NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Blackhawks will be looking for their first win of the season when they head three and a half hours southeast from Tampa to Sunrise to take on the Florida Panthers on Sunday. For the Blackhawks, they’ll be able to put the Lightning in their rearview mirror until the beginning of March. Not every game is going to see such a talent gap between the Blackhawks and their opponents, and I have a feeling that Sunday’s contest will be a breath of fresh air for Chicago and the fan base.
Before we move on to the Panthers series, let’s take a final moment to digest the second game of the season.
• Collin Delia was in net for the Blackhawks in game two against the Lightning and allowed the same amount of goals that Malcolm Subban allowed in game one. Delia faced four more shots (37) than Subban did (33), but both were left with moments and goals that they would like to forget. Needless to say the goaltending position battle was not settled against the Lightning. Both Delia and Subban showed some flashes against Tampa Bay that made me feel like if they can tap into those stretches of play or those moments more often, there will be better nights ahead for the tandem in net.
"Definitely disappointed by some of the stops I didn't make in the latter end of the third period there."
Netminder Collin Delia after his first start of the season. #CHIvsTBL pic.twitter.com/TKUAQcA68F
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 16, 2021
• Friday night was Delia’s first NHL start since February 22, 2019 and his first NHL action since March 13 of that same season.
Delia: "There's definitely a lot of weight on each game [in this goalie competition] in a condensed schedule. But I'm still trying to think of it as a marathon… If I don't make a couple saves, I'll reassess and go back to the drawing board."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 16, 2021
• That being said, why not give Kevin Lankinen a game or two coming up here? You have nothing to lose at this point in the season.
• A positive that came out of game two, the Blackhawks were 3/3 on the penalty-kill. An improvement from their 2/4 penalty-kill performance on Wednesday night. Any time you can shutout a team as stacked as Tampa Bay is with their powerplay units, is a good building block.
• I feel like I need to keep making the same point, even just for my own sanity, but not every game is going to be against such a talented Lightning team. Between Sunday and March 4, the Blackhawks will have more evenly matched games. It’ll be OK.
"It's a good test right away, first few games. We know we need to be better."
Duncan Keith on facing the defending champions to begin the season. #CHIvsTBL pic.twitter.com/f8SyCEn69j
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 16, 2021
• Ok more positives: Philipp Kurashev played great in his first NHL game. Taking the lineup spot for Brandon Pirri, Kurashev looked like he belonged in the NHL and had a few chances of his own in the offensive zone. Said it last night, I don’t see any reason that Kurashev shouldn’t be playing on a nightly basis.
Colliton on Kurashev: "Really good. He could've had a couple goals. He was assertive and he skated well… We didn't shelter him for the most part and he should be proud of his debut."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 16, 2021
• Couple more thoughts from head coach Jeremy Colliton:
Jeremy Colliton: "It'd be easy to be discouraged, but it's two games against the Cup winner, and yeah, they showed us how to play and we weren't good enough. Just gotta continue to improve."
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) January 16, 2021
• Fair point.
Jeremy Colliton: "Overall, it was a better performance. I really liked our first period. It’s a good team. We played really well and didn’t have a ton to show for it other than that we are going to battle."
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) January 16, 2021
• Chicago’s first period on Friday night was clearly the best period of the six they have played so far this season.
Alex DeBrincat with the powerplay goal! #Blackhawks on the board! On @NBCSChicago pic.twitter.com/8DPeBkjnBT
— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) January 16, 2021
• Alex DeBrincat had a two-point night for the Blackhawks, including his first goal of the season. Chicago will need DeBrincat to be back to his 2018-19 form which saw him score 41 goals. Getting him in the goal column early this season should give him some confidence moving forward and if the DeBrincat-Strome-Kane line can produce like they did in the second period on Friday night, Chicago will be better for it.
• Speaking of the DeBrincat-Strom-Kane line, what a setup here:
ANOTHER ONE! #Blackhawks score 2 quick goals to trail by 1 to the #Lightning, 3-2. DeBrincat sets up Kaner! pic.twitter.com/HUbdA1uQkA
— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) January 16, 2021
• Patrick Kane is so nasty. League’s best backhand shot.
• Speaking of nasty goals, happy 15th anniversary to Alex Ovechkin for scoring one of the most iconic goals of his career:
View this post on Instagram
• The Penguins-Flyers game last night provided plenty to talk about this morning. First off, Gritty was up to their usual shenanigan’s:
View this post on Instagram
• What a cannon!
https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1350267983390793736?s=20
• And then in the postgame, Flyers forward Jakub Voráček went off on Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Mike Sielski:
truly losing it at Konecny doing his best to hold it together. pic.twitter.com/uePOzxxvJ3
— Brad Keffer (@brad_keffer) January 16, 2021
• We are all Travis Konecny after that exchange. For context on the relationship between Voráček and Sielski, we go to Twitter:
What you think he was doing last year in the locker room?he didn’t even looked at me cause he knew I was gonna https://t.co/cTLvwE1uOH me I’d love to it face to face.that was our first interaction since! https://t.co/hiltNo77lz
— Jakub Voracek (@jachobe) January 16, 2021
• Incredible. Enjoy your Saturday!
