave Rutta the opportunity to beat the Sharks netminder.
Following the Rutta goal, Even with the Blackhawks getting the first power play of the game with two minutes remaining, the goaltenders once again locked down their nets. The high shot totals continued, but this time the Blackhawks led the period 13-10.
Just two minutes into the third period, birthday boy Nick Schmaltz gave the Blackhawks a two goal lead. Anthony Duclair set up the play by making a steal just inside the Sharks’ blue line. Duclair and Schmaltz spread out and worked a 2-on-1, with Duclair feeding Schmaltz on the back door for a one timer.
With just under eight minutes left in regulation, San Jose broke the shutout. A lost defensive zone faceoff eventually turned into a Timo Meier shot through a rare triple screen past the Blackhawks goaltender.
Despite a late San Jose flurry of shots, the Blackhawks were able to hold on long enough to ice the game with an Artem Anisimov empty net goal to win their second game in a row.
Pluses
- JF Berube was really good in his first game but, then again, so was Jeff Glass. One step at a time, but this was the kind of play that led me to think that he might give Anton Forsberg a tight race for backup in the preseason.
- I fully came into this game planning on roasting Anthony Duclair for his mediocre play, but he came out and had primary assists on the first two Blackhawks goals.
Minuses
- Forty three shots against cannot keep happening, if they want to finish out this season on a high note.
- The Hawks only had 2 power plays, and looked terrible on both.
- I still have no use for Tomas Jurco on this club. He is invisible. How can Stan Bowman bold faced lie to us about his supposed intentions of acquiring Jurco, last spring, for six weeks?