It’s a Thanksgiving miracle: the Chicago Blackhawks not only won on Wednesday night, they won in a 6-2 lopsided manner against the Dallas Stars. Crazy, honestly.
The Blackhawks scored just 17 seconds in, courtesy of a flying Taylor Hall who ripped one off the rush past Casey DeSmith, putting the Blackhawks up 1-0 early. Credit to Philipp Kurashev for the little back pass to Hall in the neutral zone to spring the latter.
Taylor Hall scored again a little over five minutes later to make it 2-0. The Stars weren’t able to corral a Blackhawks dump-in, and Ryan Donato flung the puck on net, where Hall slapped home the rebound.
The Blackhawks cashed in quick in the second period as well after Connor Bedard went top-shelf on the power play 41 seconds into the middle frame to make it 3-0. Bedard started the play with a steal near the boards and Tyler Bertuzzi had a nice feed to set Bedard up for the eventual goal.
Teuvo Teravainen increased the Blackhawks lead to 4-0 with 3:06 left in the second period. Matthew Dumba misplayed the puck along the wall, Tyler Bertuzzi scooped it up then set up Teravainen in the left circle.
The Stars finally got on the board less than a minute later. Colin Blackwell found the loose puck created by a shot from Miro Heiskanen and backhanded it past Petr Mrazek in close, making it 4-1.
Taylor Hall completed his hat trick at 8:42 of the second. After battling along the boards, Craig Smith fed a wide open Hall just inside the left circle, and Hall sent a wicked wrister past DeSmith, putting the Blackhawks up 5-1.
The Blackhawks extended their lead to 6-1 with 6:42 remaining in the second thanks to a rushing goal by Louis Crevier — yes, you read that right: Crevier in a rushing play. Ilya Mikheyev used his speed to gain the zone, get around a Stars’ defender, and sent a back cross pass to a trailing Crevier who knocked the puck into the open net for his first career NHL goal.
It was looking like that would be the final score, but the Stars got one back with 6:17 remaining in the game. While on the power play, Wyatt Johnston’s deflection attempt on Jason Robertson’s shot failed, but the rebound bounced right to Matt Duchene, who backhanded the puck in an open cage.
And so 6-2 Blackhawks would be the final score.
Notes
This was a rare game for the Blackhawks: not only did they score a touchdown — nearly three times their game average so far this season — but they played a balanced game. There wasn’t so much focus on defense that it neutered their offense, but not so loose they allowed the Stars to dominate. The Blackhawks worst period was the first where the Stars had the edge in shot attempts (24-15), scoring chances (18-9), and high danger chances (9-3). But the Blackhawks ended up with the better chances in the second (10-6 chances, 4-3 high danger) and then kept the Stars to just two high-danger chances in the third. All numbers here at 5-on-5, of course. So yeah, the overall shot metrics are skewed for the Stars, but the Blackhawks executed the right mix of offense and defense that could be successful for them more consistently than focusing on one or the other.
I’m kind of annoyed at Matt Duchene scoring late because, before that, only Blackhawks and former Blackhawks scored tonight. Would have been neat.
Hall getting a hat trick must have felt really nice considering his offensive struggles this season. He’s had good shooting habits most of the season but just couldn’t get rewarded.
And although I was not at the United Center, I was indeed a few cocktails in while watching this game, so I hope Hall is pleased. Maybe that’s why my curse was broken for the night?
Despite Hall having a hat trick, the most exciting goal of the game was Bedard’s, simply because it’s been so long since he scored and he’s obviously the most important player on the team. Hopefully this means more to come — lots more.
Coach Luke Richardson said the key to this goal was Bedard not looking for the perfect shot, but honestly, Bedard kind of looked like he’s been rushing his shooting in recent games. Oh well, whatever works.
Bedard is still acting more as a distributor at 5-on-5 than a goal scorer — he had zero shot attempts this game — but the Stars are a hard team to match against because they a stacked forward group. As a result, the Hall, Bedard, and Kurashev line had a rough night: in 10:31 when the trio was on the ice, the Blackhawks had only 34.25 percent of the shot attempts and 27.21 percent of the expected goals. On paper, that looks pretty nasty, but again, the Stars are one of the top shot possession team, so it’s not unexpected. I’d like to see those three stay together for several games, to see if Kurashev can get back to his playmaker ways to facilitate some 5-on-5 Bedard goals.
Unsurprisingly, Jason Dickinson’s line with Nick Foligno and Mikheyev was the only completely net positive line tonight. The Blackhawks owned 60 percent of the shot attempts, 69.23 percent of the shots on goal, and 61.32 percent of the expected goals when the line was on the ice. The checking line also matched against the Stars’ top line for almost the entire 5-on-5 time together, so to not only suppress that group but to out pace them is impressive.
The other two lines were in the red when it came to shot attempts, but the fourth line of Pat Maroon, Lukas Reichel, and Craig Smith had more shots on goal (6-3) and the better chances (65.87 percent of expected goals). One thing to note about this line: coach Luke Richardson doesn’t really match them anymore, instead looking for the softer zone or on-the-fly deployment. As a result, who they face off against is typically mixed quality — in this game, they were mostly against the third and then first lines for the Stars.
There were some rare, bigger mistakes by Alex Vlasic this game — a couple of miscues at the blue line, allowing inside position on chances — but still overall fine. Wyatt Kaiser had a strong game, too: just a smart, simple approach to hockey.
How very exciting for Crevier! The Blackhawks have quite the logjam at defense in terms of their prospects, so it’s hard to see how he’d fit into any future plans for the team, but he’s also only 23 so who really knows.
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Taylor Hall (CHI) — 3 goals
- Tyler Bertuzzi (CHI) — 2 assists
- Louis Crevier (CHI) — 1 goal, first in NHL
What’s Next
The Blackhawks are off for Thanksgiving but right back at it Friday, heading to St. Paul to take on the Minnesota Wild for an afternoon game starting at 1 p.m.