The Chicago Blackhawks were shut out 4-0 by the Minnesota Wild on Sunday afternoon at the United Center.
A scoreless first saw Minnesota get a couple of prime chances early, but some big saves from Arvid Soderblom kept it 0-0 through the first 20.
Just over a minute into the second, Philipp Kurashev was whistled for an unfortunate high stick after John Middleton’s stick pushed Kurashev’s stick up into Middleton’s own face. On the ensuing power play, Matt Boldy drifted down the far side until a seam opened up, then he sent a no-look pass across the ice to Kirill Kaprizov for the one-time goal.
At 7:30 of the second, the Wild won a board battle in the Hawks’ zone, Kaprizov slipped the puck to Mats Zucarello in the slot, Zucarello showed shot and froze Soderblom, then fed it across his body to Marco Rossi for Minnesota’s second one-time goal and a 2-0 lead.
With 1:33 left in the second, the Wild had a long, grinding shift in the Hawks’ zone that ended when a Zach Bogosian point shot was redirected by Freddy Gaudreau for Minnesota’s third goal of the period.
At 11:50 of the third, after the Hawks couldn’t convert on a 3-on-2 going the other way, Brock Faber drove the entire length of the ice, drew both Hawks’ defenders to him, then dropped the puck back to a wide open Kaprizov, who beat Soderblom to make it 4-0.
And that, my friends, was that.
Notes:
- That was the 13th time the Hawks have been shut out this season. The franchise record is 15, set by the 1969-70 team. With five games still left on the schedule, never say never.
- That was not only Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt’s first career shutout, but also his first career win. Big Wallstedt guy over here, and one of the (many) reasons I was so disappointed in the Seth Jones trade at the time was the Hawks should have used the 2021 first-round pick they sent to Columbus to draft him (Wallstedt went to Minnesota at No. 20, the Blue Jackets used the Hawks’ No. 12 pick to take Cole Sillinger). Wallstedt is just getting started, and even though he didn’t have to do all that much this afternoon, the Blackhawks are going to have to deal with him for a very long time.
- Not trying to turn this into a Wild player appreciation thread, but Kaprizov is just an exceptional playmaker and goal scorer. With his two goals tonight, he’s at 41 for the year, and is one of only four players in the entire league to score 40 or more goals for the last three seasons (joining Auston Matthews, David Pastrnak, and Leon Draisaitl in that regard).
- On Kaprizov’s second goal, Kevin Korchinski made the right read and waved Slaggert over to close Faber out, but when Slaggert didn’t, Korchinski had to step up which left Kaprizov all alone (which you can see on the second angle below). Not a lot of good to be taken from this game, but Korchinski’s instincts have come a long way lately.
- Not much happened in the first, but the second period really opened up after Minnesota’s power-play goal, and the Hawks looked like they were on their heels for most of it. The fancy stats say the Blackhawks out-possessed the Wild during the second, but Minnesota had more high danger chances (3-1) and converted on all three of them.
- Luke Richardson tried to find some offense in the third by putting Connor Bedard on the wing with Andreas Athanasiou and Lukas Reichel. The line skated 4:05 together, out shot the Wild 2-1, and gave up one high-danger chance against while failing to generate any of their own. I didn’t see anything that made me think this is a combination that needs to be revisited, especially since it completely neutralized Kurashev by forcing him to play on a line with Nick Foligno and Tyler Johnson that got absolutely buried.
- Reichel continues to look like an entirely different player than he has for most of the season prior. He was even on high-danger chances, and one of only five Blackhawks total in the positive for expected goals.
- This game was my final recap for this season, so I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for hanging out and commenting in the game threads. Obviously this season has been not nearly as fun or competitive as any of us had hoped, but at the end of the day we’ve still got #98, and that’s a whole lot. Hopefully some of you are able to come out to the watch party next Sunday so we can eat some burgers, have a few drinks, and daydream about how much better this team could be next year.
- And a HUGE SHOUTOUT to Dave and Betsy for covering a truly insane amount of games this season. I appreciate how much thought and energy they put into their writing, and we’re all incredibly lucky to have them both.
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Kirill Kaprizov — 2 Goals, 1 Assist
- Jesper Wallstedt — First career win, first career shutout
- Marco Rossi — 1 Goal
What’s Next
The Blackhawks will head to St. Louis on Wednesday to take on the Blues at 7 p.m.