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I Gotta Feeling: Blackhawks 2, Ducks 1 (OT)

Posted on by L_B_R
Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

The Chicago Blackhawks gave up the tying goal in the final minute of regulation but bounced back to earn a 2-1 overtime win against the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday at the United Center.

After a scoreless first and second period, the Blackhawks finally broke the stalemate midway through the third period. Frank Nazar set up Wyatt Kaiser for a one-timer that rang off the crossbar, and Nazar followed up the play and tapped in the rebound at the backdoor to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead.

The Ducks tied the game 1-1 with 36 second left in regulation. After Kaiser was called for delay of game and the Ducks pulled Lukas Dostal pulled for the extra attacker, Anaheim had a 6-on-4 power play, and Mason McTavish finished off a nice passing play by ripping a short-side shot upstair from the bottom of the right circle.

The Blackhawks sealed the 3-2 win about three minutes into overtime. Ryan Donato set up Connor Bedard for a one-timer, which was stopped, but Bedard chased down his own rebound behind the net and dished it back out front to Donato, who buried it into the open net from the right post.

Notes

The Blackhawks played a fairly even game against the Ducks on Sunday, though their overall performance was dragged down by a shaky second period. Still, despite the low score, the game had high tension throughout, and the Blackhawks pulled out a solid win — their first in overtime this season.

Last season, the Blackhawks had issues with starting on time, but they’ve been better about it over the last few games and had a strong start tonight, spending a solid amount of time in the offensive zone. The problem was that they weren’t able to generate as many shot attempts or get pucks through to the net despite the zone time advantage. Chicago finished with only a slight edge in attempts (14-13) and expected goals (51.13 percent) but were outshot by Anaheim (11-8) at 5-on-5. Credit to the Ducks for clogging shooting lanes, forcing the Blackhawks to cycle instead of shoot, and blocking when needed. Additionally, the Ducks were fairly effective on the power play, peppering the Blackhawks with eight attempts and six scoring chances during four minutes, though the Blackhawks’ penalty killers did get a chance of their own.

The second period saw a shift in momentum at 5-on-5 to the Ducks, especially in the first few minutes when it felt like the Blackhawks were caught flat-footed. The Blackhawks did have some good stretches of pushback, but this period ended up being one of their worst in terms of shot metrics, with just 38.46 percent of the shot attempts, 30 percent of the shots on goal, and 24.1 percent of the expected goals. Factoring in special teams helps a bit — the Blackhawks’ penalty kill allowed no attempts in just under two minutes, and the power play generated a few good looks — but the dip in 5-on-5 play wasn’t ideal.

The Blackhawks kicked it up a notch at the start of the third period, basically dictating play to the point where a goal felt inevitable. After Nazar scored, the Ducks did take over for a while, but the Blackhawks did an admirable job defensively, and Spencer Knight was extremely strong this period. It felt like the Blackhawks were going to pull this one off in regulation if not for the late delay of game penalty. At 5-on-5, shot attempts were even between the teams at 22 apiece, and while the Ducks outshot the Blackhawks again (11-9), the Blackhawks owned a majority of the expected goals (72.01 percent).

Overtime featured good chances for both teams, but the Blackhawks had the edge in shots (5-3), scoring chances (4-3), and high-danger chances (3-1), including the game-winning goal.

Ultimately, this was a hard-fought, back-and-forth game that felt more high-stakes and full of suspense despite the low score. The Blackhawks allowing 39 shots on goal remains the main criticism in this one, but you have to be happy with how the team responded in overtime.

The undisputed No. 1 star tonight was obviously Spencer Knight, after facing nearly 40 shots on goal. The team in front of him did a good job keeping scoring chances against to a minimum, but that sheer volume is still tough to handle. He’s near the top of the league in goals saved above expected across every model — and might be at the very top after tonight, considering his xGSA was close to three goals — and he’s the biggest reason for the Blackhawks’ early success this season.

The other major standout tonight for me was Bedard. He followed up a great shooting game against the Canucks with another strong effort — easily leading the team in attempts (11), shots on goal (9), and scoring chances (5), with most of those (8, 6, and 4, respectively) coming at 5-on-5. That’s a career-high in shots on goal, by the way. His total ice time was once again close to 25 minutes, and the follow-through and setup in overtime were a thing of beauty. His primary assist tonight brings him to seven points (2 G, 5 A) in seven games. Here are just a few of his shots from the game — if he keeps shooting like this, at this volume, the goals will come.

And here is another excellent playmaking pass:

Bedard’s line with Tyler Bertuzzi and Andre Burakovsky was clearly the best in this game. In just over 13 minutes, they controlled 62.07 percent of the shot attempts, 71.43 percent of the shots on goal, and 54.04 percent of the expected goals. That’s not too surprising, considering Bedard had nearly a third of the Blackhawks’ shots on his own, but the whole line was clicking from the jump. When matched against the Ducks’ top line of Chris Kreider, Leo Carlsson, and Alex Killorn, the trio owned 60 percent or more of all shot shares while on the ice together—not bad at all.

The other Blackhawks lines were more of a mixed bag. Nazar’s line with Teuvo Teravainen and Ilya Mikheyev struggled the most, being out-attempted 17-4, outshot 10-3, and holding just 12.40 percent of the expected goals in about 10 minutes together. The Ducks’ second line of Cutter Gauthier, Mason McTavish, and Beckett Sennecke (which they faced for about six of those 10 minutes) had their number all night, but they didn’t fare much better against any of the other lines, so it’s unclear what alternative matchups the coach could have tried. Nazar had some good looks still (2 shots, 2 scoring chances) and Mikheyev was excellent on the penalty kill again.

Ryan Greene’s line with Donato and Colton Dach played 7:06 together and had a slight edge in shot attempts (6-5) but were outshot (2-1) and out-chanced (2-1). This trio also faced more of the Ducks’ second line than any other—about four of their seven minutes—and even though they didn’t win the shot battle, they limited that line to its least productive stretch of the night, which is admirable.

Just to note, Lukas Reichel and Landon Slaggert played less than eight minutes each.

On defense, it was another solid outing overall, though my top three remain Kaiser, Alex Vlasic, and Sam Rinzel. Y’all are probably tired of hearing this, but Vlasic was once again so steady tonight—strong defensively and contributing some good plays offensively, even if he didn’t get a point. Kaiser had a few more individual mistakes than in other games this season, but he followed them up with some exceptional stretches and also made an offensive impact. Rinzel was steady as well.

The other four defenders were fine overall. Murphy continues to be solid, though his lack of speed still hurts at times; he did register the second-most shot attempts (4), though none got through on net. Artyom Levshunov has had a few quiet games recently and struggled with coverage tonight, highlighting his inexperience. We also haven’t seen much offensively from him yet, but with less than 12 minutes of ice time and spaced-out shifts, it’s hard to get a rhythm going. Louis Crevier was similarly quiet in under 12 minutes of action.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Spencer Knight (CHI) — .974 save-percentage on 39 shots
  2. Ryan Donato (CHI) — 1 goal, 1 assist
  3. Frank Nazar (CHI) — 1 goal

What’s Next

The Blackhawks have three days off before traveling to Tampa to take on the Lightning Thursday at 5:45 p.m.

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