Game Recap: Blackhawks 2 - Ducks 3
The Blackhawks lose to the Ducks 2-3 at home. A recap on another forgettable night.
The Ducks were on the back half of back-to-back games on the road. Sure, they managed a win over Dallas. This still should have been a game the Hawks had. But they didn't look a whole lot different from any other game they've played this season.
The first period didn't look bad for the Hawks. They had a 56.67 Corsi at 5v5 and a 72.81 xG% as well as owning 10 shots on goal to the Ducks 7 at all strengths. I almost thought that it was sustainable but the Hawks let the Ducks outplay them after they had a 2-1 lead. And it's not even that the Ducks outplayed the Hawks, the Ducks just caused chaos in the Hawks' zone because they couldn't breakout.
Some people on Twitter got all poopy-faced when I said that Seth Jones being on IR is going to hurt the Hawks' defense. Last night showcased that. The Ducks, of all teams, kept the Hawks stuck in their zone from the midway point in the second period onwards.
The Bedard-Dickinson-Anderson line actually looked alright. The line had a 56.25 Corsi and a 62.23 xG%. Jason Dickinson and Connor Bedard looked solid together, 2 goals for Dickinson both assisted by Connor. Joey Anderson on the line was a real headscratcher before the game and still is. Teuvo Teravainen fits the bill much better (he got an assist on that second goal), so why not just run him up there and let that line sit for a while? But of course, it's Connor we care about and he looked solid on the wing. He got open a few times and took advantage of the Ducks' bad defense. Despite that, he still only got 1 shot on goal and 2 shot attempts at 5v5.
It's been a solid season for Arvid Soderblom and he's looked good. That's despite a .875 SV%. The goals weren't all on Arvid though. There were a couple of questionable decisions by Hawks players that led to those Duck goals. Their first goal came after Lukas Reichel tied up TJ Brodie. For the third goal, there was some bad decision-making on Nolan Allan's part. Allan left the middle of the ice, forcing Alec Martinez to cover, which led to some open space for Leo Carlsson to skate up to the net.
https://twitter.com/AnaheimDucks/status/1859079422940164290
For a season that doesn't matter, there are some growing concerns (we'll revisit the Hawks Anxiety Meter soon). Again, the line blending by Luke isn't helping this team at all. But can you blame him? The players that Kyle Davidson brought in haven't done much of anything. Notably, the lack of a center is pretty concerning for this season. Why did we play this game of earning a spot in training camp and leaving that second center spot open for Frank Nazar when you were just going to send him down to Rockford anyway? And this isn't a question about if Frank needs to be down there or not. There needed to be another center who could play if Frank was going to develop in Rockford (whether he needs it or not).
So my concerns aren't totally on Luke. It's the players that Kyle brought in. Tyler Bertuzzi was on the 4th line and other than his 1 scoring chance, I don't remember much from him or his linemates. Our Captain also had a 9.43 xG% last night. Even Tuevo didn't look great, the Hawks had a 23.53 Crosi when he was on the ice.
But that's enough of writing way more than necessary about these two booger teams. Next game is Thursday against the Florida Panthers.