NEWSLETTER
I don’t know about you, but my night of hockey did not end with the Chicago Blackhawks’ loss to the Nashville Predators last night. It almost started to feel like it was going to become my morning of hockey. More on that later. For now, bullets.
•  Chicago lost to the Predators last night for the third time this season, dropping a 3-1 game at the United Center. But while the result isn’t fun (and has made the Blackhawks’ playoff chase a bit tighter), the game featured the return of Kirby Dach, which is highly, highly welcomed news for Chicago. Dach has been out the entire season after undergoing surgery to repair a broken wrist suffered at the World Junior Championships. After being given an initial four-to-five months for recovery, Dach returned almost three months to the day from the surgery.
•  Playing 20:08 minutes last night, Dach looked 100% ready to be back in the lineup, creating a couple scoring chances, winning puck battles and going 4-of-10 at the face-off dot. 40% at the dot isn’t great, but seeing him take ten draws and win a couple is encouraging for his wrist strength.
•  Dach said during the first intermission in an interview with Eddie Olczyk on the broadcast that he felt “pretty much 100%” and that he wasn’t dealing with any discomfort that was great enough to keep him out of the game.
Dach says during the intermission report that the decision for him to return was made two days ago. Said he is still feeling discomfort, but it's not enough that he can't push through.#Blackhawks
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) March 28, 2021
•  After the game, Dach said his game will not change following the injury and recovery.
Dach: "I’m not going to change anything from the way I played before. I’m still going to play hard and do those types of things. I’m not going to shy away from contact."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 28, 2021
•  Dach’s return is a great addition for the Blackhawks and it is fine that he is coming back early. He’s a 20-year-old elite athlete. Sometimes their bodies heal much faster than expected.
"We wanted to make sure not to play him too early, but he's ready to go."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 28, 2021
•  Chicago turns right around form last night’s 3-1 loss with a second game agains the Predators tonight at 7:00 p.m. CT at the United Center. The good news is that Chicago is 2-0-1 in the second game of back-to-back contests on consecutive nights and 11-3-2 in the second game of a two-game series against the same opponent this season. If the Blackhawks are going to keep those trends going in the right directions, they are going to have to get out of the gate faster and not chase the game against the Predators.
https://twitter.com/NBCSBlackhawks/status/1376002820965564416?s=20
•  With the loss last night to Nashville, paired with the Dallas Stars getting an overtime loss pity point, Chicago’s cushion in the Central Division playoff race got a bit smaller, and the Predators jumped into fifth-place.
The Predators have won six of seven and have leapfrogged the Blue Jackets for fifth place in the Central Division. They are two points behind the Blackhawks.
— Adam Vingan (@AdamVingan) March 28, 2021
•  Chicago sits in fourth-place based on points (37) and points percentage (.529). They hold a two-point lead over Nashville (35), a three-point lead over Columbus (34), and a six-point lead over Dallas (31), with the Stars having played four fewer games than all three of the teams ahead of them at this point in the season.
•  Today, the Blue Jackets take on the Red Wings and the Stars face off against the Panthers, both games starting ahead of Chicago’s 7:00 p.m. CT start against the Predators. So tonight, we root for the Panthers and Red Wings…I guess.
•  With tonight’s game, Patrick Kane will surpass Bob Murray for the sixth-most games played in Chicago Blackhawks franchise history, skating in his 1,009th game.
After last night's game, Patrick Kane is now tied with Bob Murray for sixth place in games played in a #Blackhawks sweater. @ATT | #MilestoneMoment pic.twitter.com/7SkQKG6GkV
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) March 28, 2021
•  Also speaking of games played records, Keith Yandle’s iron-man streak is getting close to being the longest in NHL history.
Keith Yandle became just the third player in NHL history to skate in at least 900 consecutive games played, joining Doug Jarvis (964) and Garry Unger (914). #NHLStats: https://t.co/sOzZZ5IUiP pic.twitter.com/VBIOKgZR4c
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 28, 2021
•  It was a rough go of it in the AHL last night for the Rockford IceHogs as they fell 6-3 to the Chicago Wolves. After receiving a number of players from the Chicago Taxi Squad earlier in the day, the IceHogs saw the AHL debut of rookie defenseman Ian Mitchell after he was sent down by the Blackhawks and Nicolas Beaudin took his spot in the NHL lineup.
Colliton on sending down Mitchell to AHL: "We just want him to play. Our plan was, whoever wasn't in the lineup this weekend would play in Rockford… He wasn't going to be in tonight so we wanted him to play a bunch of minutes in Rockford."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 28, 2021
•  Mitchell played on the top-pairing for the IceHogs with Anton Lindholm. He didn’t register any points, had one shot on goal and was a minus-one. Another IceHogs player making his debut with the team was long-time prospect Ivan Nalimov. Making his first start in North America since the 2016-17 NHL preseason, which lasted less than a full period, Nalimov wouldn’t fare much better. But, he did play the entire game.
All the goalies I have ever talked to in Rockford rave about coach Peter Aubry. He's got his work cut out for him with Nalimov. Way too much motion in the crease and he's never in control. Maybe it has been nerves tonight, but its been rough to watch.
— Greg Boysen (@GregBoysen) March 28, 2021
•  Nalimov gave up two goals in the first 44 seconds of the game and it was downhill from there. He finished with 31 saves on 37 shots faced in the 6-3 loss. A rough 2020-2021 year of hockey continues for Nalimov after a 2-11-0 season in the KHL with a .877 save percentage and a 3.58 GAA.
•  In better Blackhawks prospect news, after sending six players on four teams to the Men’s NCAA Frozen Four tournament, one Chicago prospect is heading to the Frozen Four as Wyatt Kaiser and Minnesota-Duluth will make their fourth consecutive trip to the National Semi-Finals.
•  They did so in dramatic, historic fashion.
UMD wins in the 5th OT, the eighth period pic.twitter.com/61z9bcRpvB
— CJ Fogler #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) March 28, 2021
•  The five overtime affair was the longest Men’s Frozen Four tournament game in D-I history and the third-longest Men’s NCAA D-I game ever at 142:13 minutes of hockey played. An incredible testament to the heart and conditioning of both teams, and of the broadcasters as the game started at 6:32 p.m. CT and did not finish until 12:44 a.m CT. It was incredible to watch.
•  Finally in the NWHL, a champion was properly crowned for the 2021 season as the Boston Pride defeated the Minnesota Whitecaps to win the 2021 Isobel Cup!
2021 Isobel Champions pic.twitter.com/GQ2M3ufxdV
— Boston Pride (@TheBostonPride) March 28, 2021
•  With the win, Boston becomes the first team in NWHL history to become a two-time Isobel Cup Champion, having won their first Cup in 2016. Congratulations to the Pride and the league for being able to come back and finish the season properly.
•  Have yourselves a good Sunday! We’ll see you tonight for Blackhawks-Predators at 7:00 p.m. CT.
