Game Recap: Blackhawks 3 - Wild 4
Blackhawks come close to taking the Wild to overtime. They didn't. That's it. That's the recap. Merry Christmas.
It's Christmas Eve and you have a million better things to do than read about a recap of a failed Blackhawks comeback. Let's rip the bandaid off and see where things went wrong.
Scoring
Bedard (9), Hall (10): Connor Bedard wins the faceoff but MIN25 Jonas Brodin breaks up the play. MIN36 Mats Zuccarello retrieves the puck and attempts a pass but turns it over to Bedard who drives to the net and scores five-hole.
Nice to see Bedard get a goal even if it's greasy. He's had plenty of solid chances that didn't go in. What I don't like about this play is that the Hawks didn't do well off the faceoff. Bedard wins it but the Wild gains possession.Kaprizov (23), Rossi (16), Zuccarello (12): Around the 9:20 mark Nolan Allan gives the puck away on a failed breakout attempt. The Wild cycle and get the Hawks out of position. Zuccarello takes a shot and MIN23 Marco Rossi deflects the puck off the post. MIN97 Kirill Kaprizov is right there to collect the rebound and make an easy backdoor goal.
The screenshot below shows the Hawks' defensive structure right after Rossi's chance rebounds towards Karprizov. Too much puck-watching.
Foligno (8), Nazar (1), Donato (9): After some sustained Wild pressure, Ryan Donato collects the puck off the boards and uses the board to get the puck around a forechecker to Frank Nazar. Nazar passes to Nick Foligno and initiates a 2-on-1 rush. Foligno passes to Nazar who shoots the puck and Foligno is there to collect the rebound and score.
Of course, Nazar's first NHL point this season is the biggest takeaway from this one. But you have to appreciate Donato's creativity to get the puck to Nazar.Spurgeon (4), Trenin (2), Shore (1): 49 seconds later the Hawks struggle to breakout and MIN39 Ben Jones screens Arvid Soderblom. MIN46 Jared Spurgeon is there to shovel in a backhander.
Kevin Korchinski could have battled more as the weak side D. His partner, TJ Brodie, initially plays Jones and releases him to Korchinski, allowing Brodie to challenge the shooter.Faber (4), Brodin (8), Khusnutdinov (3): The Hawks do some puck watching and the Wild take advantage with Brodin passing to MIN7 Brock Faber who one-times it from the high slot. This is another bad defensive breakdown from the Hawks.
After an empty net goal by MIN17 Marcus Foligno, the Hawks would score with 33 seconds left. Jason Dickinson notched his 11th goal of the season with Lukas Reichel (7) and Taylor Hall (11) assisting.
This goal came after Teuvo Teravainen missed a wide-open net as well as the ref prematurely blowing the puck dead as it lay on the goal-line. I really thought the Hawks would seal the deal on this one, but their mental lapses in the DZ gave the Wild the goals they needed to win.
Thoughts
The Wild played a strong NZ game and turned it up once they got the lead. They utilized a 1-1-3 NZ formation which essentially trapped the Blackhawks. It didn't help that the Hawks didn't play too aggressively in the 3rd period either, which gave the Wild an easier time to control the pace of the game.
Frank Nazar made a lot of smart plays and earned his first point of the season. Nazar led the team in 5v5 Corsi with a 69.70 and had a 73.98 xG%. Frank finished with 2 shots on goal and 5 shot attempts. Below is a screenshot of Nazar with a nice takeaway that led to some OZ time. Still figuring out GIFs on this site... sorry.
I've been excited to see what Tyler Bertuzzi and Taylor Hall can do with Bedard under Sorensen. That line had a 31.58 Corsi and a 34.74 xG%. Sure, they generated a goal but I want to see this line dominate offensively. Let it sit for a while and if it doesn't work leave Bert up there and add Teravainen.
Only a few thoughts on this one. The Hawks return on Friday to play the Sabres who just ended a 13-game losing streak with a 7-1 win over the Islanders. Not sure if I'll do a recap for that one, I'll be in Chicago.
Merry Christmas.