Game Recap: Hawks VS Flyers Feb 21, 2024
Glossary for stats and terms can be found here.
I keep telling myself that we at least have Connor Bedard.
Who am I kidding though? If you're a Chicago sports fan, you should be pretty used to mind-numbing losses. The only difference is that Hawks fans are lucky with #98 on the roster.
Imagine being a Sox fan (me).
Feb. 21 vs Flyers
3-1 Hawks Lose
Blackhawks Flyers Goals 1 3 Corsi 56 68 Shots on Goal 22 33 xGF% 43.06 56.94 Scoring Chances 30 30 High Danger Chances 11 13
John Torterella warned his team not to take Chicago lightly, and they almost did.
The first period was probably the Hawks' best effort and the Flyers' worst. The fancy stats don't really do the Hawks' effort any justice with an expected goals percentage of 39.84%.
The first goal would come just after the 14:00 mark. Seth Jones looked like he was doing something other than defending. Arvid Soderlblom did Arvid things and well, 1-0 Flyers thanks to Travis Sanheim.
💥 Sanny strikes. 💥#LetsGoFlyers | @sanheim17 pic.twitter.com/ZQHvtlkH36
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 22, 2024
A few seconds later, Colin Blackwell would tie the game 1-1. Other than Boris Katchouk, Blackwell had been missing a lot of close chances as of late. He finally got one home. The play was initiated by Joey Anderson who made a smart pass off of the boards to a streaking Blackwell.
What a pass by Joey Anderson and finish by Colin Blackwell, who scores his fourth goal of the season. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/1sfouoPi3s
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) February 22, 2024
The second period would deflate the Hawks' momentum when Jarred Tinordi got hypnotized by Travis Konecny. Tinordi didn't do anything wrong by sticking with Konecny. His partner, Isaak Phillips, read what he was doing and picked up his lane. It's the fact that Tinordi lacks the speed (or anything) to do this. And this is a basic hockey play. Konecny dusted him and made it 2-1.
Too quicK. #PHIvsCHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/ymB3p13zU9
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 22, 2024
The final goal of the game would come at the 8:05 mark in the second. Watch Tinordi in this clip. He is doing a terrible job defending and sticking to the most basic defensive structure in the game (Box+1). Garnet Hathaway had no problem getting this greasy one in.
Philadelphia goal!
Scored by Garnet Hathaway with 08:05 remaining in the 2nd period.
Assisted by Noah Cates and Ryan Poehling.
Chicago: 1
Philadelphia: 3#PHIvsCHI #Blackhawks #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/NI2lOrPXX1— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 22, 2024
Soderblom was bad but he's not fully to blame on this one. I do want to point out his rebound control. It's pretty bad and he faced a total of 5 rebound shots again at even strength.
Not else to really talk about in this one.
Let's Go Hawks.