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Blackhawks Recaps

All That’s Left: Blackhawks 4, Ducks 2

Chicago completed a season sweep of Anaheim on Wednesday night.

The Chicago Blackhawks sealed all six points in its three-game season series with the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night, winning 4-2 in California to complete the sweep.

Taylor Raddysh continued his impressive start in Chicago since arriving in last week’s trade, notching a power-play goal in the first period that put the Blackhawks up 1-0:

Anaheim tied the game after some poor defensive play by the Blackhawks left Sam Carrick wide open in the low slot for a goal:

Patrick Kane broke the 1-1 deadlock at the tail end of a nifty passing sequence on the power play which started with Seth Jones, went to Alex DeBrincat, then Kane and then to the back of the net:

That goal from Kane was his 20th of the season, moving him into select company yet again:

Later in the second period, Kirby Dach attempted the “Michigan.” It didn’t work:

Chicago took a 2-1 lead into the third period but it did not survive it, as Carrick scored his second of the game with 6:32 remaining to tie the game at two:

About three minutes later, though, the Blackhawks went back in front for good thanks to Dylan Strome’s neat redirect of a Riley Stillman slap-pass into the Ducks’ goal:

DeBrincat added an empty-netter for the final margin of victory.

It’s late, so let’s get to it:

Notes

  • First chance to take in a game with Taylor Raddysh in the lineup and am very eager to see more. His average ice time in 53 games with Tampa was 11:03 but he’s going to get much, much, much more ice time in Chicago for obvious reasons. Here’s hoping those opportunities continued to be capitalized upon by Raddysh in Chicago.
  • This feels like a pretty important month-ish of hockey for Kevin Lankinen, who has had some very bright moments at the NHL level but also some moments of inconsistency. He probably can’t win the outright No. 1 spot for next season in this final stretch, but being an unrestricted free agent this summer means the team could opt to go in a different direction if Lankinen gives the team a reason to do so. Lankinen looked very good in this one but rebound control remains an area needing improvement. He could’ve done better handling the rebound that led to Carrick’s second goal and kicked another rebound into the low slot with about 45 seconds remaining that luckily missed the Anaheim sticks nearby. Fix that issue, and we could have a contender for the long-term No. 1 spot.
  • Speaking of that second Carrick goal: not a banner moment from the captain on that one. Jonathan Toews has been Chicago’s primary faceoff man not long after he arrived in Chicago but he lost that draw and then allowed Carrick inside positioning that gave Carrick access to the rebound. Feels like something that would not have happened to Toews in his prime — and he’s only getting farther from it.
  • We’ll see what the long-term future is for the players involved but, every now and then, the trio of Jones-Kane-DeBrincat teams up on the power play for some poetic passing plays that are an absolute joy to watch — Kane’s goal being the latest example.
  • Fingers remain crossed that Jake McCabe bounces back next season. One suggestion for the present, though: break up the pairing of McCabe with Caleb Jones because it never seems to work. Those two had the lowest shot attempt shares on the team (31.03 percent for McCabe, 36.67 for C. Jones) and were each on the ice for a team-worst 11 scoring chances against.
  • It’s probably too late for Sam Lafferty’s hands to ever catch up to his feet but if he could narrow that gap at all, it’d make for one hell of a hockey player. /

Game Charts

Three stars

  1. Patrick Kane (CHI) — 1 goal, 2 assists
  2. Sam Carrick (ANA) — 2 goals
  3. Dylan Strome (CHI) — GWG, assist

What’s next

The Blackhawks remain in California to face the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night at 9 p.m.

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