Blackhawks Give Away Two Points

For 20 minutes the Blackhawks looked like they were going to have another laugher on their hands but decided to coast through the last 40 minutes. The Hawks got exactly what they deserved Saturday night. If you play like crap in your own end for the majority of the night you will get buried.

The Blackhawks had so much fun on Friday night the goal party continued early on in Saturday’s game as well. The white hot Patrick Sharp notched his fourth goal in as many periods at 7:48 to open up the scoring. Jonathan Toews got the puck out to Marian Hossa at the red line who quickly left the puck for a streaking Shooter. Sharp flew right by the very expensive pair of Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo and went forehand/backhand to beat Jaroslav Halak for his 22nd goal of the season. The Blackhawks doubled their lead with a power play goal at 9:55. Patrick Kane deflected a Duncan Keith shot between Halak’s legs but the puck died on the goal line. Andrew Shaw was in front of the net to tap it over the line thanks in part to Barrett Jackman deciding to shove Shaw instead of, God forbid, tying up his stick. The Blues got on the board at 14:04 when Maxime Lapierre deflected a Carlo Colaiacova shot past Antti Raanta. The Blues scored on an extended shift in the Hawks end after a bad center ice turnover by Keith. Patrick Kane got that goal back for the Hawks exactly three minutes later when he fired a wrist shot past Halak. Kieth and Toews assisted on Kane’s 23rd goal of the year.

Brian Elliot would take over in net for the Blues at the start of the 2nd period and the Blackhawks seemed to take their foot off the gas a bit as well. Jaden Swartz was in the right place at the right time to pounce on a loose puck and score his fourth goal in four games to draw the Blues to within a goal at 2:46. Dimitrij Jaskin scored his first career goal at by getting inside position on Andrew Shaw and Johnny Oduya after a face to tie the game at 7:47. The Blackhawks were able to withstand further damage thanks in part to some big saves by Antti Raanta and a strong penalty kill. Brandon Saad was the recipiant of a good bounce after a shot from Ben Smith was blocked. The puck found Saad in the slot and he fired a wrist shot past Elliot for his 13th goal of the season at 17:46.

Brent Seabrook gave the Hawks their two goal lead back just over a minute into the 3rd period. Seabrook flicked the puck from the blue line and Brian Elliot flat out whiffed on a glove save and gave up a rather embarrassing goal. Vladimir Tarasenko found the puck on his stick after Alex Pietrangelo missed well wide from the point. Tarasenko skated to the middle of the ice and slipped the puck between the legs of Raanta to make it a 5-4 at 16:09. Niklas Hjalmarsson took a bad tripping penalty just a few moments later and of course the Blues would take advantage of it to tie the game. Alex Bergland, who was a beast the entire 3rd period, walked right by Seabrook on his way to tying the game.

Jonathan Toews had a chance to end the game in overtime on a breakaway but had his hands slashed by Barrett Jackman but was not given any type of call. The first four shooters in the shootout were able to score before Raanta made a save on Chris Stewart. Kevin Shattenkirk sealed the Hawks fate in the 5th round and gave his team the extra point in the standings.

* The Blackhawks lost this game because of their play in the defensive zone. The forwards didn’t look like they had much interest in playing much defense on Saturday. They left the zone way too early many times, causing their defensemen to try and make stretch passes. This was one of their worst games of the year when it came to clearing the puck out of the defensive zone.

* Q had a bit of an itchy benching finger on Saturday. He finally gave Brandon Bollig some extra time on the bench, which was only about 36 games too late. Anyone else find it weird that the 4th line produced a goal without Bollig on the ice? Bryan Bickell seemed to be in the dog house as well he actually got one second less of ice time than Bollig. Is Q’s love affair with Bollig coming to an end? If he does get some time in the pressbox that means Sheldon Brookbank is back to a wing. Six of one, half a dozen of another.

* Antti Raanta did his best to prevent a goaltending controversy. Yes, he made some fantastic saves in the 2nd period but the two goals he gave up in the 3rd left much to be desired. He was playing way too deep in his crease on the game tying goal. His performance in the shootout made me pine for the return of Corey Crawford. Raanta’s done a hell of job in relief but still needs some work.

* I don’t want to ever listen to Edzo tell me what a great year Brent Seabrook is having. What are you watching buddy? If Canada takes Seabrook to Sochi, that will be a good thing for Team USA. Watching him screw the pooch not once, but twice on the game tying goal made me want to throw a beer bottle at the TV.

* Ben Smith took nine faceoffs tonight with Marcus Kruger on the ice. Not sure what that is about considering Frogger won eight of his 11 draws.

* The penalty kill continues to improve which is very encouraging. Despite giving up the goal because Seabrook couldn’t clear the puck and got caught too far away from his net the PK was really good. They limited the Blues to just two shots on their first three attempts.

* Here is where everyone freaks out about losing to the Blues three straight times in the regular season. All of the regular season losses to the Ducks didn’t derail the Hawks last year, so there is nothing to panic about. Two of the three loses came in the shootout which we don’t have to worry about come playoff time. I would love a seven game series against these guys come playoff time. The Hawks know how to play winning playoff hockey, something the Blues have not quite mastered yet.

Blackhawks Advanced Stats

Player

Pos.

ES TOI

CF%

CF% rel

CF% Close

CF%Rel

Close

O/Dst%

Keith, Duncan

23:47

38.3

-9.6

46.4

-12.7

40.0

Hjalmarsson, Niklas

23:44

43.3

0.3

36.4

-20.0

42.9

Seabrook, Brent

21:07

40.0

-6.0

50.0

-4.2

42.9

Leddy, Nick

12:07

60.0

21.3

83.3

41.2

100

Sharp, Patrick

19:00

54.5

17.4

68.8

24.6

77.8

Kruger, Marcus

13:11

37.5

-6.8

50.0

-2.4

0.0

Brookbank, Sheldon

11:43

47.4

5.3

66.7

19.3

100

Toews, Jonathan

17:57

51.4

13.1

57.9

9.5

72.7

Saad, Brandon

12:55

41.7

-2.0

50.0

-2.9

42.9

Versteeg, Kris

14:37

37.0

-8.6

42.9

-12.7

50.0

Handzus, Michal

13:38

37.0

-8.6

42.9

-12.7

60.0

Oduya, Johnny

22:14

41.4

-2.6

36.4

-20.0

46.2

Smith, Ben

11:18

28.6

-17.1

42.9

-10.6

0.0

Bickell, Bryan

9:37

47.1

4.8

60.0

10.0

50.0

Bollig, Brandon

9:14

30.0

-14.7

25.0

-29.3

0.0

Shaw, Andrew

9:42

41.2

-2.4

55.6

4.3

66.7

Hossa, Marian

16:47

51.5

12.8

62.5

15.4

77.8

Kane, Patrick

19:07

37.5

-8.5

41.2

-16.4

50.0

Blues Advanced Stats

Player

Pos.

ES TOI

CF%

CF% rel

CF% Close

CF%Rel

Close

O/Dst%

Jackman, Barret

18:28

51.7

-7.4

47.1

-1.4

60.0

Schwartz, Jaden

20:07

63.3

9.5

78.6

42.5

33.3

Morrow, Brenden

15:21

45.5

-14.8

23.1

-33.7

100

Colaiacovo, Carlo

14:13

59.3

3.4

53.3

7.6

75.0

Bouwmeester, Jay

23:32

56.8

-0.1

44.4

-5.6

36.4

Berglund, Patrik

17:15

55.0

-3.2

40.0

-13.3

37.5

Shattenkirk, Kevin

19:55

58.1

1.8

55.6

11.8

69.2

Stewart, Chris

13:54

52.6

-5.3

27.3

-26.6

100

Jaskin, Dmitrij

9:22

47.1

-11.9

33.3

-19.3

100

Pietrangelo, Alex

24:33

60.0

5.5

41.2

-10.3

36.4

Cole, Ian

14:01

53.8

-4.1

46.7

-1.9

60.0

Porter, Chris

5:51

42.9

-16.4

25.0

-27.4

100

Lapierre, Maxim

14:29

52.9

-4.8

30.0

-22.5

85.7

Backes, David

17:11

66.7

13.7

85.7

52.4

45.5

Paajarvi, Magnus

14:09

65.4

11.8

53.8

7.9

28.6

Oshie, T.J.

18:52

58.6

2.6

71.4

32.5

36.4

Cracknell, Adam

5:25

36.4

-23.2

25.0

-27.4

100

Tarasenko, Vladimir

15:07

66.7

15.1

53.8

7.9

37.5

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