x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

You’ll Know We’ve Been Here Before We Are Done: Kraken 3, Blackhawks 1

Another loss despite a solid effort.

Posted on by Dave Melton
Credit: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

The Blackhawks remain without a win on their six-game road trip after a third straight defeat on Monday night, losing 3-1 to the Seattle Kraken.

After a scoreless first period, Seattle scored first when this seeing-eye point shot from Jamie Oleksiak ended up in the Blackhawks net:

Later in the second, the Kraken went up 2-0 when this tic-tac-toe passing during a Seattle power play led to a Matty Beniers goal:

The Blackhawks made things interesting in the third period, with this solo effort from Connor Bedard leading to a mini-breakaway for Andre Burakovsky, who picked up his third goal in as many games:

With about four minutes left, though, Jordan Eberle cashed in during this 2-on-1 to provide some extra insurance for the Kraken:

And that was that!

Notes

Not going to sound any loud alarms with this, as it’s more of an observation than accusation, but that’s now three games without a point for Nazar and his turnover led to Eberle’s insurance goal late in the third period. Get him a point — preferably a goal — and we’ll probably get back to seeing the version of Nazar that was a menace in the first few weeks of the season.

On the other end of that spectrum: Bedard and Burakovsky are clicking more at 5-on-5 play after much of their early success was limited to the power play. Still early in the season but there’s potential growing for Bedard to have a legitimate linemate on the roster for a change.

Oliver Moore was noticeable in this game but, because of his incredible speed, Moore should be noticeable in just about every hockey game he plays. The trick for him will be to find ways to get noticed outside of that skating ability, with putting the puck in the net the most obvious means to that end. He had a few neat setups to teammates and a decent rush to the goal early in the second period that stood out enough to make this season debut a solid enough one overall.

This clip from Levshunov is a decent summary of where he’s at as a developing player. He skates himself out of position while chasing a puck, resulting in a Seattle breakaway. But his skating ability allows him to get back in time to affect the breakaway so that a goal isn’t scored. This is what people mean when they tout Levshunov’s physical tools but lament his decision making.

Don’t take the posting of that clip as an overall criticism of Levshunov’s game this evening, either. He had plenty of positive contributions throughout the game, posting an excellent 75.54 percent expected goal share. Yes, he’s still receiving favorable usage by starting in the offensive zone the majority of the time but he’s also doing something with those advantageous starts.

Decent outing overall from Soderblom, with no save finer than this one:

This loss might sting a little bit because the Blackhawks once again were the better team for the majority of it, as all the 5-on-5 data is in their favor. Little things seem to be affecting the team right now, though: golden opportunities foiled by missed shots or split-second hesitations that result in the shots getting blocked. There’s an overall process that seems to be working well even if the results haven’t been showing up for this team since it hit the road last week. Collectively, the Hawks had a 57.6 percent share of the shot attempts and a 63.9 percent share of the expected goals. Do that consistently, and the Hawks should be just fine in the long run. This game was the polar opposite of the Utah and Tampa wins earlier in the season, when Spencer Knight standing on his head was the primary reason why the Hawks won.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Matty Beniers (SEA) — 1 goal, 1 assist
  2. Jordan Eberle (SEA) — 1 goal, 1 assist
  3. Andre Burakovsky (CHI) — 1 goal

What’s Next

The Blackhawks jump back across the border to face the Vancouver Canucks at 9 p.m. on Wednesday night.

LOGIN SIGN UP

Talking Points