I fell in to a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire
-Johnny Cash
After failing to gain more than a single “losers” point against the Calgary Flames, the Blackhawks played their last home game before heading out for a “three games in four nights” road trip against three more opponents in their conference.
First of all, though, the Blackhawks had to attempt to steal a couple of regulation points from the Dallas Stars. The Stars came in ten points in front of the Blackhawks and in possession of the first wild card playoff spot. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville retrieved his Falcon Heavy rocket from the clouds and went back to the logical starter in net, Anton Forsberg which did not go well.
Jan Rutta, Tomas Jurco, and Lance Bouma took the night off in the Joel Quenneville Shrimp Cocktail suite.
These were the Blackhawks starting lines:
Alex DeBrincat – Jonathan Toews – Anthony Duclair
Ryan Hartman – Artem Anisimov – Patrick Kane
Brandon Saad – Nick Schmaltz – Vinnie Hinostroza
Patrick Sharp – David Kampf – Tommy Wingels
Duncan Keith – Connor Murphy
Michal Kempny – Jordan Oesterle
Erik Gustafsson – Brent Seabrook
The Blackhawks jumped out to a quick 6-1 shot advantage in the first five minutes of the game, while they tried to get used to Quenneville’s new line combinations. Eventually, the Blackhawks drew the first powerplay of the game, but fell back into their old habits and struggled to get more than a single shot on net. They even gave up a shorthanded 2-on-1 that Brent Seabrook needed to snuff out.
Just after the nine minute mark of the first period, Brent Seabrook sent a long bank pass across the rink to a breaking Jonathan Toews. Toews picked up the puck off the carom and had enough of a lead on Dan Hamhius to snap a shot past a surprised Ben Bishop.
As the period continued the Blackhawks seemed to lose momentum and the Stars caught them in shots, eventually eclipsing the home team. The clearly frustrated Blackhawks took a penalty in the final minute before the intermission, but were able to make it to the break with no harm done.
After killing off the remainder of the Dallas power play, the rest of the opening five minutes of the second period were relatively uneventful. That was until the Blackhawks made a lazy turnover in the Stars end, ending with Alexander Radulov and Tyler Seguin to work a 2-on-2 back the other way. Seguin slithered in behind a gliding Connor Murphy and Radulov hit him for a back door goal.
Just 59 seconds later, ex-Blackhawks prospect Stephen Johns was able to fool Anton Forsberg with a long knuckler of a shot, which put the Stars up 2-1. Not a quality goal at all.
Following the Johns goal, the game began to get very chippy, with several players on both teams throwing and absorbing big hits. This eventually resulted in Stars defenseman Julius Honka taking some time to go through league concussion protocol. He never returned.
To the shock of everyone watching, the Blackhawks tied the game with a power play opportunity, with just over seven minutes remaining in the second period.
Brent Seabrook unleashed a long point shot that narrowly missed the left post but the puck came right back out from the end boards, and to the stick of a waiting Artem Anisimov. Both Anisimov and the puck surprised Ben Bishop and ended up in the net.
With four seconds remaining in the second period Tyler Pitlick raced to beat the final horn, winding up from just over the Blackhawks blue line and beat Anton Forsberg, This goal give the Stars a 3-2 lead, even though they were out shot by a wide margin 17-9.
Early in the third period, everyone in the building thought that Tommy Wingels had an easy rebound goal, with a gaping net in front of him, but he hit the far post. This is a microcosm of the entire Blackhawks season. The chippy play continued for the remainder of the game but, even when the Blackhawks drew a power play, they just blatantly blew the opportunity.
Late in the third, the Hawks tried for that elusive game tying goal with the goaltender pulled, and promptly gave up an empty net goal to ice the game. That was “all she wrote” for the home team, as they went down, once again, with a whimper.
Pluses:
- Jonathan Toews really started the game strong with a goal and a near miss on a feed from Alex Debrincat, but faded as the game went on.
- The more I watch Anthony Duclair, the more I like this kid. His speed is really a weapon the Blackhawks have been lacking.
- Ryan Hartman seemed to be much more involved in positive plays, rather than silly drama and dumb penalties.
- Most of the time you’ll find me speaking facetiously about hits, but Tommy Wingels was a wrecking ball most of the night. At least he was able to hit something, because he sure had a rough time hitting the net. He was credited with eight hits, but only saw 9:20. How is that for “playing the hot hand”?
Minuses:
- Bottom line, the Blackhawks out shot the Stars 39-30 and that should have been enough to win. You can blame Forsberg for the bad goals (and 2 of the 3 were), but shooting a 3.33% is not going to win you much. This team looks uninspired and like they have given up. At first sign of trouble, they tuck their tails between their legs and close up shop.
- While the first two lines dominated in possession, the third and fourth lines were well under water. The Oesterle/Kampny pair was the only defensive pair under water, as well.
- Anton Forsberg really had a rough night. Two of the three second period goals were Charmin soft.
- I’d still like to know why, if Quenneville is “playing the hot hand”, Patrick Sharp keeps showing up in the lineup. This doesn’t make any sense. He is playing on the fourth line, I know, but even Tomas Jurco (That hurts to say) is a better option at this point.
- I am one of Brandon Saad’s biggest fans, but he is just lost this season. He is a great kid that is super talented, but the monkey on his back is of king kong proportions.
- Even though they scored a power play goal, the rest of their opportunities were comically bad.