Game Recap: Blackhawks 1 - Devils 4
Blackhawks fall to the Devils 4-1 but hey, Drew Commesso starts and Frank Nazar debuts.
We've seen this movie before. The Blackhawks play clo... wait a minute... I've used the opener already... last game, actually.
I guess that means I can kind of just jump right into this thing.
Scoring:
The Hawks took the lead thanks to Jason Dickinson using Luke Hughes' face as a backboard. It was about time, the Hawks had a few that should have gone in.
Dawson Mercer would make it a 1-1 game with a
nicetap-in. Just prior to the goal, here's how the Hawks looked at their blueline:
TJ Brodie covers Nolan Allan's spot due to his aggressive play in the NZ. Jason Dickinson covers Brodie's spot. They get themselves recollected before... well... this:
For the Devils' second goal, the Hawks were in their zone for over 2 minutes. Wyatt Kaiser gets possession and has an opportunity to get it the hell out but doesn't. He bends over, spreads 'em, and takes it.
https://bsky.app/profile/scottpowers.bsky.social/post/3ldc4g7oc3c2b
Kevin Korchinski saw what he thought was a good passing lane, but it was actually Nico Hischier waiting to do Hischier things. It really wasn't a great pass by Korch.
The final goal of the game was a Timo Meier goal thanks to some poor defensive play. It was like everyone forgot how to play defense. First, you have Nick Foligno gliding in like a dead manatee. Dickinson does a cartwheel. Connor Murphy pulls a Brodie and lets Meier seal it.
Thoughts:
Take it with a grain of salt, but Drew Commesso looked solid in his first NHL start. He robbed a couple of Devil goals including this one. I'm not going to look at his numbers. Those 4 goals weren't on him.
The highlight of the day was Frank Nazar's season debut. He looked fine. Nazar made some great backchecking plays that make me very hopeful. On the dot, he lost all 6 5v5 faceoffs. Frank would finish with 1 shot on goal and 1 shot attempt at 5v5.
Connor Bedard needs to shoot when he passes. I'll say that until it stops happening. That said, Bedard had 2 shots on goal and 4 shot attempts at 5v5. He made a nice pass to Teuvo Teravainen. Would be nice to see those two together more often.
The Kurashev-Bedard-Donato line put up a 46.15 Corsi and had a 39.09 xG%.
I didn't think this was Alex Vlasic's best game. He made some solid plays, don't get me wrong. But he did get caught out there on that long shift with Kaiser. Vlasic was on the ice for 21 shot attempts against and had a 32.26 Corsi. He also had a team-low xGA of 1.22.
Not a whole lot of thoughts. The Blackhawks play the Islanders (again) at 2PM CT.
Let's Go Hawks...