NEWSLETTER
Because of the NHL’s holiday restrictions, the Blackhawks got on their charter flight to Carolina early this morning, had their morning skate and then caught a quick nap before returning to the rink to face one of the best — and hottest — teams in the NHL. Their win on Tuesday night is their 13th in 14 starts and ninth in a row. With the Blackhawks coming in resting comfortably in dead last in the league, the final score lived up to about what we should have expected.
Star 1: Kyle Davidson
Another loss helps his draft board feel more comfortable with a top-three pick assured to the team with the worst record in the league. But GMKD gets our No. 1 star of the night because he also welcomed a beautiful daughter into the world earlier today as well.
Star 2: the Athanasiou-Dickinson-Lafferty line
It was pointed out a few times during the broadcast, but it was painfully apparent that the Blackhawks’ third line of Andreas Athanasiou, Jason Dickinson and Sam Lafferty was their most effective the entire night. They combined for one-third of the Blackhawks’ total shots on net as a team (8 of the team’s 24 total) and played with speed throughout. The team looked sluggish in the first period but this line was working. Dickinson won 7 of 13 faceoffs as well.
Star 3: Petr Mrazek
I gave him some crap on Twitter after giving up a not-so-great goal in the first period, but Mrazek got nothing from his offense and had to deal with pucks getting on him in a hurry all night. After allowing two goals against 23 shots in a first period in which he was under siege throughout, he settled in and gave up just one more. He finished the night with 46 saves against 49 shots.
