Chicago Blackhawks 5 Thoughts On Shootout Victory Over Dallas

The Chicago Blackhawks took 65 minutes and a shootout to pick up 2 points against the Dallas Stars at the United Center on Thursday night. Here are 5 Thoughts on the Chicago Blackhawks victory. 

5. Energy Level Wasn’t There Tonight

Let’s be real honest here, after the Chicago Blackhawks had to storm back in back to back games in the third period to come from behind to win against the Colorado Avalanche and force overtime against the Vancouver Canucks, it’s not surprising that the energy level wasn’t high.

It was odd though to have Mike Kitchen state from the Chicago Blackhawks bench before the third period that he thought the energy level was low.  The Hawks are playing every other night now until the end of the season so look for them to find their legs real soon.

4. The Shots On Goal 

For all of you that are fancy stat people.. I know that over an 82 game season they normally pan out that the team with the most shots and most possession usually wins, but the last two games were the exact opposite.  Against the Canucks, the Hawks owned the puck and possession yet left the U.C. with only one point.   On Thursday night they were out shot by 18 and skated away with 2 points, so sometimes you have to get the bounces going your way.

3. The 4th Line Was Solid

The 4th line had Tanner Kero Jordin Tootoo and Dennis Rasmussen on it, and I thought they had a real nice game.  They had some puck possession and one real good scoring chance that just missed.   The hawks are always at their best when Joel Quenneville can roll out 4 lines with regularity, and not start double shifting the Kane or Toews line.

The real question is when Artem Anisimov gets back from injury who will be filling out the bottom six roles, but it seems like whoever he throws out there Coach Q will trust them a lot.

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2. Hartman Does It All! 

The one thing you have to like about role players is that they are willing to do whatever is asked by their coach.  Ryan Hartman has been that guy playing on every line this season, and now he’s the center on the 2nd line with Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin.

Hartman not only isn’t afraid of going to the net, but he even gets in fights.

I give this fight easily to Hartman, and you can tell that Pat Foley really misses calling fights like back in the day when Al Secord would get in a scrap each and every night it seemed.   Hartman is proving to be a better cheaper version of Andrew Shaw which has to be what Stan Bowman envisioned before the season started.

#1 Crawford!

Corey Crawford got a lot more action than he did against Vancouver, and the old adage about him still is evident that Crow is much better when he faces a lot of shots.

Crawford made a fantastic glove save in the third period to preserve the tie at that junction of the contest.  If the Hawks are going to make a deep run in the playoffs they need Crawford to be the man in the Spring!

Next: Blackhawks Playoff Projections

What were your thoughts about tonight’s contest? It’s an 8 point lead over the Minnesota Wild after tonight’s action!