Tonight, with the Florida Panthers in town, the Hawks faced their biggest challenge of the season since opening up against the Colorado Avalanche. While for the first few minutes of the game it looked like it was going to be a long night for the Hawks, a big power play goal from Tyler Raddysh set the tone for a very good game from this team.
Once again, special teams were the shining stars for this team as they went 6 for 6 on the penalty kill. 4 of those penalties came in an 8 minute span in the 2nd period and included a 5 on 3 and double minor. The power play also went 1 for 2. The third period was the first time the Panthers really saw life as they were able to get 2 on the board and kept most of the pressure in the Hawks zone for most of the period.
Listen, I know a lot of you are all in on tanking and losing to improve the chances of landing Bedard. However, lets enjoy this span of hockey for what it is. Blackhawks hockey is exciting to watch right now and the fact its coming when we were all expecting this to be a very very touch season to watch makes it that much better. This team is finding its identity and building the culture for the future and we have to all be honest with ourselves and realize this isn’t going to last. Just enjoy what we are witnessing right now because at the snap of a finger you are going to miss it
One downside to this game is Tyler Johnson left, and never returned after going down hard into the boards. He was seen in a lot of pain and struggled to get off the ice. As of posting time there was no update on his condition and hopefully he will be alright as he is off to a fantastic start this season.
Three Stars of the Game
3rd Star Patrick Kane
Kaner finally gets one in the goal column and rips the monkey off his back. He has had opportunity after opportunity to get the first goal of the season but had some of the worst puck luck so it was great to see it finally go his way. Kane also finished the night with an assist.
2nd Star Alex Stalock
Stalock is elite. No, I don’t really believe that, but watching him play this season there is no way you would believe he has only had one NHL start in the last 2 years. Another fantastic effort stopping 29 of the 31 shots he faced. The two he did let up, you can’t even blame him as they were deflected past, but the rest of the 3rd he came up big when they needed him the most.
1st Star Penalty Kill
This is the cop-out answer, but it really was the only reason this team won tonight. 6 penalties and a lot of them were pretty obvious and lazy ones at that, and this unit only allowed Florida to get 5 shots on goal. Are you kidding me? It is just so fun watching a team that has a system in place and everyone is buying into it instead of running around like glorified Sunday night beer league hockey.
The Hawks look to keep the streak going Thursday night as they welcome Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers to the UC.
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