The Chicago Blackhawks ended a two-game skid on Sunday night thanks to a 2-1 overtime win over the Minnesota Wild at the United Center.
Jason Dickinson put the Blackhawks up 1-0 with just over three minutes left in the first period with an unassisted goal. He picked up the puck along the right-wing boards in the offensive zone, skated into the slot and scored on a wrist shot.
The Wild tied it 1-1 with 4:31 remaining in the 3rd period. A nice pass from Kirill Kaprizov found Matt Boldy in the slot, and he beat Petr Mrazek with an absolute snipe.
Luckily, the Blackhawks managed to score 1:50 into overtime to win 2-1. Seth Jones intercepted a pass in the defensive zone, then passed the puck to Philipp Kurashev, who scored off the rush from the top of the left circle.
Notes
The first 40 minutes of this game were the definition of low-event hockey, which suits this roster for the Blackhawks well, considering they’re not the swiftest and they don’t generate offense well. The Blackhawks were just a smidge better in terms of shot attempts (51 percent), but where they excelled was keeping the Wild from generating offense. The Wild had just six scoring chances and only one high-danger chance at 5-on-5 in those first two periods. Even after Dickinson scored, the Blackhawks held a strong defense all the way through to the end of the second. It did get dicey in the third as the Blackhawks were out attempted (24-4), outshot (13-3), out-chanced 9-1, and allowed four high-danger chances against (three of which were on net).
The good news is, even with the third being much looser, the Blackhawks played quite well defensively overall: third lowest expected goals against at both 5-on-5 (2.51 per 60) and in all situations (1.87 per 60). The bad news is that the offense was still lacking: this was their second lowest expected goals game of the season at 5-on-5 (only 1.1 per 60) and third lowest in all situations (1.54 per 60). Yes, Donato hit a post towards the end and there were other near misses, but overall, you can see from those numbers that, if not for the great play from Petr Mrazek in key moments — especially in the third — the outcome could have been very different.
It took until the 32nd shot of the game for the Wild to beat Mrazek, and the goalie was at least partially screened by his own defenseman while down.
Mrazek even had to make a save using forward Taylor Hall’s stick late in the second period:
Maybe Mrazek had a little extra magic tonight because Corey Crawford was in attendance:
Mrazek might have been the top hero of the night, but again, the Blackhawks did play well defensively, and there were quite a few guys who contributed to that effort. For example: prior to the third period, the Dickinson line with Teuvo Teravainen and Joey Anderson was completely shutting down Krill Kaprizov. Even factoring in the third, the Dickinson line was only minus-3 in shot attempts and minus-2 in shots on goal against Kaprizov but still owned 55 percent of the expected goals. The line was also just straight up the best for the Blackhawks in terms of owning the puck in terms of quantity (57.89 percent of shots attempts) and quality (51.00 percent of the expected goals). No other line broke even. It’s not surprising they also had the highest time on ice of any forwards individually and as a line combo.
Teravainen also led the team in shot attempts (7), shots on goal (5), scoring chances (3), and had quite a few nice setups for his teammates. It was his best game in a while, he just wasn’t rewarded. I’d personally like to see him back with Connor Bedard or playing with Taylor Hall.
Additionally, several defensemen had good games: Wyatt Kaiser had a quiet but effective game, Connor Murphy and Alex Vlasic continue to put on a defensive clinic when together as of late, and even TJ Brodie did quite well in his more sheltered role (he’s still so so slow though). Seth Jones is at the bottom of the team game chart, but he was fine individually this game, in my opinion. Nolan Allan also was decent, and saved at least one goal against basically by himself.
It’s actually somewhat annoying how little recognition Vlasic gets outside of Chicago.
Connor Bedard had one of his quietest games of the season with just one shot attempt / shot on goal, and he only played 12:15 at 5-on-5 and 16:40 overall. You’d think that might have been Richardson turtling in the third, but Bedard’s lowest playing time came in the second (4:11) and his shifts were pretty even across the periods (7-5-6). Richardson was just opting to roll his best defensive players in general: Dickinson, Teravainen, Kurashev, and Anderson.
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Petr Mrazek (CHI) — .970 save-percentage on 33 shots
- Philipp Kurashev (CHI) — 1 goal, GWG
- Jason Dickinson (CHI) — 1 goal
What’s Next
The Blackhawks have a few days off before they head to Seattle to take on the Kraken on Thursday night at 9 p.m.