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So Much Trouble: Blackhawks 7, Flyers 4

The Blackhawks put a touchdown (and extra point) on the board in defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 7-4 on Sunday afternoon.

Posted on by Eric Gegenheimer
Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images

The Blackhawks put a touchdown (and extra point) on the board in defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 7-4 on Sunday afternoon.

Four minutes into the first period, an Emil Andrae point shot took a crazy carom, bounced off Louis Crevier, and fluttered past Spencer Knight to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead:

Three minutes later, the Blackhawks worked an extended cycle in the Flyers’ zone when Nick Foligno faked a shot then sent a backhand pass to a wide open Pat Maroon for a tap in to tie the game 1-1:

Just 45 seconds later, Joe Veleno knifed into the slot and used a Flyers defender as a screen to beat Ivan Fedotov with a wrister that gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead:

With eight minutes gone in the first, a Travis Sanheim point shot seemed to fool Knight as it kicked up off his blocker then trickled over the line to tie the game 2-2:

Four minutes later, Bobby Brink got inside position on Wyatt Kaiser in front of the Blackhawks net and jammed a centering pass through Knight’s legs to give the Flyers a 3-2 lead:

With just under two minutes left in the first period, Connor Bedard dug the puck out of a faceoff scrum and fired a riser that tied the game 3-3:

Two and a half minutes into the second period, Veleno lofted the puck across the slot and Tyler Bertuzzi made a crafty forehand/backhand play and beat Fedotov to give the Blackhawks a 4-3 lead:

During an extended 5-on-3 power play, Teuvo Teravainen made a smart play to keep the puck in the Flyers’ zone then fired a no look seam pass that Ryan Donato redirected to make it 5-3:

Halfway through the period, the Flyers ran a set face off play in the Hawks’ zone and Travis Konecny tipped a point shot that put Philadelphia back within one at 5-4:

Some déjà vu with just over the six minutes left in the second while the Blackhawks were on the power play again and Tervainen feathered a perfectly placed pass that Donato tapped in to make it 6-4:

Just over two minutes into the third period, a Lukas Reichel rush pulled Fedotov out of the net and when Reichel tried to feed the puck back through the crease it bounced off Andrae’s skate and went in instead:

And that’s where it stayed:

Game over, man. Game over.

Notes

Say it with me, folks — ONLY 11 MORE GAMES TO GO!!!

Afternoon hockey typically tends to get a little wacky, and given the fact both these teams played yesterday (with the Blackhawks pulling double matinée duty this weekend) this particular matchup seemed ripe to be a wild one, so it certainly didn’t disappoint.

The Blackhawks had scored 10 goals total during their recent seven game losing streak before blowing it wide open today. Does it mean anything? Absolutely not. The Flyers have some of the worst goaltending in the league, and are currently dead last in team save percentage (.883). Fedotov even got the hook against Dallas yesterday after giving up two goals on his first three shots faced (which made it all the more frustrating when the Blackhawks failed to register a single shot against him during the opening five minutes). Watching your team score a bunch of goals (and win) is always going to be fun, though.

Adding to that, a whole lot of Blackhawks got in on the action this afternoon, with seven different players having multipoint games:

The game changed in the second period when the Flyers were assessed two different tripping penalties on the same shift (though I’ll argue Matvei Michkov interfered with Connor Murphy more than he tripped him). Pat Foley’s old “whichever teams wins the special teams battle during a 5-on-3 wins the game” adage aside, when you’re a team that’s as bad as the Blackhawks are, you absolutely have to capitalize on those types of chances when the other team gives them to you, so thankfully they did.

Last year the Blackhawks’ power play was 28th in the league at 16.6 percent, and this year they’ve jumped all the way up to eighth at 24.8 percent, and I’m more than happy to tell you the reason why:

via GIPHY

Today’s game is a perfect example of just how much Teuvo’s presence has affected the power play. Donato didn’t have to do anything on either of his goals other than anticipate the pass and open up his stick blade. Teuvo never looks rushed, and consistently makes the smart play/read. He made a great pass early in the first power play to set up Artyom Levshunov for a shot from the point that was almost Levshunov’s first goal (hit the post), made another great play to keep the puck in the Flyers’ zone, then obviously the seam pass to Donato for the first power play goal was a thing of beauty.

Conversely, while Levshunov certainly adds something to the power play with his skating and mobility, his game still feels too raw, and he’s making too many simple mistakes right now. He had a sequence on the third power play where he had issues executing a drop pass (after having issues with the exact same thing in the game against the Kings the other night), then after he was finally able to make the pass, he stopped skating in order to admire it and was blown up on a check by Konecny. He also lost his footing during a sequence in the third period and ended up wiping out Knight in the process:

This afternoon was Levshunov’s seventh game, which means he can play in one more game before burning the first year of his ELC. We’ve been getting on Kyle a lot lately about asset management, and burning an entire year of Levshunov for absolutely no reason right now is a huge misstep. His presence makes no difference to the team right now, and he isn’t learning anything he won’t be able to learn next season under a (hopefully) real NHL coach.

Speaking of, did everyone notice how John Tortorella used a timeout after the Flyers went down 5-3 and he felt the game slipping away? The Flyers scored about a minute later, and off of a set face off play no less. While it ultimately had no bearing on the final outcome of the game, it certainly means something to me juxtaposed against Anders Sorensen’s thousand-yard stare the last few weeks.

Anders almost gave the people what they want by putting Bedard, Donato, and Frank Nazar on a line together to start the game:

But unfortunately, that line was statistically the Blackhawks worst. They were out chanced 16-7, and out shot 9-4. They carried a truly abysmal expected goals percent of just 7.7, and were also the Hawks’ worst possession line (by far) with a 30.43 percent shot attempt share. The search for Bedard’s ideal line combo continues, even though the answer feels obvious to most of us. There was a glorious 1:40 stretch where Bedard was out with both Donato and Teuvo, but I couldn’t tell if that was on purpose or simply because Teuvo got caught at the end of a shift. Either way, Anders never want back to it.

And on the subject of things to never got back to, Alex Vlasic continues to look like a completely different player when he’s paired with Crevier. Vlasic has had a pretty rough season overall this year, and I’m sure it’s something we’ll dig into a lot more during the summer.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Teuvo Teravainen — 2 assists
  2. Ryan Donato — 2 goals
  3. Tyler Bertuzzi — 1 goal, 2 assists

What’s Next

The Blackhawks take on the suddenly banged up New Jersey Devils this Wednesday at the United Center with a 6:30 p.m. puck drop.

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