Chicago Blackhawks’ Dylan Sikura: His Debut, By The Numbers

The Chicago Blackhawks storylines for last night’s home game looked to be already written before the game started, but Scott Foster stole the show from Brent Seabrook and Dylan Sikura. 

There were two big storylines entering the game last night before the magic of an emergency goalie stole the show at the United Center.

First and foremost it was a celebration of Brent Seabrook‘s 1,000th game in the NHL with all of them being with the Chicago Blackhawks.  Don’t let the contract spoil you from thanking a guy that was key to 3 Stanley Cup Championships so far.

Secondly, last night was the debut of Dylan Sikura who wore the #95 which had never been worn in Chicago Blackhawks franchise history.  So let’s take a quick look at the stat sheet from Sikura’s debut with the Blackhawks.

Shots On Goal- 4

The first thing I noticed while watching Sikura last night was that he played straight line hockey and he was getting pucks on net.  Sikura got a shot on goal in each of his first 3 shifts which according to reports was Alex DeBrincat‘s message to him before the game started.. Get pucks on net was repeated in the press conferences.

The other thing with that was how fluid and fast he looked on the wing with all his passes on the money.  He found DeBrincat wide open on the other wing a few time right on the tape.

Takeaways-1

The first thing we know about playing for Joel Quenneville is that you have to play all 200 feet. Sikura didn’t look like he was going to be the next Selke award winner, but he was very responsible in his own end.  He picked up a takeaway for his efforts last night which should keep him in the lineup throughout the rest of the season.

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Assists-2

On the Erik Gustafsson  breakaway goal, Sikura made a very crisp on the tape pass to DeBrincat who did the same to Gustafsson for the goal which enabled Sikura to pick up his 1st career point in his NHL career.  The second assist came on one of the few passes that wasn’t on the tape but went to a perfect spot for an DeBrincat bomb that found the back of the net.  Getting on the scoresheet is pretty special on your debut night in the NHL.

Playing Time-13:52

This seems like a perfect amount of time for a rookie in his debut with Q behind the bench.  Sikura also got :43 seconds of time on the 2nd unit of the powerplay.  If Q didn’t trust him he would have been under 10 minutes so look for his playing time to slowly increase from here the rest of the way this season.

Next: Scott Foster Superhero

What did you think of the Sikura debut?  I thought it was rock solid, and can’t wait to see him play tonight!