NEWSLETTER
With Marc-André Fleury getting the night off on the front half of a back-to-back for the Chicago Blackhawks leaving the rookie Arvid Soberblöm in net, and the Columbus Blue Jackets entering the night with the third most goals allowed this season, we knew that it was going to be a “take the over” kind of night at the United Center. Of course, goals were aplenty early, with both sides scoring at the rate that snow was falling this evening in Chicago.
It was Columbus first with a Boone Jenner power-play goal to make it 1-0 Blue Jackets, and then second when rookie Yegor Chinakhov scored just 13 seconds later following a Blackhawks turnover. But the Blackhawks weren’t going to roll over in this one, despite their answers coming from the unlikely.
Philipp Kurashev, who was a healthy scratch on Monday, cut the Columbus lead in half on a power-play goal midway through the first period to make it 2-1 Columbus.
Kurashev taps it home! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/zFqQNYYZML
— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) February 18, 2022
“It’s the old, separate yourself from those bottom guys, and we’ll just get a little rotation going. Hopefully, Kurashev got the point that he’s got to work hard when he doesn’t have the puck.” That’s what Blackhawks interim head coach Derek King had to say about Kurashev’s healthy scratch on Monday. I think he got the point. Not only did Kurashev get the Blackhawks on the board tonight, but he also logged an assist on Ryan Carpenter’s equalizer late in the first period to even things at two-a-piece at the United Center.
The goal for Carpenter was his first of the season after coming up empty on his first 48 shots on goal this season, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the Blackhawks. Unfortunately, the first-period scoring wasn’t done just yet. Max Domi scored on a pass from Yegor Chinakhov after a Blackhawks turnover, his first goal in 16 games to make it 3-2 Columbus after one in Chicago.
Max Domi puts the @BlueJacketsNHL back on top!
3-2 #CBJ!!! pic.twitter.com/HVmPD1AX7o
— Bally Sports Columbus (@BallySportsCBUS) February 18, 2022
After a weird second period that saw an early goal for Columbus (Patrick Laine) and a late goal for the Blackhawks (MacKenzie Entwistle) with four penalties and an overturned Seth Jones goal sandwiched in between, the Blackhawks found themselves trailing the Blue Jackets by one heading into the final frame on Thursday night.
The Blackhawks had an opportunity to parlay the momentum of the late second-period goal into a solid start to the third period, and they did the exact opposite, going nearly eight minutes without a shot on goal before Ryan Carpenter put a shot on net with no luck. On the final day of a 10-day road trip, Columbus looked visibly tired in the third period, often leaving one forechecker in the Hawks zone, and Chicago couldn’t take advantage.
The Blackhawks’ faceoff issues were prevalent once again tonight as Columbus out-drew the Blackhawks 31-23 on the night, including a critical faceoff win for Boone Jenner over Josiah Slavin that resulted in an almost immediate goal for Patrick Laine, his second of the game to make it 5-3 Columbus.
The Blackhawks would add one more goal in this one when Patrick Kane found Alex DeBrincat about a minute later, moving Patrick Kane into a tie with Denis Savard for second place on the Hawks’ all-time assists leaderboard with 719.
https://twitter.com/NBCSBlackhawks/status/1494519302208245799?s=20&t=eJLmMRi-bQPLnICMgeYFjw
Columbus would answer with their sixth goal of the night shortly after and then empty-netter to complete the Patrick Laine hat trick, and the Blue Jackets would top the Blackhawks in a high-scoring affair on Thursday night. Not the start to the long homestand that the Blackhawks were looking for.
You can find the complete box score here!
