Blackhawks: 3 Takeaways from Game 3 against Golden Knights

Heading into Game 3 of the opening round against the Vegas Golden Knights, the Chicago Blackhawks needed to generate a victory in order to stay in the series. They failed to do this, resulting in an improbable 3-0 deficit that the Windy City now faces.

The Chicago Blackhawks came into Saturday night’s affair already down 2-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights. While they did play a bit better than they had all series, they still were unable to record the victory. Marc-Andre Fleury essentially stole the game for Vegas, as he was very dominant in between the pipes.

Right off the bat, the game started off poorly for the Blackhawks. William Karlsson was able to find a way through the Blackhawks defense and score a shorthanded goal on the backhand to give the Golden Knights and early 1-0 advantage.

After a long stretch of both teams trading chances, Vegas was finally able to put another goal on the board late in the second period. Patrick Brown was able to net his first career playoff tally on a rebound to double the Golden Knights’ advantage.

The Hawks came out and looked like the dominant team to start out the third period. They controlled the majority of opportunities and possession. Olli Maatta was able to fling a shot on net that squeaked through Fleury, which was his only hiccup of the night. The goal cut the Vegas lead to only one early in the third.

After the goal, the Blackhawks momentum was no more. Vegas took control, finishing the period with more shots than Chicago. The Hawks struggled majorly with the relentless forecheck that the Golden Knights presented after they pulled Corey Crawford with 1:55 seconds remaining.

Evidently, the Hawks fell by a final score of 2-1. One bright spot for Chicago was that Crawford played a lot better in this matchup compared to his previous two starts. He will need to keep this up in tonight’s battle if the Blackhawks want to stay alive.

Here are my three takeaways from last night’s loss:

Takeaway #2: Missed Opportunities

Chicago had a boatload of missed opportunities in tonight’s matchup. As I stated earlier, Alex DeBrincat had 8 shots alone, all of which were saved. Many of these were dangerous chances that could have changed the game had he been able to convert.

DeBrincat was not the only one that failed to capitalize on the Blackhawks. Jonathan Toews had a few decent looks as well, but the best chance of the night came near the end of the first period. Olli Maatta received the puck at the point and sent a beautiful no-look pass across to Patrick Kane. Kane had a wide-open net to one-time the puck but failed to convert. He rang the shot off the outside of the post. Had the shot gone in, it would have tied the game at 1 heading into the intermission, and who knows what would have happened after.

Also as I alluded to earlier, Chicago started out the second and third periods on the Powerplay. If they had scored, this could have caused a major change in momentum. They failed to score on both opportunities as Vegas was able to maintain their lead in the game.

This game as a whole essentially summed up how the Blackhawks have played so far in this series. Chicago has so many post hits in the series, and the amount of missed opportunities has deflated the Hawks’ chances of winning the series.

Takeaway #3: Win or Go Home

Now on the brink of elimination, the Blackhawks need to show up in Game 4. A big way to start tomorrow’s game off with a bang would be to try scoring the first goal of the game for once. Every game in this series, Vegas has tallied the opening goal.

The Hawks also struggled in the Edmonton series with scoring the first tally, therefore if they are able to come out and put some on the board early it would help out majorly.

As Colliton stated after the game, the Blackhawks have absolutely nothing to lose now. This means that they have no pressure to perform in Game 4 and that they can go out and try to play their game.

With the game being a win or go home scenario the Blackhawks also need to up their physicality level. They haven’t even been close to matching the Golden Knights in terms of laying the body, as they have been outhit in every single game.

The core needs to step up big time in tonight’s matchup if the Blackhawks want to stand a chance at surviving. After really good opening round performances by Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith, they have looked almost invisible this series.

The Blackhawks will look to have everyone firing on all cylinders when they take the ice tonight. Game time is scheduled for 6:30 pm CT and the game can be seen on NBCSN.