Good Saturday to you all. After last night’s game between the Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets, things feel odd. The Blackhawks feel like they played well and the numbers suggest that. Should they have scored more than one goal? Yes, probably. Should the Blue Jackets have scored three or four or five goals? Also probably yes. It was another game where the Blackhawks came out of the gate slow and had to play catch-up. That shouldn’t have been the case against a team that played two games and had a flight in between them in a 24 hour span. I’m salty after that game, what can I say?
Dylan Strome: "Like Coach said, if we play like that, more often than not, we’re going to come out on the better end of it."
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) January 30, 2021
• Patrick Kane played 27+ minutes last night, leading all Blackhawks skaters in time on ice. Kane is the leading forward this season averaging 21:16 minutes per night and trails only Duncan Keith and Connor Murphy for the team-lead. He also leads – or is tied for leading – all Blackhawks players in goals (3), assists (5), points (8), even-strength goals (2), and shots on goal (32). With the Blackhawks playing their 11 forwards and 7 defensemen lineup, Kane has been double-shifting most of the time. He literally cannot do it all offensively for these Blackhawks.
• Where he is getting help, though, is coming from an unexpected place. The Blackhawks fourth-line has seen a change from the start of the season where Matthew Highmore was paired with David Kämpf and Ryan Carpenter, to now Brandon Hagel taking the place of Highmore over the past few games. Following last nights game, Hagel and Kämpf lead the Blackhawks in Corsi-for percentage at 59.09%. They are followed by Carpenter at 54.05%. When that line is on the ice, they are creating offensive chances. Which is impressive for two players who are, more or less, here for their defensive abilities and a rookie.
• Kevin Lankinen was great for the Blackhawks last night, again. He has had four-straight starts with a .926 or better save percentage and still has been in net for six of the Blackhawks’ seven points in the standings. But he has made all five of his starts in the last six games. Malcolm Subban got in net for one of those games and had a bounce-back performance against the Predators, ultimately losing in the overtime period. I understand riding the hot goalie and no doubt Lankinen has deserved to continue getting the majority of the starts for right now, but I feel the Blackhawks still need to see everything that they can from Subban and Collin Delia. Keep the rotation going and allow Delia the redemption opportunity that Subban got, then go from there and see what you have going forward.
• That’s all I got. We’ll see what the effort is like on Sunday.
• Oh, check out this goal from Artyom Galimov in the KHL:
Wow. It's just WOW. pic.twitter.com/5ijFScWPKl
— KHL (@khl_eng) January 30, 2021
• Insane!
• This was genuinely fun:
.@BhawkTommyHawk wants a puck from Patrick Kane very badly. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/0A9iD0RMSm
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) January 30, 2021
• So close…
https://twitter.com/NHLBlackhawks/status/1355326325385551876?s=20
• More fun…
The #PearlJamCounter gets a shout-out. Now if only if was back in the 6-7 range every game like the old days! Clearly the key to the team's success. pic.twitter.com/gyv5uhsBn7
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) January 30, 2021
• If the games are going to be losses, might as well try to have fun right?