NEWSLETTER
You literally cannot win them all. But the Chicago Blackhawks probably should be 5-0-0 against the Detroit Red Wings this season, when you look at the number of chances they created last night. Instead, they are 4-1-0 after the United Center loss.
•  The Blackhawks dominated the Red Wings in possession and chances created. It just came down to which chances went in for either team. That’s not to say that Malcolm Subban was fully at fault for the loss, but he had a few goals that you’d certainly like to have back.
The Blackhawks had a 49-19 scoring chance advantage over the Wings tonight.
That's their most dominant scoring chance ratio since Dec. 8, 2017 — a 3-2 win over Buffalo.
But tonight…they lost.
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) February 28, 2021
•  We talked about it yesterday before the game, but the Blackhawks are one of the worst teams playing at even-strength this season. The Red Wings aren’t much better, but the Blackhawks needed to out-play them to have more of an advantage over the last-place team in the Central Division. They did that, but still came up short.
#Blackhawks generated a season-high 48 scoring chances at even strength tonight.
Their previous high was 29. https://t.co/iUVLts45IS
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) February 28, 2021
•  Hockey is dumb like that.
•  The Blackhawks still sit in a playoff spot based on points and point percentage, but heading into a tough stretch of their season, they need all the points they can get.
Mattias Janmark: "It wasn’t our best effort. We got lots to improve. We got another game tomorrow. We just gotta go out and win that game. We’re not going to win every game; we gotta handle some adversity."
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) February 28, 2021
•  If they are going to have to learn about overcoming adversities, you’d rather it be now against a team like Detroit, than teams currently atop the Division, many of which they will now have to face in the month of March.
•  (a.k.a. The Thunderdome month):
#Blackhawks schedule after tomorrow night, through 4/1:
TBL
TBL
TBL
@ DAL
@ DAL
@ FLA
@ FLA
@ TBL
@ TBL
FLA
FLA
NSH
NSH
CAR
CARChicago needs all points possible if they are truly trying to be a playoff contender. Tomorrow night is a MUST WIN heading into March. No excuses.
— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) February 28, 2021
•  This will be the contender or pretender month for the Blackhawks. Honestly, just having games to care about and sweat over is more fun than I expected to have when we were getting ready for the season back in early January.
•  Patrick Kane is still waiting on career goal number 400. You know the drill by now – fourth player in Blackhawks franchise history to reach 400-goals and the 100th player in NHL history. I feel like it will come tonight.
•  Speaking of tonight’s action, the Blackhawks will don their Adidas Hockey Reverse Retro jerseys for the first time this season!
Ok, TONIGHT I feel like history will be made wearing the #ReverseRetro sweaters! #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/9QNAuddayq
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) February 28, 2021
•  And finally, it’s been fun having the Red Wings in the division this season, but I do miss the rivalry with the St. Louis Blues just a little bit. But it seems like the Blues are having a good time out West…
BINNINGTON JUST PUNCHED THREE PPL 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/3r44erYEm1
— Tony X (@soIoucity) February 28, 2021
•  Those Sharks Reverse Retro sweaters take me back.
