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Go Home, You’re Drunk: Oilers 6, Blackhawks 5

Posted on by L_B_R

The Chicago Blackhawks win streak ended Thursday night after losing a 6-5 heartbreaker to the Edmonton Oilers.

Zach Hyman opened scoring 10:29 into the first period, finishing off a great pass from Connor McDavid to put the Oilers up 1-0.

Andreas Athanasiou made it 1-1 about three minutes later. Jarred Tinordi forced a turnover behind the Blackhawks net and Max Domi’s outlet pass found Athanasiou for a breakaway that he finally finished on.

Nice guy Reese Johnson cleaned up Seth Jones’ rebound to give Chicago a 2-1 lead 15:38 in the 1st period. Credit to Colin Blackwell for maintaining puck possession around the net to setup S. Jones’ shot.

Eighteen seconds into the second period was all it took for McDavid to tie the game again at 2-2. Evan Bouchard’s outlet pass found McDavid, who almost casually entered the zone before sniping from the left circle.

Jonathan Toews restored the Blackhawks lead to 3-2 just a minute later on the power play after redirecting a beautiful feed from Domi.

After what felt like every player on the ice taking a penalty, McDavid crashed the net to score his second of the game on the Oilers’ ensuing 4-on-3 powerplay at 8:28 of the second period.

It looked liked Evander Kane gave the Oilers the lead back, but after a lengthy review, it was determined there was no goal due to goaltending interference because you can’t sit on a goalie and score.

E. Kane then proceeded to unravel and crosscheck Connor Murphy several times, including an additional time after Murphy was down on his knees. E. Kane later took an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for arguing with the officials.

Taylor Raddysh set up Domi for a one-timer on the resulting 5-on-3 to make it 4-3 Blackhawks at 16:46 of the second.

In the third period, the Oilers again scored quickly, this time off a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins power-play goal just 24 seconds in. RNH buried a slick cross-crease pass from Leon Draisaitl to make it 4-4.

Midway through the third, McDavid completed his hat trick to make it 5-4 Oilers.

Just McDavid doing McDavid things:

Oh, but the Blackhawks would not go quietly into the night. Patrick Kane knocked in a rebound from the slot to tie it 5-5 with 3:11 left in the game.

Unfortunately, with just 38 seconds remaining in the game, Draisaitl netted the game-winning goal to give the Oilers the 6-5 victory.

Game Charts

Notes

  • Well, that was certainly a roller coaster. The result was disappointing but the game itself was fun. Can’t really ask for more.
  • At 5-on-5, the Oilers clearly had better puck possession to the tune of a 58.06 percent share of shot attempts. However, the Blackhawks did a great job of keeping the Oilers out of the slot — you can clearly see that on the heat map above — and it resulted in Chicago having a 61.84 percent share of the expected goals.
  • Now, considering only about five-minutes of 5-on-5 was played in the second period, the above numbers are skewed a little. But it’s important to note the key improvement in quality against control that the Blackhawks have this season.
  • It was an Oprah giveaway of penalties in the second period. This game was definitely at the drunk stage at that point. /

  • So let’s talk about the E. Kane disallowed goal because there is some confusion about the call on the ice. The initial call from the ref was a goal, clearly, but the officials are allowed to reverse that decision, which they did after a quick huddle.
  • It’s going to take some time to get used to rooting for Domi, but games like this will make it easier for sure.
  • After a quiet start in the first few games, P. Kane officially leads the Blackhawks in points with eight in seven games thanks to tonight’s three-point effort — as if there was any doubt he’d take off eventually.
  • Kurashev got moved up to play with Toews and Raddysh at points during the game, and the trio dominated when together. It’d be interesting to see them together more often while Tyler Johnson recovers. This was also the first time the Kurashev-Lafferty-Dickinson line was rendered moot throughout the game.
  • Everyone knows I harped on how ineffective Reese Johnson was last season — because he objectively wasn’t NHL ready then — but he had a really good game tonight. Albeit, he faced the lowest quality of competition, but someone has to do that. I honestly hope it continues because the Blackhawks need their young players to work out.
  • Another player I normally criticize, Tinordi, also had a pretty impactful game. He saved at least one goal and was just much better positionally than in previous games. Tinordi and Murphy were used a bit differently in this game, skating primarily with the Kane line against mid-quality opponents, so that likely helped. Still, credit where credit is due.
  • Look, this season is supposed to be a tank — and it feels like it’d be somewhat of a waste of trading Alex DeBrincat if they don’t end up with a good draft selection — but the players on the ice are never just going to sit back and lose. It’s good for long-term organizational reasons that the Blackhawks lost tonight, but the players are going to try their hardest to do the opposite. Nothing proves that more than how hyped P. Kane was scoring that fifth goal. As long as the games are entertaining, that’s alright by me as a fan. /

Three Stars

  1. Connor McDavid (EDM) — 3 goals, 1 assist
  2. Leon Draisaitl (EDM) — 1 goal, 2 assists
  3. Patrick Kane (CHI) — 1 goal, 2 assists

What’s next?

The Blackhawks are back on the road to take on the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Talking Points