Chicago Blackhawks’ 5 Thoughts From Second-Team Loss To Ducks

The Chicago Blackhawks didn’t ice anything close to their full lineup Thursday, and it resulted in a 4-0 loss to the Anaheim Ducks

A week the Chicago Blackhawks could really do without continued Thursday in Anaheim. The host Ducks, unlike the Blackhawks, had something to play for in the Pacific Division title. Though it wasn’t a terribly impressive performance, they took another step closer with a 4-0 victory.

I attended Thursday’s game at the Honda Center, and I really wasn’t disappointed with what I saw from parts of this second-team Blackhawks unit. Here are some thoughts from the loss in California.

Better than Colorado

The Blackhawks as a group put forth a whole lot more effort Thursday than they did in Tuesday’s loss to the Colorado Avalanche. While it didn’t show up on the scoreboard, it should’ve been evident to anyone watching the action.

Most everyone who was in the lineup was out to prove they belong on the ice in the postseason, and they were playing like it. Patrick Kane was the only guy who was really floating around the ice, and he was even making stuff happen in the third period (because he can).

Nothing to panic about

Anyone who was worried about any non-injury Blackhawks happenings Thursday really needs to calm down. Everything that went down occurred with the Blackhawks far from full strength.

In addition to missing Toews and Anisimov, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Marian Hossa sat out this game. And if the defense hadn’t had some major-league lapses and Ducks goaltender John Gibson hadn’t been flying all over the crease, it could’ve been a very different game.

The Blackhawks aren’t “slacking” right now — they’re icing incomplete lineups and just trying to stay healthy for the postseason. Why aren’t we seeing other teams doing this? Because, up until just Wednesday, pretty much every other team had something to play for. The Blackhawks haven’t this entire week.

I noted some concern about the Blackhawks powerplay after Tuesday’s loss, but that was with a mostly-full lineup on the ice. Thursday, you can’t possibly critique any team aspect of how the Blackhawks played. It just wouldn’t be fair.

chicago blackhawks — Apr 6, 2017; Anaheim, CA, USA; Anaheim Ducks left wing Andrew Cogliano (7) moves the puck against Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) during the second period at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Quite the blue line show

Not panicking aside, I’d still like to point out some really sketchy play all across Chicago’s blue line. Pretty much everyone was guilty of at least one egregious turnover across the Blackhawks’ six defensemen, and positioning was also an issue.

Of course, some of this can be chalked up to unfamiliar defensive partners (which were changing throughout the game). But some of this stuff was just silly.

Gustav Forsling showed plenty of reasons why he was in the AHL between early February and now. Michal Rozsival was so slow it cost the Blackhawks a penalty. Michal Kempny looked terribly indecisive. Trevor van Riemsdyk did typical TVR things, the most comical example being throwing a puck at the end of Brett Richie’s five-minute powerplay to the one spot it couldn’t go — to his fellow blueliner — and almost creating a breakaway for the Ducks.

Chicago Blackhawks

Oduya was probably the best Chicago D-man, but he only played 16:55 in Q’s attempt to semi-sit the aging blueliner. We got to see more of these guys who haven’t played as much (or who take a back seat to the big three regularly), and it was noticeable how much they can struggle.

Crow was essentially hung out to dry on three of the Ducks’ goals (the deflection on the fourth was just that), and no defenseman escaped unscathed — all six guys finished a minus-1.

Keith, Seabrook and Hjalmarsson plus Oduya will eat most of the minutes in the postseason, but it’d be nice to see everyone else tighten things up as much as possible on the back end before the playoffs start.

On the Honda Center

I don’t think I can come up with five talking points for a game that was played in this way (with one team sitting a good chunk of its roster). So since I was at the game, let’s talk about the Honda Center a bit.

Nice arena, overall. The surrounding area is scenic looking (minus the dried-out overflow area under the main bridge. The Anaheim Angels’ stadium is just across the street, and it was a super short walk from the parking lot to Honda.

It’s a really nice building inside, though fans were slow to arrive. I honestly think Blackhawks fans held a 60/40 advantage on the night. They were certainly louder, anyway, outside goals scored.

The Ducks fans in attendance, overall, just seemed to be there. They got plenty excited during goals, but otherwise … they existed. And the arena’s goal song is like a jazzed-up funeral hymn, which was awkward upon first listen.

Now, despite these Ducks fans being nice enough people, I feel it necessary to point out two very comical rooters in my section. One decided to bring a duck noise generator of some kind *and* a cowbell. I don’t want to tell people how to root on their team, but are you really even focusing on the game if you have all this random stuff with you? Just seems like you’re trying to draw attention.

The other fan was just a row behind me. I can’t imagine this fan has been to a ton of games, though the fan had a Ducks jersey. Reason I say this is, the fan’s whooping in my ear was so grating, and so consistently random, I’m not sure the fan knew what was going on half the time.

Cheering loud for a goal? Got it. Cheering loud for a pass out of the zone that gets dumped into the other zone? Um. Okay. And this didn’t happen just once. It was so painfully constant. It hit a fever pitch when Rozsival not getting up from his “fight” with Ritchie caused another loud cheer. Cool sportsmanship.

Again, Ducks fans overall seemed like a fine group. But those were some grating outliers. No doubt visitors to the United Center can tell similar stories.

The Ducks were the Ducks

And for the last talking point, let’s talk about how awful the Ducks are.

Not as a competitive hockey team. But just as a group of people. Corey Perry scored maybe the easiest goal of his life in the first period Thursday in what was essentially a 5-on-3. He then proceeded to be a total jerk the rest of the frame.

This peaked with his major overreaction of a slash on Ryan Hartman, which sent Hartman down to the ice and then to the locker room. Perry got two minutes for slashing. Hartman lined up alongside Perry later in the night, but opted not to retaliate.