Blackhawks Postgame Musings: Power play failures, self-inflicted wounds lead to Kings win

The Chicago Blackhawks’ five-game point streak is history after a 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday night. Tonight was the second time in the last nine days where the Blackhawks lost to a team that had played the night before.

Last Friday, they opened a 2-0 lead on the Vancouver Canucks, only to be outplayed in the second period and lose in a shootout. Tonight, Connor Bedard gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 advantage in a first period that they dominated at 5-on-5. Then the Kings struck for two goals in the second period. That’s all they needed as they took away the Blackhawks’ ability to use their speed to gain entry into the offensive zone, and beat them by a pair of goals.

“I thought we played really good in the first, and could have been up by two,” head coach Jeff Blashill said. “That’s the way we want to play. I thought we self-inflicted in the second, in terms of puck management. A couple of decisions made the game less direct and less predictable to ourselves. And, as a result, we really didn’t create much at all.”

Power Play Fails to Capitalize

The game was ultimately lost by the Blackhawks’ inability to do much of anything on their five power-play chances. Their first four chances produced only one shot on goal, as they spent the majority of the time just trying to get the puck into the zone.

The most frustrating sequence came with two minutes left in the game, when the Blackhawks pulled Arvid Soderblom for a 6-on-4 advantage and decided to play dump-and-chase. Twice, they dumped the puck in, and there wasn’t a red sweater anywhere near the puck afterwards.

Bedard called the power play “terrible” after the game, and he wasn’t wrong. Going on the man advantage killed the Blackhawks' momentum all night, when it should have been doing the opposite. Blashill said he wanted to look at the video before commenting too much on the results.

“We made a couple of tweaks on our breakout that didn’t pay off the way we were hoping to,” he said. “At the very least, we’ve got to generate momentum. We didn’t generate momentum today. It’s a process, and we’re going to have to stay with it and find a way to get better.”

Over the last three games, the Blackhawks have only one goal on 13 power-play chances and have dropped to 26th in the league. I’m sure they will be working on it at tomorrow’s practice.

Jason Dickinson Makes an Impact in Return

Jason Dickinson is supposed to be the Blackhawks’ center on their defensive shutdown line. However, because he’s been playing such good defense this season, he and his two linemates have enjoyed a ton of time in the offensive zone.

Dickinson returned to the lineup after missing the last two games with an upper-body injury, and he was between Landon Slaggert and Colton Dach on the third line. He and the two youngsters made a difference right from the very start, as their first two shifts of the game were essentially all in the Kings’ end of the ice. They did not give us a shot attempt in the first period.  

His overall game was good, but Dickinson wasn’t happy with his play that led to Kevin Fiala’s game-winning goal in the second period.

“I felt like we were shooting ourselves in the foot, a little bit,” he said. “We made mistakes that they capitalized on. Then they played their game from there. They’re a team that knows how to win games and can close it out.

“The goal that I gave up was such a simple play. It was a stupid decision: I panicked with the puck in a dangerous area, which turned into a breakaway. They’re stupid plays that can be easily corrected.”

Dickinson finished his night with one shot on goal, three shot attempts, a hit, two blocked shots, and he won 10 of his 17 faceoffs.

Ilya Mikheyev Injury Update

Ilya Mikheyev started the night on the Blackhawks’ top line. He was responsible for the opening goal of the night by forcing a turnover in the neutral zone before having Bedard redirect his shot past goaltender Anton Forsberg.

Unfortunately, in the opening seconds of the third period, Mikheyev took a spill into the end boards after being tripped by Adrian Kempe. He went straight to the locker room, favoring his right shoulder, and did not return to the game.

Blashill didn’t have any specific details on the extent of the injury, but he was confident that it wouldn’t keep Mikheyev out for the long term. That’s a relief, as the absence of both he and Tyler Bertuzzi really showed how important they are on the forecheck and maintaining offensive zone time.