Blackhawks 2, Ducks 3 (OT) — Three Stars, Key Takeaways
So anyways, the Blackhawks and Ducks played a hockey game tonight at the United Center. This game was painfully clearly between two of the three worst teams in the league. There were a few chances that either team had that were either over-passed out of a scoring opportunity or just whiffed on that made me chuckle. Just not a very good game. But hey, at least it moved along quickly, right?
Star 1: Jason Dickinson
With no Jonathan Toews in the lineup, Dickinson was shot up to the top line to center Patrick Kane and Tyler Johnson. He took advantage of the opportunity and scored his eighth goal of the season; he’s one away from tying his career best. For those scoring at home, Dickinson has scored in three straight games now. He added an assist on Seth Jones‘ goal.
Star 2: Kyle Davidson
The start of the new month with only a few weeks until the trade deadline, with a handful of scouts in the building, a bunch of guys hanging out in the trade rumors section had nice nights. Sam Lafferty won 8 of 9 faceoffs in the first two periods, Kane skated heavy minutes and was on the ice for the Blackhawks’ first two goals, Jake McCabe came out firing (and hitting). And they all made it out of the game healthy.
Star 3: Frank Vatrano
He scored the game-winning goal so he gets to be one of my three stars.
Takeaways
- The first period ended at 8:12 PM CT. I cannot, for the life of me, remember the last time a 7:30 start had a first period end before 8:15. The opening 11 minutes of the game were off the board in about 14 real-time minutes. It was like the Ducks had to catch at 10 o’clock flight out of Midway. Neither team scored, the Blackhawks were out-shot 9-6 and a double-minor to Boris Katchouk was cut in half by a penalty on Mason McTavish. Katchouk caught John Klingberg near the eye and he went straight to the room.
- Kane’s assist on the Dickinson goal to get Chicago on the board extended his personal point streak to 11 games against Anaheim.
- Here’s Seth Jones’ goal from the second period:
- This play from Ian Mitchell in the third period almost got the Blackhawks a go-ahead goal. When he gets the green light and feels confident he does some nice things on the offensive end of the rink. He had a nice game tonight.
