The Chicago Blackhawks made it home for their home opener on Saturday night. They took on the Montreal Canadiens in what was the first game of their centennial celebration.
The Blackhawks fell to the Canadiens by giving up a goal with 15 seconds left in regulation. This goal broke a 2-2 tie and ended Chicagoâ€s chance at its first win of the season.
The goal was a Juraj Slafkovsky redirection of a point shot that beat Spencer Knight. The young Blackhawks got a little bit frantic in the final minute of the game, and it bit them.
Chicago’s two goals were positive in the fact that two young core pieces scored them. Their first was the first in the career of defenseman Sam Rinzel. Frank Nazar won a faceoff back to Teuvo Teravainen, who tapped it to Rinzel with an open lane to the net. He didn’t miss.
Blackhawks: Sam Rinzel Has His First Career NHL Goal
Not long after Cole Caufield had a Montreal Canadiens goal stand after being reviewed for a high stick, the Blackhawks tied the game thanks to a goal scored by Sam Rinzel.
Chicago’s second goal was a Frank Nazar shot on the power play that deflected in the net off of Connor Bedard. These two are forming decent chemistry with the man-advantage. Down the middle, based on the way the early stages of the season are going for these two players, the Blackhawks are forming a great two-headed monster.
One of the main storylines from the game was the penalty trouble that the Blackhawks found themselves in. The Blackhawks accumulated a total of 39 penalty minutes. Montreal had 10 power plays. They converted on two of them, which played a role in the outcome of the game.
After the match against the Bruins earlier in the week, the Blackhawks talked about standing up for each other, but they got a little ahead of themselves in this game.
Due to being on the penalty kill for almost one full period worth of time, they were never able to get in a true offensive rhythm. Some penalty killers didn’t get enough ice at 5-on-5, and some non-killers weren’t able to stay on the ice with offensive momentum for long enough to make an impact.
After the game was over, head coach Jeff Blashill talked about some of these issues and how they affected the team as a whole.
“That’s a really, really hard game to get any rhythm going. Blashill said. “Certain guys are playing so many minutes. Anybody who killed was playing so many minutes, and then you’re trying to get some of the guys that don’t kill you back in their rhythm in minutes.”
It makes sense when you think about it from a deployment standpoint. It’s hard to do anything with consistency when you’re marching to the penalty box like that. It has been over a decade since the Blackhawks last gave their opponent double-digit power plays. That must be cleaned up going forward.
To their credit, the penalty kill units did well based on the situation. They don’t love giving up two power-play goals, but when you kill off eight others, it is a win. The fact is that they gave the rest of the team a chance to win.
Chicago is still working on putting teams away late in hockey games. Giving up a heartbreaker with 15 seconds left adds to the list of games that this young core has lost in the final minutes.
“You have to have the mindset of not just being okay with being in the game,” Captain Nick Foligno said. “You’ve got to find a way to step on their throats for lack of a better word and find a way to get that done like [Montreal] did tonight, right? So that mentality has to now shift from ‘hey, we’re becoming a good team’ to ‘no, we are a good team’. We have to believe that and put it into our practice.”
As a guy who has been a captain for multiple NHL franchises and a general leader for others, Foligno knows the ups and downs of an NHL clubhouse. This Blackhawks team is getting better, and it shows when you watch. The results aren’t showing up in the standings just yet.
Chicago’s next chance will come on Monday night when they will host the Utah Mammoth at the United Center.
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