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Bye Bye Blackbird: Blues 4, Blackhawks 1

Posted on by L_B_R
Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

The Chicago Blackhawks extended their losing streak to seven games after falling 4-1 to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday afternoon.

After a scoreless first, the Blues and Blackhawks broke out for three goals in the final five minutes of the second period.

The Blues got on the board with 4:47 left in the second period thanks to a frankly ridiculous goal by Robert Thomas. Jordan Kyrou and Dylan Holloway played hot potato with the puck in the air until it got near Thomas, who batted it in — also from mid-air — to make it 1-0. Seriously, the puck didn’t touch the ice until it was in the net.

Alexey Toropchenko doubled the Blues lead a couple of minutes later. Cam Fowler picked off a Blackhawks pass in the neutral zone, Nathan Walker then moved the puck ahead to Radek Faksa, who set up Toropchenko with a cross-ice pass at the side of the net, putting the Blues up 2-0.

The Blackhawks got one back with 54 seconds left while shorthanded. Ilya Mikheyev found the puck in the slot after a shot by Nick Foligno was blocked and moved around in close before tucking the puck in behind a sprawling Joel Hofer to cut the deficit to 2-1. Credit to Mikheyev, too, for starting the initial play with a great steal in the defensive zone.

Nathan Walker restored the two-goal lead for the Blues 1:12 into the third period, burying a pass from Toropchenko on the rush and making it 3-1. Justin Faulk set up the rush with a breakout pass down the right side to Toropchenko.

The Blues extended their lead to 4-1 at 7:43 in the third. Brayden Schenn drove into the zone before stopping to find a trailing Peter Broberg, whose rebound found Zack Bolduc’s stick right in front and then the back of the net.

Notes

The game started very low-event: during 5-on-5 play in the first period, the shot attempts were even at 11-11, but shots (6-4) and expected goals (56.85 percent) favored the Blues. Still, it wasn’t like the Blues got that many chances: just six scoring chances and one high-danger. The Blackhawks generated even less — one and zero, respectively — but that worked out to a 0-0 score after 20 which is pretty solid for this Blackhawks team against a surging Blues group. The period was so boring, Soderblom decided to add a little spice all on his own:

The second period had some really wild swings. The Blues pressured hard first, then the Blackhawks basically doubled that back, before the Blues countered themselves and scored twice as a result. It would have been nice to see the Blackhawks respond better after the flukey first goal against. The Blackhawks ended up with the better shot metrics at 5-on-5 including a slight 21-20 edge in attempts and a larger edge of 8-4 in high danger chances but were outscored 2-0. Luckily, the penalty kill was excellent and got a goal or this game would have been even more frustrating.

Unfortunately, the Blackhawks weren’t able to do much of anything in the third period thanks to the Blues just locking it down. It was honestly pretty boring, which is exactly like how the Blues like to play, where they grind their opponents down defensively and catch them in bad moments for offensive opportunities. The Blackhawks were out-attempted 16-13, but they outshot (8-7) and out-chanced (6-3) the Blues at 5-on-5. Those are still low numbers, which just isn’t good enough with this limited offensive Blackhawks team.

Interiem coach Anders Sorensen told reporters after the game that the third goal was kind of a backbreaker but liked the compete level from the team.

“That third [Blues] goal early in the third set us back, but overall, I thought we competed hard and stuck with it, for the most part.”

The first goal against was just wild luck by the Blues. It’s annoying it came after some good pressure by the Blackhawks, but I’m not sure how any of the players on the ice or Soderblom stop hacky sack with the puck. The problem isn’t that the Blues scored first, it’s that the Blackhawks did what they often do after scoring or being scored on: they allow another fairly quick goal against. The Blues pushed and pushed until they caught the Blackhawks tired at the end of a long shift.

On that goal, Reichel was trying to get the puck to Pat Maroon for a tap ahead so they could get off the ice, but the pass was just a tad ahead and Maroon was a little to slow to make up the difference. Ethan Del Mastro, Alex Vlasic, and Teravainen were all just off enough for the breakdown. Reichel also went for a change, so his replacement (Nazar) wasn’t in position to help much either, but Reichel had been on the ice for 52 seconds by that point. Del Mastro and Vlasic had been on the ice for 1:26 each, Teravainen for 1:19, and Martoon for 1:14 too.

The third and fourth goals both involved slow reactions or coverage issues too, also mostly at the ends of shifts. On the third goal, Del Mastro, Kaiser, Teravainen, and Nazar were at the end of pretty intense 40-second or more shifts — only Bedard had just gotten on the ice because Tyler Bertuzzi didn’t make the switch quickly. Del Mastro let Toropchenko get behind him and couldn’t cut off the pass, then he and Kaiser switched coverage slowly. On the fourth goal, Teravainen (01:17), Foligno (1:13), Mikeyhey (1:11), Murphy (1:00), and Kaiser (0:53) had been out over a minute. Kaiser tried to reach and stop the initial pass to Schenn and missed, Teravainen tried to disrupt the pass to Broberg, and Foligno wasn’t quick enough to cover Broberg, either.

The Blues just did a great job capitalizing on catching the Blackhawks tired. It’s annoying, but less so than the random, unenforced errors the team was making a few games ago.

It is still vexing to see no one within five feet of Bolduc on that goal, another example of the Blackhawks allowing opponents to camp out uncontested in front of their goalie and/or having no players around to help sweep rebounds away, no matter the context.

There was a scary moment in first period when Jake Neighbours tripped and boarded Alec Martinez, who was hurt on the play. The fact that Jason Dickinson, jumping in to defend his teammate, came out with the only penalties is ridiculously stupid.

Anders Sorensen is one of the most low-key type of coaches, so I understand he’s never particularly outwardly emotional on the bench, but I agree with the many takes that after a play like the above and the lack of penalty called, Sorensen should be doing more.

The NHL as a whole has been way down in terms of penalties this season, so it’s not like the Blackhawks are the only team being shafted, but when does the league sit down with the referees to actually call the game properly? It’s crazy at this point. The refs had front row seats to penalties not called on both sides, including this one on Ryan Donato late in the third.

Among the young guys, this was a fine game from many but not necessarily anyone’s best. Bedard and Nazar were solid offensively, Reichel and Slaggert had some nice speed moments, but that was about it. Most shots on goal (3) for Bedard in a few games, Nazar had the same plus the second most attempts among forwards (5) and tied for first in scoring chances (4). Reichel was more of a distributor while Slaggert had some good drives but still needs to work on his shot selection.

Vlasic individually had some good offensive moments, not this wasn’t his best work defensively. Del Mastro was overly aggressive at times, throwing off his timing and further complicating coverage issues the whole team was having. Kaiser likewise had a so-so game, down from his recent level of play as of late. I don’t particularly remember Artyom Levshunov that much, honestly, despite him playing over 22 minutes. He did tally three attempts but none on net, and he did block a couple of shots. A quiet game is perfectly fine to me in general — especially after last game — but you want a little more jump from him, too.

At one point, I thought I was going to have to complain about Joe Veleno’s ice time: after the second period, he was ahead of every Blackhawks forward other than Teravainen at both 5-on-5 and then Teravainen and Mikeyhey in all situations. Bedard, Donato, and even Bertuzzi ended up with more ice time which is more reasonable. I mean, credit to Veleno for making the most of the extra time as he had four shot attempts, all on goal, but none felt particularly dangerous.

One final note, before the game started, Pat Maroon announced he will be retiring at the end of this season. The Blues fans seemed happy to celebrate him, which was very nice.

I don’t think this fight was necessary, but it also was whatever at this point in the game. Go out swinging, I guess. It just felt like the Blues actually got even more momentum from this rather than the other way around.

And he was named first star after the game, which was basically like giving him a participation ribbon, but he seems like a nice guy and a good mentor so that’s kind of nice.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Alexey Toropchenko (STL) — 1 goal, 1 assist
  2. Nathan Walker (STL) — 1 goal, 1 assist
  3. Brayden Schenn (STL) — 1 assist

What’s Next

No rest for the wicked as the Blackhawks kick off a five-game homestand on Sunday afternoon against the Philadelphia Flyers at 2 p.m.

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