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The Good and the Bad from Game #1

October 7, 2019, 6:31 AM ET [210 Comments]
Tyler Cameron
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT


The day booked off… check.
Lucky Hawks jersey… check.
Optimism at it's fullest for the 1st Blackhawks game of the year… check!

I was ready to go on Friday as the Hawks took on the Flyers at 2 pm EST; the kick-off to the 2019-20 season.

Concern grew quickly as the Hawks didn't appear to start the game with the level of engagement that I had hoped.

A Dennis Gilbert gaff led to Travis Konecny's tally - 1-0 Flyers.

The Hawks pushed back a little as Patrick Kane created a turnover that led to Alex Nylander's 1st goal as a Blackhawk – 1-1. It stayed this way after 20 minutes.

Then, the dreadful second period started. The Hawks looked like the familiar team from last year. Jeremy Colliton's system went out the window as the entire team was chasing shift after shift.

The Flyers got up 3-1 after Lindblom and Konecny found the back of the net.

Alex BeBrincat scored late in the 2nd on the PP which I thought could lead to the Hawks coming on strong in the 3rd period.

That thought was eliminated from my brain once the puck dropped for the final frame and the Hawks continued chasing the Flyers.

The Hawks forwards refused to adapt and were constantly met in the neutral zone and at the opposing blueline by a wall of orange.

Raffl then made it 4-1 on a bad goal to give up if your name is Corey Crawford. Crow was hit with a flurry of shots and made some great saves but this is one he needed to make.

Keith and Koekkoek (who became a pairing in the 3rd period) got mixed up and didn't play it properly but Crawford looked like he wasn't ready for the shot at all and did his best statue impression.

Patrick Kane was able to sneak one in with the goalie pulled but it wasn't enough to complete the comeback.

The final score was 4-3 but it should have been more like 7-3 for the Flyers.

While the above analysis isn't the outcome I had hoped for, I wanted to mix in some ‘Good' along with the ‘Bad'.


The Good


+ Patrick Kane – with a 3-point night, Kane is picking up where he left off last season. Kane is a game-breaker and will continue to carry this team offensively at times this season. We know him and Toews have chemistry but these two really need to gel with a consistent Alex Nylander to be able to get going. There's something there with that trio – Nylander is obviously the X-Factor though.

+ Bottom 6 – I thought the bottom 6 played well, especially the 4th line. If the Hawks have a 4th line that can go out with energy and create the odd offensive chance, the Hawks will be in good shape. They missed this last year. This bottom line of Cagguila-Carpenter-Smith will also see a rotation of Perlini and Kampf, which is a formidable 4th line vs. any team in the NHL.

+ Corey Crawford – as you'll see below, I didn't love all of the goals Crawford let in. However, he did make some outstanding saves to keep his team in it. Me thinks he'll have more nights like this season, so if he can eliminate a bad goal or two once he really gets in the groove, the Hawks will have a shot to win every night.


The Bad

- The Team Defence - 38 to 31 were the overall shots for Game #1. However, the scoring chances were 31 to 14 in favour of the Flyers with 12 to 4 in high danger scoring chances (HDSC) for PHI. That's not good.

The Hawks had trouble all game clearing their own zone and it's very concerning. They need to clean it up in all areas or it's going to be much of the same as last year in Chicago.

- Duncan Keith – Duncs, man… what's going on? The Hawks need Keith to look more like a #1 D because the Hawks don't have anyone else with that capability on their roster. He looked rough in the preseason and the Hawks need him to be much, much better.

- Faceoffs – woof… the Hawks were a woeful 37.9% on the draw. Toews was uncharacteristically 36% at the dot. David Kampf struggled going 4/9 (31%) which is an area he needs to improve if he's going to be on the 3rd line. Strome was 46% and Carpenter went 3-3 (50%) so there's some optimism there.

- Corey Crawford – Crow was the lucky participant to be on both the Good and Bad list. Honestly, this loss wasn't his fault. If he wasn't on his game – for most of the game – this game could have got out of control. I would have liked him make stops on Konecny's 2nd goal and that Raffl wraparound. I still think he gets the start on Thursday with Lehner going on Saturday vs. Winnipeg.


The lineup could look a little different as the Hawks begin their 7-game home stretch.

Dennis Gilbert and John Quenneville were reassigned to Rockford.

With Gilbert going doing, this indicates that both Connor Murphy and Calvin de Haan are healthy and ready to play for Thursday.

Gilbert didn't have the best start to the game but Colliton put him right back out there and he was solid after that. He actually topped on the Corsi For % list for the defence at 57.1%. He'll be back at some point and this game served as a great learning experience for him.

Even with Seabrook and Maatta showing competency as a pairing, realistically, Murphy and de Haan should be the 2nd pairing for Coach Colliton.

It will be interesting to see if the defence looks improved with this pairing inserted onto the backend.

Also, Kirby Dach is skating and with enough practice time this week, there's a chance that he plays on Thursday.

The 3rd line of Saad-Kampf-Kubalik was solid on Friday and have been together all preseason, however, I think Dach will get a look here. Dach would be able to create more offence and if he can adjust quickly and show enough during this home stretch, playing with these guys could make or break his season – will it be in the NHL or WHL? It'll be up to him.

So, no need to panic – its just one game!

Looking forward to having the Blackhawks come out with a lot more energy in front of their home crowd on Thursday.

I'll be back with more as the week unfolds.

See ya out there!

TC

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