Game Recap: Hawks lose to Utah 5-2
Blackhawks lose 5-2 after dropping a turd of a 1st period
The Hawks’ loss to Utah didn’t look as bad as the score says.
However, their play in the first period certainly looked like a 5-2 loss, but things picked up after the Hawks were down 3-0. From the second period onwards, the Hawks looked like the team I envisioned during the offseason. They kept it close at 3-2 and almost went to overtime.
Let’s get into this one.
Hawks lose to Utah 5-2
The 1st period was a whole lot of dumping and chipping it in.
Ilya Mikheyev as a top-line winger didn’t last long. I was worried that Luke Richardson would keep trying to make this line work, but he changed some things around in the lineup for the better. To be honest, his decision to throw Mikheyev up on the top line made me question some things. The Mikheyev-Bedard-Teravainen line put up a 31.25 Corsi.
Mikheyev wasn’t totally to blame though. I thought Connor Bedard had a choppy start. He got things going eventually. The hit he laid out before his Michigan attempt was nice to see. He finished the night with 2 points, 3 shots on goal, and 6 shot attempts.
How’d that blueline look? TJ Brodie looked just as bad as you might’ve expected. He can’t control the puck, he can’t move, and he overall was terrible. Does he get in the lineup over someone like Isaak Phillips again? Brodie had a 1.04 expected goals against (xGA) at 5v5, the only worse Hawk was Alec Martinez with a 1.22. Alex Vlasic, who started the night with Bordie, finished with a 1.02 xGA.
A young defenseman who I thought looked good was Nolan Allan. He played solid in his NHL debut. He wasn’t noticeable in a good way. He made sound decisions and from what I saw the only goof up was because of the horrible ice quality. Even though he only logged 10:10 at 5v5, he had an xGA of .08.
Once Mikheyev was bumped down to the third line, Nick Foligno was slotted in with Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen. Things looked good from there. Foligno is able to get pucks to Bedard and Teuvo who can just do things like this:
Phillip Kurashev and Taylor Hall looked like they had something going on. Kurashev is not a second-line center and looked good only because of Hall. But I did like what I saw from Kurashev other than some defensive zone miscues.
The powerplay… it’s brutal. Overall, their entry was pure garbage. Attempting the double-late entry (drop pass entry) requires speed to take advantage of. It’s supposed to push the PK back into their zone. This team does not have the speed to execute that play and Utah was able to comfortably set up on the kill. It wasn’t until the Hawks started to carry the puck right in that the powerplay looked better.
The Hawks actually had possession more than Utah at even strength with a 52.54 Corsi. And it wasn’t like Utah was protecting a lead the whole time. They had a 1 goal lead until the very end. I’ll give credit to the Hawks for that because last year this team was not a possession team at all.
The Hawks go to Winnipeg on Friday where they play the first of two back-to-back games. The Oilers wait for them in Edmonton. It’s going to be tough to watch if they start either of those games like they did last night. Also, expect Arvid Soderblom to be in net for one of those games. We’ll see who starts with Bedard and if Lukas Reichel remains a healthy scratch. I’m predicting those two to be losses.
No game recaps for those, it’ll be the weekend.
Trash Bin
For all things not Hawks related.
The Pig Pen
The IceHogs start the regular season this Saturday against the Grand Rapids Griffins. If you’re trying to catch those games, I’m not sure where you can in Chicago, but you certainly can set sail to the high seas and fly the Jolly Roger. Their schedule for October is down below.
Warsaw
Jaimie Thomas is launching a new brand this week, Warsaw. Jaimie was one of my favorite skaters growing up and still is. I would love to support the brand, but man, 100 bucks for a skate shoe better last you a long time. Last Resort, which is also skater-owned and operated, makes a good shoe at a similar price tag (around 95 bucks). I hope Jaimie succeeds and this company doesn’t end up like Fallen. Skater-owned brands have died off and you have some companies that are trying to bring that back. When you have companies like New Balance producing high-quality skate shoes, it’s tough to compete with.
Florida
Closing this out with thoughts and prayers to those in Florida and elsewhere impacted by the hurricanes. Stay safe down there.