5 Thoughts: Chicago Blackhawks defeat New York Islanders at home

After a wacky 13-goal game against the Washington Capitals, the Chicago Blackhawks played a more normal game against a red-hot New York Islanders team.  Here are my 5 Thoughts on the 3-2 shootout victory.

1 – A sloppy start almost triggered another wacky game.

At just the 2:19 mark,

Chicago Blackhawks

center

Artem Anisimov

lost a draw in his own zone.  Anisimov may have been held on the play by

Valtteri Filppula

, but

Henri Jokiharju

then whiffed on the puck, enabling Filppula to gain control of the puck and slip it through the pads of goalie

Cam Ward

.  It appeared it might be just another one of those nights for the ‘Hawks.  This was a breakdown in bing-bang-boom fashion, and it shouldn’t happen.  Take a look.

After this early goal, the ‘Hawks still didn’t settle down to control the play.  They were outplayed in all three zones by a well-coached Islanders team.  However, the top forward line of Drake Caggiula, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Kane managed some significant possession time in the offensive zone. The chemistry between Toews and Kane this year has been on par with what we used to see from them in their early years.  The addition of Caggiula has been a pleasant surprise.  His hustle and hockey sense have made him a great complimentary winger on that line.  And Kane has been complimentary about his play:

But back to the sloppy first period.  The stats show just how lucky the ‘Hawks were to escape that period down by a lone goal.  The Chicago Blackhawks have been hot and cold out of the gate.  They need to be better.

2 – The Blackhawks managed to gain some traction in the second period.

The second period opened with not a whole lot happening until the ‘Hawks went on the power play.  A two-man advantage put the high flying Chicago Blackhawks’ power play into action, which resulted in a

Dylan Strome

tally at 6:05 of the period.  The crazy part of the play was that Jonathan Toews’ stick exploded against the goal post and Toews had to dart off to gain a new stick.  Strome did his part by waiting for Patrick Kane to draw the defense up high and slid in alone to sneak a shot far side past goalie

Robin Lehner

.  The hockey sense of Kane and Strome is on display here as they play a high-low game against the defense.

Although the ‘Hawks didn’t capitalize on the ensuing 5-4 advantage, the power play goal gave the team some energy to compete at a higher level.

3 – The 5-on-5 is meh.  The power play is wow.

The Chicago Blackhawks didn’t manage a goal in 5-on-5 play.  Their erratic passing and defensive deficiencies continue to plague them.  There were good moments on both sides of the puck, but inconsistent play once again led to numerous turnovers and scoring opportunities.  With six minutes left in regulation time, Erik Gustafsson turned the puck over twice in his own zone leading to scoring chances.  The ‘Hawks were fortunate that first-star-of-the-game Cam Ward came on strong in the third period to send the game into overtime and the eventual shoot-out.

The first power play unit is really playing well together.  We’ve mentioned lately that they’ve figured out how to run the 1-3-1 overload.  The first power-play goal was the result of chaos created by Kane and

Alex DeBrincat

with their cross-ice play.  The threat of the one-timer drew the Islanders’ defense into concentrating on those two, while Strome sneaked in low for the high-percentage shot.  On the second power-play goal, Kane fed DeBrincat for the one-timer, and big-body Toews slid into the open area to bat in the rebound.

The 1-3-1 is the most entertaining and the most effective power play scheme.  It’s great to see the ‘Hawks running it with such efficiency now.