Blackhawks 4, Sharks 3 (SO) — Three Stars, Key Takeaways
The Blackhawks went into the Shark Tank on Saturday night with 11 forwards available — and none of them was named Patrick Kane (or Sam Lafferty for that matter). A late game that started almost a full hour late because the Sharks’ ceremony retiring the number of Patrick Marleau took way too long got off to a quick start with four goals in the opening period. Then the second period tried to cure insomnia. Of course this game went overtime. Of course.
Star 1: David Gust
This was a lock after his first shift in the NHL. Because he scored his first career NHL goal on his first career NHL shift.
Star 2: Brett Seney
Seney hadn’t scored a goal in the NHL since he was with the New Jersey Devils during the 2018-19 season. So, after Gust got the Blackhawks on the board, he had to follow suit and score his first goal with the Blackhawks as well.
Star 3: Caffeine
You know what, on a day when the two teams between the Blackhawks and the bottom of the league standings won their games, ordinarily the Blackhawks’ general manager would get a nod. I’m not really feeling it tonight, though. So after a long day with a game that started later than it needed to, I’m going to shout out the cup of coffee (and maybe one glass of Dr. Pepper) (and maybe a couple glasses of Woodford) that were consumed before and during the game to keep my eyes open on the action.
Takeaways
- Petr Mrazek was phenomenal tonight. Really. He stopped 40 of 43 in regulation and made a couple enormous saves in overtime, including one robbing Erik Karlsson of a chance to win the game after tying it late in the third. He made five saves in overtime.
- Max Domi appeared to lose a couple of his front teeth late in the second period but didn’t get a call. He shared his thoughts with the official (replay indicated he may have referenced a duck or something) as the teams went to their respective rooms for the second intermission (at 11:30 PM CT). After barking at the officials at the end of the second and having a slightly more civil conversation before the third period began, Domi scored 16 seconds into the third to give Chicago a 3-2 lead.
- As WGN’s Joe Brand pointed out earlier today, this was the first game since the final game of the 2003-04 season (April 4, 2004) that the Blackhawks played a game without one of Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith or Brent Seabrook in the lineup.
- Connor Murphy hammered Logan Couture (it was a clean hit) early in the second period and then Noah Gregor asked him to dance. He obliged and, thankfully, got out of the fight without any hard punches being thrown (or landed) by either player.
