The Chicago Blackhawks came into Monday night’s game reeling from a loss to Colorado Avalanche. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Canucks were coming in the game trying to find the net after being shut out by the Calgary Flames. This game was never as close as the score indicated.
First period
The first period was all Vancouver. The Blackhawks started the period like they thought it was at 7 p.m. start instead of 6:30 p.m. Vancouver pushed the pace of the period and peppered Marc-Andre Fleury with 11 shots. Fleury stopped all but one shot from Alex Chiasson with eight minutes left in the period.
The Blackhawks did get some offense going late in the first period with some good chances on their power play. Outside of the power play, the most noticeable Blackhawks forward was Sam Lafferty. Lafferty has shown great speed in his brief time with the Blackhawks.
Second period
In the second period, the Hawks were outplayed by the Canucks once again. Their offense could not sustain any pressure in the Canucks’ zone. It was way too much one and done from the Hawks; even their best offensive shift was a one and done: A tic-tac-toe passing play from Patrick Kane to a shot attempt from Dylan Strome.
The Blackhawks were on the defense for the majority of the period. In their own zone, their zone exits were sloppy and there were several defensive turnovers leading to A+ chances for Vancouver. The lone bright spot on defense was Fleury. Despite being under siege for most of the period, Fleury managed to fend off nine of 10 shots from Vancouver. The Canucks broke through again in the second period with a goal from Brock Besser to extend their lead to two goals.
The second period ended with the Blackhawks trailing by two goals.
Third period
In the third period, the Canucks continued to hold a two-goal lead until Kane tried to will his team back into this game. Kirby Dach stole the puck behind the goal line and fed Kane. Kane fired a pass across the ice to Connor Murphy for the slapshot goal. Murphy’s goal got the Hawks back into the game and energized the sparse Blackhawks crowd.
The Hawks then sealed their own fate with a too many men on the ice penalty with under two minutes to go in the third period. After the costly late penalty, the Blackhawks were not able to come back in this game. Luke Schenn of Vancouver sealed it with a long empty-net goal.
When the final horn sounded, the Blackhawks had fallen to Vancouver 3–1.
Analysis
Monday was a complete disaster for the Blackhawks. The effort in this contest was not good enough to compete at the NHL level. Without Fleury in net in this game, the Blackhawks would have been blown out. After the game, Alex DeBrincat said that the team was flat.
Kirby Dach
Dach continues to struggle on the ice. In the midst of a 2-on-1 opportunity, Philipp Kurashev feathered a pass to Dach for a one-time attempt. Dach whiffed on the shot, as his struggles continued. Dach did win a board battle that led to the Murphy goal, which was a positive. Interim Head Coach Derek King liked Dach’s game against the Canucks.
Marc-Andre Fleury
When the Blackhawks eventually trade Fleury, this team is going to be in big trouble. Fleury has played in 11 of the team’s last 12 games with no end in sight. Despite the high workload, he was masterful again, allowing two goals on 32 shots on goal.
Defensive turnovers
The Blackhawks blocked a season-high 26 shots on the evening. One of the contributing factors to the shot blocks was the team’s inability to clear the zone cleanly and ghastly defensive turnovers. Jake McCabe could not clear the zone, which lead to the first goal of the game. Caleb Jones committed several defensive zone turnovers leading to a few A+ chances.
The Blackhawks will finish up their schedule before the all-star break with an 8:30 p.m. CST start against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.