The Blackhawks fell to the Penguins 3-2 in a shootout Saturday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, their first loss to the Penguins in five years.
Patrick Kane picked up a goal to extend his point streak to five games and Corey Crawford soaked up 29 of 31 shots, which included 12 high-danger saves.
After a relatively boring first period where a penalty wasn’t called until near the end of the 20-minute session, the Blackhawks held the edge in possession at 5-on-5 19-15 in terms of Corsi and 8-7 in terms of shots on net.
Then, a little over seven minutes into the second period, the Blackhawks developed a 3-on-1 as the former line of Brandon Saad, David Kampf and Dominik Kubalik were on the ice together. Saad sped towards the net and then, with the cage yawning for Kubalik, fresh off a healthy scratch, he passed and Kubalik shot.
The Blackhawks scored again a little over a minute and a half later as again Saad sped toward the net with Kane alongside him and Kane sniped it over Murray’s shoulder as Saad provided distraction.
The Penguins answered with a goal from Jake Guentzel by the period’s end, and got a tap-in goal from Bryan Rust a little more than halfway into the third as Pittsburgh tied it at 2-all.
The Blackhawks did a good job on the penalty kill against a team that hasn’t scored on the man advantage in now 11 games. But Chicago’s even strength defense wasn’t as good, as they allowed 12 high-danger chances against, and the Penguins had 1.86 expected goals for at even strength.
The Blackhawks drove possession throughout the game, however, and while the Penguins outclassed them between the dots and in the crease, the Hawks made sure to get a lot of shots on net and to test Matt Murray early and often. Unfortunately, outside of the first 10 minutes of the second period, Murray aced those tests.
Despite a great effort from Crawford, the Blackhawks gave up one too many chances and the Rust goal tied the game and Chicago was unable to answer back in time to win the game in regulation.
After a pretty meandering overtime period, the Penguins won 2-1 in a shootout as Guentzel and Jared McCann scored for Pittsburgh and only Kane answered the bell for the Blackhawks.
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Jake Guentzel (PIT) — 1 G, 1 shootout goal
- Brandon Saad (CHI) — 1 A, .17 expected goals for
- Matt Murray (PIT) — 29 saves, .935 save percentage, 2.41 expected goals against
What’s next?
The Blackhawks play the second half of a back-to-back Sunday against the Maple Leafs at the United Center.