NEWSLETTER
What’s the old song lyric? “It’s another Saturday night and I ain’t got nobody…” Sam Cooke might have had an easier time generating scoring chances than the Blackhawks even with Nashville coming in with almost as much roster turnover as we’ve seen in Chicago.
Star 1: Taylor Raddysh
I thought Raddysh had an excellent game trying to drive action. He was credited with eight shot attempts (five on net), two takeaways and one hit. He also led the Blackhawks with four high danger scoring chances (per Natural Stat Trick). His line with Tyler Johnson and Cole Guttman was easily the Blackhawks’ best at even strength.
Star 2: Seth Jones
Seth scored the game’s first goal on the Blackhawks’ first shot 37 seconds into the game.
Star 3: Petr Mrazek
The Blackhawks really just aren’t going to score many goals the rest of the way this season. If Mrazek can hold the opposition to two or fewer goals, he’s at least giving his skaters a chance to make something happen. And that’s really all we can ask for at this point.
Takeaways
- In his first game with the Blackhawks, Nikita Zaitsev skated 15:30 (2:13 short-handed), which was understandably the lowest total on the blue line for Chicago. He was credited with one blocked shot, one hit and one takeaway. He’s had all of one practice with the team.
- In his first game with the Blackhawks, Anders Bjork skated 16:05 (2:31 short-handed), which was actually among the higher totals for Chicago forwards despite him arriving in town in time for the morning skate today. He’s wearing Sam Lafferty’s former number and might have the right game to fill those skates.
- In his fourth game with the Blackhawks, Joey Anderson skated 9:30 and spend some time killing penalties in all three periods. I wrote about Anderson earlier on Saturday morning.
- In his fourth game with the Blackhawks, Andreas Englund skated 14:42 and was whistled for two minor penalties in the game. He was a wrecking ball; Englund was credited with nine hits in the game.
