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Blackhawks can’t find rhythm in 5-2 loss to Blues

Despite a late rally with back-to-back power play goals, the offense struggled, the defense was shaky, the powerplay was BRUTAL (we’ll get to that later), and the Hawks (4-2-1) left St Louis licking their wounds after a 5-2 loss to the Blues.

From the drop of the puck, the Hawks played from behind as an onslaught of St Louis shot attempts peppered Corey Crawford. Crow stood strong, though, and kept the Hawks within a goal through the first period.

St Louis (5-2-0) brought the heat in the second period, however, as the Blues rattled off three goals to open up a 3-0 lead heading into the third. After St. Louis tallied another goal in the beginning of the third period, the Hawks mounted a late rally with back-to-back power play goals to pull within two. The rally would fall short, as Jaden Schwartz found the empty net to earn the hat trick and seal a 5-2 victory.

The best thing about this game was the presence of former Blackhawk Eddie Olczyk in the broadcast booth for NBCSN. Hearing his voice next to Doc Emrick covering hockey feels right, and we here at Second City Hockey are glad to know he’s on the road to recovery and feeling good enough to call games again.

CHI GOALS: Keith (1), DeBrincat (2)
STL GOALS: Schwartz (3), Schwartz (4), Tarasenko (5), Broadziak (1), Schwartz (5)

3 thoughts

Q might need to rethink the first line defense

Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook both finished with a -4 in this contest. In their last five games, Keith is a -6 and Seabrook is a -7. With a defense that is already struggling, a lineup change may be needed to find some much needed production out of these “core players” for Chicago.

Powerplay production is…well…still bad

Looking at eleven consecutive powerplay attempts where the Hawks did not scored a goal, Chicago finally found the net twice on the powerplay. Just like last season’s woes, the powerplay struggles are real once again. Chicago finds themselves in the lower third of the NHL in powerplay percentage, and will be looking to dig themselves out like they had to do early last season.

Slow starts plaguing the Hawks

The Hawks have had to come from behind in their last three games, with two of the three being multi-goal defects. We thought things might have changed after Chicago found early leads in their first four games, but the Hawks seem to be slipping back into their old ways lately. Corey Crawford cannot keep carrying Chicago while the offense sputters, give the guy some help.

3 stars

  1. Jaden Schwartz, Blues — 3 goals
  2. Vladimir Tarasenko, Blues — 1 goal, 1 assist
  3. Colton Parayko, Blues — 2 assists

Talking Points