Blackhawks Postgame Musings: Another good 5-on-5 night comes up short in overtime loss to Oilers

The Chicago Blackhawks earned a point tonight, but deserved more than that in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers. They were the better team at 5-on-5 for most of the night, but they allowed two power-play goals in regulation before failing to stop a dominant trio of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard in overtime.

Tyler Bertuzzi scored a power-play goal for the Blackhawks before Andre Burakovsky tied the game early in the third period. It was another resilient, hard-fought effort by the Blackhawks, but it didn’t lead to two points. That has to sting inside the locker room.

“We’ve been in this position a lot,” Ryan Greene said after the game. “We’re just trying to figure out how to win games like this. I think it’s a good thing that we’ve been tight with some of the top teams in the league, but we’ve got to find a way to get it done.”

Head coach Jeff Blashill was satisfied with the way his team played, but wanted more.

"When you’re down on the road against the defending Stanley Cup finalists, to come back and get a point is good,” Blashill said. “You feel good about that. But once you get to overtime, you want both. Obviously, we didn’t have the puck a bunch in overtime, so that’s a tough one."

Avoidable Penalties Keep Blackhawks Out of Win Column

I wrote in my game preview that the Blackhawks needed to keep the game at 5-on-5 if they wanted to win. They gave the Oilers three power plays with the type of penalties that drive Blashill crazy: holding the stick, tripping, and hooking. Edmonton scored on the first two of those opportunities, but a successful kill on the third chance changed the momentum of the game.

Burakovsky tied the game just 47 seconds after the Blackhawks killed off Bedard’s hooking penalty. With Bedard and Greene behind the net, he went right to the crease and was rewarded with the rebound of Artyom Levshunov’s shot. Burakovsky, who had the secondary assist on the first goal, now has seven goals and 17 points in 20 career games against the Oilers.

Winning the 5-on-5 Battle

The Oilers have been an average team at 5-on-5 this season, generating as many shot attempts and scoring chances as they have allowed. That was why staying out of the penalty box was so important tonight.

The Blackhawks did an excellent job against the McDavid line, producing 18 shot attempts to their 14. They outshot them 9-4 and were even in scoring chances and high-danger scoring chances. Most importantly, they kept the Oilers off the scoreboard. Keeping McDavid in the defensive zone as much as you can is a good way to win the game.

Draisaitl’s line had more success at 5-on-5, as he, Vasily Podkolzin, and Jack Roslovic had far more offensive zone time. They outshot the Blackhawks 8-1 and had seven scoring chances. However, they only produced one high-danger scoring chance, so the Blackhawks did as well as they could against them.

Nuggets & Tidbits

• Bedard extended his point streak to four games by setting up Bertuzzi’s power-play goal. He had four shots on goal on seven attempts and went 7-for-14 at the faceoff dot. On the negative side, he took two hooking penalties, the first of which led to a failed penalty shot by Podkolzin. He spent 5:07 matched up against McDavid. When the two stars were on the ice together, the Blackhawks had advantages in shots on goal (3-0), were even in scoring chances (3-3), and did not give up any high-danger scoring chances.

• Wyatt Kaiser continued his hot start to the season. Blashill has done a great job of putting his defensemen in the right situations. Kaiser was second on the team with 21:07 in ice time. He spent 6:33 against McDavid and did not allow a shot on goal or scoring chance. Unfortunately, he was in the penalty box for Draisaitl’s opening goal.

• It was a bit of a strange game because everyone who wasn’t on the ice had divided attention. With the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of the World Series, many cheers from the crowd at Rogers Place had nothing to do with the action on the ice. A “Let’s Go Blue Jays” chant erupted numerous times, and they had the game up on the scoreboard during the second period. Unfortunately for Canada’s team, they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 11 innings.