Blackhawks fall 4-1 to the Islanders in a frustrating outing

The Chicago Blackhawks headed to Long Island to take on the New York Islanders on Thursday, Sept. 8, trying to carry the momentum from a big 4-2 win in their home opener against the St. Louis Blues.

It didn't pan out that way, as Chicago fell 4-1 in this contest. Let's get to the lineup, game notes and quotable quotes.

Blackhawks lineup & special teams

Oliver Moore - Frank Nazar - Patrick Kane

Tyler Bertuzzi - Anton Frondell - Roman Kantserov

Cole Smith - Ryan Greene - Jordan Greenway

Ryan Donato - Dominic Toninato - Nick Lardis

Bowen Byram - Artyom Levshunov

Alex Vlasic - Ian Cole

Wyatt Kaiser - Sam Rinzel

Arvid Soderblom/Spencer Knight

Scratches: Kevin Korchinski, Ethan Del Mastro, Andrew Mangiapane (lower body),
Teuvo Teravainen (lower body), Connor Bedard (IR)

Teuvo Teravainen is battling an ankle injury he sustained in the previous game and did not suit up for this contest. In his stead, the Blackhawks called up Dominic Toninato from the Rockford IceHogs on Wednesday (Sept. 7).

Toninato slotted in as the fourth line center, while Oliver Moore moved to the top line and Roman Kantserov to the second line. This top-six combination is something that head coach Jeff Blashill experimented with last game after Teravainen was sidelined.

The defensive pairings were the same as they were last game, and Arvid Soderblom got the nod in net for his second start of the season. (Spencer Knight started the last game).

Power Play Units

PP1: Bertuzzi, Frondell - Kantserov - Kane, Byram

PP2: Nazar, Moore - Donato - Lardis, Rinzel

Penalty Kill Contributors

Vlasic, Frondell, Cole, Nazar, Levshuonov, Greenway, Greene, Smith, Byram

Blackhawks Game Notes

• The Blackhawks got off to one of their best starts of the season, playing a steady and controlled game. At one point they were up 5-2 in shots on goal. But then they tried to get too cute, which led to numerous takeaways by the Islanders. On their second power play of the game, Bo Horvat found the back of the net to make it 1-0 for the home team.

• The Blackhawks, on the other hand, seemed to lose momentum on their two power plays in the first period. They were disjointed and unorganized on the man advantage. As I said in the last contest, using the drop pass to enter the zone just doesn't seem to be working.

• Also in the first period, Soderblom made his 3000th career save.

• The Islanders scored twice within just a few minutes in the second frame. The first happened when Rinzel broke his stick and was basically out of the play. Emil Heineman took advantage to make it 2-0. The second was a good play by the Isles, and a bad sequence by the Hawks, that led to an Anthony Duclair goal. 3-0 Islanders.

• The Blackhawks rallied with 11 shots to the Islanders 7 in the 2nd period, but they still went into intermission down 3-0.

• In the third period, the Blackhawks were creating chances galore, but just couldn't get anything past Islander's netminder Ilya Sorokin. Finally, Chicago got aggressive and pulled their goalie with 3:50 to go in the game. A beautiful pass by Patrick Kane led to a goal by Frank Nazar to get the Blackhawks on the board. Kane and Sam Rinzel were credited with the assists.

• Alas, the Islanders scored shortly thereafter on the empty net to make it 4-1. At this point, frustration had set in for the Blackhawks. Nazar was given a five-minute major for this play.

• Once it was all said and done, the Blackhawks ended the night leading 23-19 in shots and 54-37 in scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. But it didn't matter, as goals were 4-1 for the Islanders.

Quotable Quotes

Kane didn't mince words when discussing the power play, calling it "sloppy". The Blackhawks had three power play chances, but only managed two shots on goal.

Byram on this contest, "The story of the game was that we gave them their opportunities...we gave them way too many chances and looks." His overall assessment, "We gotta find ways to win games, and not ways to lose."

Coach Blashill said it quite simply, "I thought we were the better team, and we beat ourselves."

The Blackhawks will now head home for seven! straight home games, starting with the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday (Oct. 10) and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday (Oct. 13). Hopefully they can capitalize on the positive things they did on this night, but find a way to score more goals and subsequently win some games.

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