The Blackhawks limp back to the United Center after their quick, two-game Western trip (which saw them outscored 11-2) to square off against the Vancouver Canucks in yet another early Sunday matinee game.
For as much that has seemed to go bad for the Blackhawks this season, right now it feels like everything has broken the opposite way for the Canucks. Even after a brief stumble on Saturday afternoon with a shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild, Vancouver has a shiny 20-9-2 record, good for 42 points, which puts them second in the Pacific behind the Golden Knights and second overall in the West. They’re 6-3-1 in their last 10 games, have at least one point in the last five games, and recently took care of the Lightning and Panthers by a combined score of 8-1.
Their offense is absolutely rolling right now, reinforced by the fact they’re skating three of the top 10 scorers in the entire league. J.T. Miller is second only to Nikita Kucherov right now in overall points, with 43 (15 G, 28 A) in just 31 games. Quinn Hughes isn’t far behind Miller with 39 (9 G, 30A), and neither is Elias Pettersson with 38 (11 G, 27 A). Add to that the fact that Brock Boeser is just outside the top 10 with 36 points and entered this weekend just one goal behind Auston Matthews (22 for Boeser, 23 for Matthews) for tops in the NHL. Vancouver is also balanced, as they have 12 players with at least 10 points, whereas scoring 10 points on the Hawks would mean you’re their sixth-leading scorer. And just for a little extra salt in the wound, Sam Lafferty has more points right now than anyone on the Blackhawks who isn’t Connor Bedard or Philipp Kurashev.
Defensively they have a lot working for them as well. If it wasn’t for Cale Makar’s video-game numbers Hughes would get a lot more attention for just how insanely rare and talented he is as an offensive defenseman. Hughes is only 24, has multiple 60-assist seasons on his resume, and appears well on his way to smashing his career high of 69 (nice) assists this year. He’s been partnered primarily with Filip Hronek, who is no slouch either with 27 points in 30 games, on the Canucks’ first pair and together they’re a top-ten tandem in expected goals (68.89 percent share) and a top thirty-ish tandem in generating shot attempts (52.69 shot-attempt share).
The Canucks are underwater as a team in a lot of offensive metrics: they’re under 50 percent in creating shots (48.53 percent), creating scoring chances (49.84 percent), and creating high-danger chances (48.26 percent). But somehow, they’re No. 1 overall in goals-for at 61.21 percent, which led a lot of people to discount their early season success and call them lucky. While there’s definitely an element of luck involved, it almost doesn’t matter when they’re getting the kind of goalie play they’ve seen from Thatcher Demko so far.
Demko currently leads the NHL in Goals Saved Above Expected (at 16.2), wins (15), and he’s top ten in both save percentage (.923) and goals-against average (2.30). If the season ended right now, he’d be considered the favorite for the Vezina, and if Vancouver can maintain this pace for the rest of the season he might even warrant some Hart consideration as the most valuable player in the league.
Vancouver has an enviable young core down the middle in Pettersson, Hughes and Demko, and with a big scoring surge from their secondary components and added depth, it appears as if they’re taking a significant step toward contention this season. You have to wonder if Anthony Beauvillier might try and pull a Jakob Chychrun between periods tomorrow to get back to his old team.
For the Blackhawks, there’s been layers of bad news the last few days. Kyle Davidson sat down for an interview with Mark Lazerus and all but confirmed there’s no additional help coming from outside the organization anytime soon.
After leaving the game against the Kraken on Thursday night during the third period, Alex Vlasic missed practice on Saturday and appears to be a game-time decision.
Seth Jones was also moved to the IR (retroactive to Dec. 10), and Wyatt Kaiser was recalled from Rockford.
The game presents another significant test for a young team whose roster is talent-deficient even under the best of circumstances, and our best hope for it to remain interesting would be that Connor Bedard comes out with a little extra juice in facing his hometown team for the first time.
And for as disappointing as this season has been so far, it’s always important that we take a step back and remind ourselves there’s things that are a lot more important than hockey. Word officially came down on Kevin Korchinski’s absence from the team, as it became known that he’d returned home to be with his family following the sudden death of his father, Larry. The entire team stopped to attend the funeral on their way back from Seattle, which is an incredibly kind and compassionate gesture that reminds me of when the 2008 team took a plane and two buses to attend the funeral of Dale Tallon’s father.
My condolences go out to Kevin and his family. I can’t even imagine how difficult this has been for them.
How to watch
When:Â 2 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago, IL
TV:Â NBC Sports Chicago
Webstream: ESPN+/Hulu
Radio: WGN 720