5 Thoughts: Chicago Blackhawks lose to Vegas Knights in overtime

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1 – Alex DeBrincat and Dominik Kahun are developing some chemistry on the top line.

The two young Chicago Blackhawks‘ forwards put together a solid game after looking a bit ragged in their first game back together against the Nashville Predators. After the team opened the game with a a sloppy first four minutes, Kahun neatly fed DeBrincat for a slick backhand shot to beat Vegas Golden Knights‘ goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

Through the game, they were both looking for each other in the offensive zone and creating possession time, with some nice give-and-go plays and cross-ice passes. Their hustle and skill are nice complements to Jonathan Toews‘ hard-driving play.

It’s encouraging to see this line developing as a legitimate scoring threat. As the ‘Hawks continue to figure out what they have with their young talent, DeBrincat is ramping up his scoring at a torrid pace.

Additionally, Kahun is showing some high-end puck handling ability and speed as well. His hockey IQ is pretty keen and tonight it showed on his assist on DeBrincat’s first period goal. Take a look:

2 – The power play continues to roll.

The Chicago Blackhawks converted on two of four power play opportunities. The reasons for the surge are that Erik Gustafsson now quarterbacks the first unit, and that unit has figured out how to play the 1-3-1 overload.

While Gustafsson still has defensive shortcomings, there is no denying that his offensive prowess is very high. As the sole defender at the blue line, he has the speed to keep pucks in the zone and the smooth skating ability to walk the puck sideways along the blue line. This lateral movement opens up passing and shooting lanes.

With two skilled forwards along each half board in DeBrincat and Patrick Kane, Gustafsson can alternate the direction of the attack. The second big factor is that both DeBrincat and Kane move north and south to stay in a straight line with the pivot-man Toews. This is crucial in creating passing and shooting opportunities.

Watch on DeBrincat’s goal how the two forwards are perfectly in sync with each other.

Notice that even on Kane’s power play tally, DeBrincat slid up high as Kane glided in low on his shot, maintaining a straight line with Kane and Toews.

By doing so, DeBrincat opened himself up for a potential pass from Kane.

This is how the 1-3-1 is supposed to work. Kudos to coach Jeremy Colliton and his staff for fixing what used to be a major problem.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – JANUARY 12: Shea Theodore #27 of the Vegas Golden Knights scores the game-winning goal against Collin Delia #60 of the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on January 12, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. The Golden Knights defeated the Blackhawks 4-3 in overtime. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

3 – Brandon Pirri?

Coming into this game, one-time Blackhawk Brandon Pirri had scored 7 goals in 9 games for the Vegas Knights. After bouncing around the NHL and AHL with a tainted reputation, Pirri has found himself to be in the spotlight with his recent feeding frenzy of scoring.

"A guy puts his neck out for a journeyman, you want to repay him because you only get so many chances."
-- Brandon Pirri on Vegas coach Gerard Gallant.

Pirri (7 goals in 9 games) will be at the United Center tonight when Vegas takes on the Blackhawks.https://t.co/KeAEBJaMB2
— John Dietz (@johndietzdh) January 12, 2019

However, the ‘Hawks and goalie Collin Delia were able to keep Pirri off the scoresheet, despite having some serious scoring chances. Hockey is an amazing sport.

4 – Failure to hold leads continues.

It’s a broken record, but the Blackhawks’ inconsistent defensive play is still a problem.

We’ve detailed this problem time and time again, but we see the same results. The team is living the definition of insanity by trotting out the same players and expecting a different result. The first four minutes of the game saw Delia with a mishandle and Brent Seabrook with a terrible turnover, both leading to scoring threats from the Knights.

Additionally Carl Dahlstrom, part of what Twitter is calling the Blackhawks’ supposed “shut-down” pairing, had a rough night. On the game tying goal, he passively defended Ryan Carpenter, who snapped off a wicked wrister past Delia.

Take a look at how not to defend:

And on the overtime game-winner, Dahlstrom allowed “speedy ~~forward~~ defenseman” Shea Theodore to blow past him to sneak a shot through Delia. Dahlstrom’s lack of speed was again exposed in this soft goal.

Warning, viewing this goal may be hazardous to your health:

The ability to shut opponents down while owning a lead falls on the defense as constructed. While Dahlstrom and Connor Murphy can play a decent physical half-court game, especially on the penalty kill, they don’t have the speed to be an effective shut-down pair in 5-on-5 play and especially against the rush.

Again, much of the problem is the team’s failure to suppress opponents’ shots.

The ‘Hawks were out-shot 33-23. While the number of shots was less than we’ve seen recently, the number of high quality scoring chances was high against Delia. The team needs to find answers for questions that are two years old.

5-Brandon Saad, where are you?

The curious case of Brandon Saad continues. After a cold start this season, he started to find his game and found himself back on the top line with Toews and Kahun. But he has hit another slump and is currently on the third line. Against the Knights, he was a minus-2 with 2 shots on goal in 15:57 of ice time. He also was credited with being offside to negate a Patrick Kane goal.

Rough stretch continues for Brandon Saad. Not only is he not scoring, but he's now subtracting goals from the #Blackhawks.
— John Dietz (@johndietzdh) January 13, 2019

But to his credit, he did have solid night on the penalty kill and did draw a 4-minute penalty on which the ‘Hawks scored. At the end of the day. the Chicago Blackhawks need him to start stepping up his game again.

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The ‘Hawks will have a chance to step up their team game this coming Monday when they visit the sinking New Jersey Devils. We shall see what we shall see.

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