In the first game of the Jeremy Colliton era, the Chicago Blackhawks lost 4-3 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night, falling behind 4-0 early before a late rally fell short. How is the team trending after its first game in four nights? Let’s take a look:
Three up
Patrick Kane’s ice time
Kane skated 27:43 minutes Thursday night, the second most ice time he’s had in a regular season game in his career. The most? A 28:48 game against the Columbus Blue Jackets two years ago. With the Hawks down a forward after Marcus Kruger’s lower left leg injury and the team desperate to rally from a 4-0 hole, Kane was leaned on heavily by Colliton. Kane probably won’t see that much ice time consistently, but it’s worth noting how much Kane was used in Colliton’s first game behind the bench.
Nick Schmaltz’s penchant for shooting — or so we can hope
Schmaltz scored his second goal of the season with a snipe from the left faceoff dot that snuck past Carolina goaltender Scott Darling. It wasn’t exactly a prime scoring area, but that shot finding the net suggests something we’ve all suspected: Schmaltz has an above-average shot.
When he uses it.
Brandon Saad
We’re going to keep putting his name on this list because he continues to trend upward. Saad is one of the more crucial players on the Blackhawks roster. If he can get back to his old form, it’s going to make the playoffs far more attainable. The goal scored by David Kampf was virtually all Saad: he shook off a defenseman, skated the puck to the slot and then fired it on net, as the puck ricocheted off Kampf and into the net.
Three down
Corey Crawford’s cardiovascular health
The Blackhawks goaltender snapped his stick in two after the Hurricanes’ fourth goal of the game, clearly frustrated by the golden scoring chances the Blackhawks defense were allowing. Crawford remains one of the team’s best players, but even he couldn’t make up for the lackluster defensive effort in the first 22 minutes of the game, and those frustrations boiled over early in the second period.
Turnovers
It’s hard to put this in the “trending down” category because I’m not sure how much more the Blackhawks carelessness with the puck can sink. I don’t think we want to find out. But all four of Carolina’s goals were triggered by Chicago turnovers.
Playing a 60-minute game
Once again, the Blackhawks were doomed by their inability to play a full three periods. Check out this flowchart of the game’s Corsi events from Natural Stat Trick. The Hawks ended the game plus-20 in even-strength shot attempts:
But a disastrous first period meant the way that the Blackhawks dominated the final two periods just wasn’t enough. Some of the above numbers can be attributed to score effects, as teams that build four-goal leads are going to dial back the offense. But this isn’t the first time the Hawks have controlled healthy portions of a game but still ended up with a loss. It’s been one of the major themes of this six-game skid. And it’s what can be so maddening about this Blackhawks team.