The Chicago Blackhawks scored three unanswered goals in the third period for a a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Washington Capitals 3-2 Tuesday night.
The Capitals went up 1-0 within the first five minutes thanks to an unassisted goal from Pierre-Luc Dubois. He forced a turnover from Louis Crevier, skated around him, then had his shot trickle past Arvid Soderblom five-hole.
Andrew Mangiapane doubled the Capitals lead at 13:18 in the first. He undressed TJ Brodie with a pass between his legs and outwaited Soderblom with a drag move to score from the side.
After a scoreless second period, the Blackhawks finally got on on the board 51 seconds into the third period to make it 2-1. While on the penalty kill, Teuvo Teravainen got the puck to Ilya Mikheyev in the neutral zone, the latter then got around Jakob Chychrun before roofing a shot over Logan Thompson.
TJ Brodie tied the game 2-2 with 5:53 to play in the third period. Teravainen connected with Mikheyev on a cross-ice pass and Mikheyev then dropped the puck back to set up Brodie at the top of the right circle.
Ryan Donato then scored the go-ahead goal with 2:18 remaining in regulation. Donato beat everyone to the rebound created by Connor Murphy’s shot that landed in the corner, then he drove across the goal line from the right side and tucked the puck into the net to put the Blackhawks up 3-2.
Notes
This felt like it was going to be one of those games, huh? The Blackhawks came out strong in the first 40 minutes and were objectively the better team. It was obvious while watching, and the shot stats backed that assessment up: at 5-on-5, the shot attempts (34-18), shots on goal (13-9), and scoring chances (15-6) all favored the Blackhawks and they owned 67.08 percent of the expected goals. That’s basically the best two periods from the Blackhawks this season in terms of both shot quantity and quality. Yet they entered the third down 2-0 because of a couple of breakdowns.
Interestingly, the Blackhawks weren’t as in control in the third period — they owned just 31.03 percent of the shot attempts and 30.26 percent of the expected goals — but they struck when momentum was on their side. The penalty kills have been ridiculously good as of late — they’ve killed 27 penalties in a row — so the Mikheyev goal felit like the reward for that. After the Blackhawks scored the latter two goals, they stayed aggressive, forechecking well and not letting the Capitals really breath in those final minutes. It’s not always going to work, like in Saturday’s game against the Jets, but it’s a much better strategy than turtling.
While the penalty kill has been a delight, the power play has been somewhat stagnant and inconsistent. They looked better tonight, but again, not completely. Coach Anders Sorenson seems to have mixed feelings on it tonight when asked if he liked what he saw from the power play:
“Some of it. We got stuck a little on the perimeter looking for the perfect play. I think we sometimes have a little bit more of an attack mentality on the power play. It’s tough for the PK when you start whistling things around their ears a little bit and make them recover some pucks, maybe find some broken plays at times. we can be better there.“
This is the second game in a row in which the Blackhawks continued push ended up in late-game surges. It wasn’t enough on Wednesday against the New York Islanders, but luckily tonight it was. Again, you just have to like the mentality change, even if it’s not always effective.
The two breakdowns in the first period that led to goals were against the two least fleet-of-foot defenders on the team, Brodie and Creiver. Brodie had a few other iffy moments but nothing too bad, which I guess can be forgiven since he scored. And to be fair to Creiver, the puck got lost in his skates and that’s a really long distance to be looking down — Sorenson made the same joke post-game, even. Creiver also had a very strong game after the start, using his size well both physically and in disrupting plays. Playing the kids as much as possible should be the goal this season, and he showed why sometimes just letting them play after a big mistake can lead to better success than stapling a young guy to the bench.
While Mikheyev has been strong defensively in a checking line role all season, he’s only shown inconsistent flashes of the offense he showed in Toronto and Vancouver. Tonight was one of his best games, and not just because he scored a goal. — It was Chicago’s first short-handed goal of the season. he finished with four shot attempts (second among forwards) and two on goal (tied for third) at 5-on-5.
Teravainen had another three points (all assists) night, bringing his total to six points in his last two games. He’s one of the players most benefitting from a high-transition system because he excels in that area. Arguably, Teravainen’s play should earn him a place back with Bedard, but it seems unlikely the two will be reunited. Sorenson said postgame that Teravainen and Mikheyev have been good together. That’s understandable, to a degree.
I think (Teuvo) got a couple of shifts with Connor today, but I think he and Mickey have been so good together. We’re really happy with his game.”
This does still leave Bedard somewhat adrift at 5-on-5. Since the coaching change, Bedard has seven points in six games, which is great, but only three of those came at 5-on-5. Two of those were in the same game and the other was basically Bedard saying “I guess I’ll do it myself” while scoring. It’d just be nice to not see so many beautiful passes like the clip below just not work out and/or that Bedard would be set up more regularly with prime opportunities. Tonight, Bedard had four shot attempts but only one on goal at 5-on-5. The latter brings his total shots on goal at 5-on-5 to just six in the last six games — tied for ninth among forwards in that span. I just don’t think Ryan Donato should have more goals than Bedard.
Though to be fair, Donato does play hard every night and it was nice to seem him rewarded as well with a goal. What a move to the net on his goal, and the forecheck and cycling on that entire shift was great.
The only other personnel issue is with Reichel. While Craig Smith is out with injury, Lukas Reichel needed a little help out there and Josh Anderson isn’t cutting it. Pat Maroon has at least proven to be complimentary to Reichel (like in the clip below), mostly, but Anderson — who is absolutely a useful player in the right role — just drags that line down offensively.
The shot totals being on the lower side makes Soderblom’s save-percentage of .909 look good but not spectacular, yet he definitely stood tall when needed, especially after the first period. The Blackhawks had a few other miscues and the Capitals generated some pretty plays, especially in the third, when Soderblom had to be a wall. It’s like night and day from last season, and it’s so great the team in front gave him the goal support to get the win.
PS. Enjoy!
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Ilya Mikheyev (CHI) — 1 goal, 1 assist
- Teuvo Teravainen (CHI) — 3 assists
- Ryan Donato (CHI) — 1 goal
What’s Next
The Blackhawks wrap up their mini homestead by hosting the Seattle Kraken on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.