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No Aloha: Blue Jackets 5, Blackhawks 1

A quick reminder of who the Blackhawks are after a few weeks off.

Posted on by L_B_R
Credit: Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images

After a two-week break, the Chicago Blackhawks were back in action on Saturday in Columbus, but the night ended poorly for Chicago, falling 5-1 to the Blue Jackets.

The Blue Jackets got on the board less than five minutes into first. Cole Sillinger won a puck battle near the top corner and slid the puck to Kent Johnson, who scored with a slick wrister from the the slot to put the Blue Jackets up 1-0.

The Blackhawks thought they’d tied the game late in the first thanks to a scrambly goal from Connor Bedard, but the referee waived it off immediately for goaltender interference.

Johnston scored again, this time around a minute into the second while on the power play, to extend the Blue Jackets led to 2-0. Johnson sort of casually skated into space above the right circle to score, using a screen by Dmitri Voronkov to beat Petr Mrazek.

The Blackhawks cut the deficit to 2-1 around five minutes into the second. After some pretty nice cycling on the power play, Craig Smith tipped a long shot from Alex Vlasic to get the Blackhawks within one.

Denton Mateychuk gave the Blue Jackets back their two-goal lead at 12:42 of the second. The Blackhawks worked the puck out of the defensive zone but Mateychuk picked it off in the neutral zone and carried it back into the zone before beating Mrazek with a wrist shot from the high slot, making it 3-1 Blue Jackets.

The Blue Jackets made it 4-1 with 6:09 remaining in the third thanks to a coast-to-coast rush goal by Zach Werenski.

About a minute later, Adam Fantilli was left wide open just sitting at the top of the crease and he put the Blue Jackets up 5-1 after a sweet little setup from below the goal line by Kirill Marchenko.

Notes

The Blackhawks looked like a team that was rusty from not having played hockey in a couple of weeks to open this game, which is to be expected. The problem was the Blue Jackets look energized from the jump. The Blackhawks did get better, at least defensively, as the period went on and kept the Blue Jackets from getting pucks on net. At 5-on-5, Columbus had the puck a lot more (Hawks had just 43.33 percent of the attempts) and had better chances (Hawks only at 43.43 percent of the expected goals), but Chicago had the edge in shots on goal (64.29 percent). It would have been nicer if the Blackhawks had also generated some offense — they had only three scoring chances the whole period — but the defensive response was admirable.

The second period was more back-and-forth to start, likely due in part to the special teams time, but the Blue Jackets managed to get several minutes of really concentrated pressure where they scored a goal and kept momentum for a bit after that. The Blackhawks did regroup well and push back to finish the period, but it kind of felt like too little, too late. Two goals down isn’t an insurmountable task to overcome and the Blackhawks had the edge in attempts (59.09 percent), shots on goals (57.14 percent), and expected goals (69.96 percent) but it just didn’t feel like the type of game where the Blackhawks were going to be able to sink their chances — and they didn’t even hit double-digit scoring chances (only 7) for the period. Merzlikins was good in net for the Blue Jackets, but the Blackhawks didn’t do themselves any favors with some choices made in the offensive zone. The defense also deteriorated some from the first, piling on the issues.

The Blackhawks carried the shot possession momentum into the third for a bit, but again, nothing felt particularly crisp or dangerous. Then the defensive mistakes started happening, the Blue Jackets had the puck a lot, Mrazek wasn’t having his best game and suddenly the Blue Jackets were running up the score. For a team chasing the score, the Hawks really needed the puck more and to get it on net, yet they had just 45.83 percent of the shot attempts and 38.46 percent of the shots on goal. The quality was a little more even, at least, with a nearly even 50.07 percent of the expected goals in the final 20. Still a low scoring chance period (6) but the Jackets didn’t run as amuck as they could have.

Again, Merzlikins was solid for Columbus, but this did not feel like a goalie win, especially since the Blackhawks put just 28 shots on him, only 12 of which were scoring chances and three were high danger. The game felt closer than the 5-1 score, but it also seemed like the Blackhawks were getting in their own way when trying to score instead of the Blue Jackets playing particularly well.

The Blackhawks got sloppy as the game progressed, which played into the lower possession numbers for the night. The issue was more with forwards than defensemen, something Alex Vlasic alluded to as well. We want the defensemen to feel comfortable jumping into offensive plays, but they need the forwards to help cover when this happens. It might also work better if more of the defensemen were better skaters who could get back easier but with the trio of Alec Martinez, Connor Murphy, and TJ Brodie in the lineup, the defense is never going to be particularly swift.

I do wonder how the game might have gone if the Bedard goal had counted. It may not have made a difference but going into the second period 1-1 is a much better place to be in, obviously. Not sure I agree on the goaltender interference call either: doesn’t it also look like most of the contact happened after the puck was already in? Also, the Blackhawks apparently didn’t know why the goal was waived off and lost their chance to challenge, which is just dumb on the referee’s part. I do think Sorensen is right that the call on the ice would have stood because refs hate calling those plays back, but it would have been nice if the Blackhawks staff had the right information to make a proper decision.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the Blackhawks are one of the worst net-front teams in the league. Whether you’re talking about crashing the net for offensive opportunities or clearing the crease in front of their own goalie, the Blackhawks are quite weak in this aspect of the game. Now, Voronkov is a big guy at 6-foot-5, 227 pounds, but he was uncontested in front of Mrazek all night and they at least need to try something there. I miss the days when 5-foot-11, 180 pound Andrew Shaw was willing to take on 6-foot-9, 250 pound Zhendo Chara to get position in front of the net. He showed it’s not about size always: it’s about being willing to battle, and this Blackhawks team is lacking in that department.

As mentioned above, the Blackhawks kind of got in their own way tonight, but they weren’t without chances. Bedard was really strong offensively, with seven shot attempts, five on net, and 0.82 expected goals (easily the best for both teams), though it kind of felt like he was doing it all alone. His line also got absolutely buried at 5-on-5 when it came to shot possession: the Blackhawks had just 27.27 percent of the shot attempts and 33.33 percent of the shots on goal when the trio was on the ice. Bedard and to a lesser degree Donato made the most of their little offensive zone time, which is why their expected goal share was more even (47.01 percent), but it’d have been nice to see that line not be dragged down so much.

Smith looked really engaged, Nick Foligno and Maroon both hit posts, and Philipp Kurashev had some decent moments, too. Someone in the comments basically said Teuvo Teravainen could have had a hat trick tonight if he wasn’t looking to pass all the time, which felt very accurate. Lukas Reichel felt somewhat similar in that he had some open moments where he chose to pass instead, and while Smith and Maroon both benefitted, it wasn’t always the best decision. Nazar had some really nice moves when in motion, he just needs to learn how to finish those types of chances.

Defensively, Vlasic and Martinez were individual standouts, in my opinion. The latter is slow now, but he was very smart with his his positioning and choices tonight. One of his better games of the season. Vlasic was a dual threat, pushing pace in one direction and working quite well in the other. If the players on the ice with him had just been a bit better, it might have turned out differently for the team.

And, as mentioned above, this wasn’t Mrazek’s best game of the season, though I don’t think all the goals were on him. The Blackhawks likely still lose, but perhaps to a score of 3-1 versus 5-1.

One last note, Foligno looked like he was injured right after the third-period opening faceoff, but he luckily only missed a shift.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Zach Werenski (CBJ) — 1 goal, 2 assists
  2. Kent Johnson (CBJ) — 2 goals
  3. Elvis Merzlikins (CBJ) — .964 save percentage on 28 shots

What’s Next

The Blackhawks are right back at it Sunday night, heading back to Chicago to host the Toronto Maple Leafs at 6 p.m.

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