It took the Chicago Blackhawks just over a minute to get their first goal Saturday, but the rest of the game was a wreck as the St. Louis Blues rolled to a 3-2 victory. The ‘Hawks got outplayed in pretty much every facet of the game at Scottrade Center, dropping their second consecutive game in regulation.
The opening of the game actually went Chicago’s way, with a Jay Bouwmeester penalty putting the team on the power play just seconds into the game. The team would capitalize less than a minute later when Patrick Sharp got one past Brian Elliott for his third goal of the season.
At that point, it seemed like the Blackhawks would be able to attack Elliott all night, but the tone of the game quickly changed from there. The Blues responded with their first goal 12 minutes into the period on a light wrist shot from Jaden Schwartz, and would hold a 16-9 shot advantage after 20 minutes.
The second period started slow, with neither team mustering much offensively in the opening minutes. The Blues had a couple of odd-man rushes that failed to yield anything, and two minutes of 4-on-4 midway through the period also went scoreless.
Then the final two minutes happened. Oh boy, those were quite the two minutes. First, Michal Rozsival got completely schooled by Ryan Reaves flying up the middle and a video review determined the puck somehow got past the line. WGN didn’t show the proper replay initially, but there’s no doubt the league office in Toronto made the right call. Then with five seconds left in the period, a lengthy attack in the Blackhawks’ zone ended with Dmitrij Jaskin beating Antti Raanta for his first goal of the season.
The Blackhawks responded early in the third period with the first score of the season from Kris Versteeg (!!!!!), but couldn’t get another one in the final 17 minutes. There were numerous opportunities, including a last-minute push with Raanta on the bench, but nothing came of it. Expect to hear some serious questions about Joel Quenneville’s line blending and other decisions after the game, even if it’s probably still premature to get upset.
One other thing to keep an eye on is the status of Daniel Carcillo, who left the game in the third period with an apparent knee injury. We haven’t heard anything official yet but he wasn’t putting weight on his right leg as he left the ice and immediately headed to the locker room.
The Blackhawks now return home Sunday night to face Ottawa in the second half of a back-to-back. It’s unclear if Corey Crawford will play, but for now, it appears the team is planning on using Scott Darling in goal against the Senators. Chicago is now 4-2-1 on the season.