Chicago Blackhawks Can’t Hold Lead, Lose to Vancouver Canucks

The Chicago Blackhawks lost 4-2 to the Vancouver Canucks last night. It was a painful loss but with that pain comes a tremendous amount of lessons to be learned. Here’s our takeaways from the game.

No. 1: The Vancouver Canucks capitalized on their chances and it ultimately won them the game.

Through thirty minutes last night, the Chicago Blackhawks were in the driver’s seat, foot on the gas and well on their way to a win to start off their three-game road trip through Canada.

Unfortunately, unforced turnovers in the second half of the game gave the Vancouver Canucks multiple chances to steal the game away and they did just that.

One was an unfortunate, and uncharacteristic blind pass from Jonathan Toews to a stick-less John Hayden in their own zone. Toews was trying to clear the puck out of the zone, but Hayden had just given away his stick to defenseman Henri Jokiharju.

Obviously, this play is somewhat of fluke, but the issue isn’t that it happened. Rather, it’s the fact that Vancouver was able to capitalize on this chance. The Chicago Blackhawks couldn’t when the Canucks did and it ultimately cost them the game. They lead twice in the contest, first 1-0 and then 2-1, but could never hold onto a lead.

That said, it’s tough to hold onto a lead when you can’t hold onto the puck. Here’s what Brandon Saad had to say on the matter.

"“We just got sloppy with the puck. We started off pretty well, got out to a lead, but the second and third period were way too sloppy.”"

Additionally, coach Joel Quenneville summed it up about as good as a anyone, saying:

"“It was self-inflicted on the goals-against,” said Q.  “Preventable, all of them, and they turned turnovers into the back of the net.”"