A third-period collapse on Tuesday night was the final act of the Blackhawks’ three-game road trip, as Chicago lost 2-1 to the New York Islanders at the UBS Arena.
Chicago grabbed the lead near the middle of the first period after a nifty passing sequence between Connor Bedard and Jason Dickinson ended up in a goal for the latter:
The rest of the first period was mostly quiet, save for this scrap:
No goals arrived during the second period, with Petr Mrazek doing his part to keep the Blackhawks in front:
That dam broke early in the third period when Bo Horvat scored on the man advantage:
About eight minutes later, New York added the game-winner on this goal from Simon Holmstrom:
And that was that.
Notes
- Certainly felt like an ominous start to the game when Alex Vlasic’s first shifted clocked in around 90 seconds because the Blackhawks were pinned in their own end and couldn’t get off for a change.
- It’s never a surprise that the Blackhawks are better off with Connor Bedard on the ice than not, but sometimes the difference is beyond absurd:
- It’s astonishing that Bedard’s line with Dickinson and Kurashev did not yield more than the one goal off of an odd-man rush because it owned just about every possession metric it could in the 15:31 that trio skated together at 5-on-5. It was up 11-7 in shots on goal, 10-1 in scoring chances and 7-0 in high-danger chances for a whopping 93.91 expected goal share. That was the Blackhawks’ most offensive-oriented line, enjoying an offensive zone start percentage of 80 percent, but if it’s going to produce like that, more than just one goal should follow. Imagine we’re going to get several more looks at that line before this season ends.
- Sorokin didn’t have a ton of work, but the Blackhawks did muster a fair amount of quality, especially in the first two periods. Those opening 40 minutes consisted of 11 high-danger chances and scoring chances despite just 14 shots on goal — virtually all of that from the 98-16-23 line referenced above, though.
- The third period, though? Much different story. There was only 13:15 of 5-on-5 ice time in the final period but the Blackhawks were credited with zero high-danger chances, just two scoring chances and four shots on goal. Certainly not the kind of performance that results in a third-period comeback.
- So the Bedard line is the only one that produces and the Blackhawks lack of offense ultimately does them in when the goalie can’t hold the fort forever. Kind of the story of this entire season, isn’t it?
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Bo Horvat (NYI) — PPG
- Simon Holmstrom (NYI) — GWG
- Ilya Sorokin (NYI) — 18 saves on 19 shots
What’s Next
The Blackhawks return home for a pair of weekend games at the United Center, starting on Saturday afternoon against the Dallas Stars at 2:30 p.m.