Three Takeaways from the Blackhawk's Impressive 2-1 Win vs Vegas

The Chicago Blackhawks looked rejuvenated and won an impressive 2-1 game against the best team in the West.

This Blackhawks team just defeated the top team in the West in the Vegas Golden Knights after losing in horrible fashion against the worst team in the entire league in the Arizona Coyotes. Whatever the team discussed in that meeting was put on full display: A full effort by the entire team, no passengers. Marc-Andre Fleury was amazing yet again, beating the team that traded him away for nothing with a spectacular 31 save effort.

Something about this team is that they ALWAYS do well with an aggressive forecheck. This was the case last season as well where they kept the pressure up on the opposition, closing off space and taking away passing lanes and time.

The Golden Knights looked overwhelmed at the start of the second period, and the Blackhawks didn't hold back at all. They outhit Vegas 35-17, which brings back yet another past theme of success: Physical, gritty play opens up their chances offensively. Let's hope this build momentum and confidence moving forward.

With that said, here are my three takeaways.

Physicality and Forecheck

The Blackhawks finished with 35 hits, Jujhar Khaira leading the way with 10 total hits on the night. Next in line was Jake McCabe with 4, but everyone brought the grit this game on the forecheck. The forecheck is an underrated part of this game as a good one can change the momentum as the opposition tries to counter it with different breakout plays. The Blackhawks took away time and space with their forecheck strategy this time around and Vegas was not prepared to counter it.

It's hard to fault Vegas for this, though, as the Blackhawks didn't aggressively forecheck the defensemen since beating Nashville in November. Since last season, I have noticed that the fast tempo and grit of this team would cause problems for the opposition, and they finally brought it back. On that forecheck, two forwards would attack the puck carrier with another cheating at the blue line, ready to defend the breakout play. Tonight was different, with a new coverage of a single guy pressuring the puck carrier and two more ready to either double and swarm the guy or get back to defend with four guys instead of three. They wore down the defensemen this time by either hitting the guy or making sure that their presence was felt.

Hopefully this forecheck returns as this is a huge step for this team to bring a much-needed winning streak. Next takeaway was the lack of special teams... In a good way this time.

No Penalties, No Problems

The Blackhawks took no penalties and, surprisingly, they didn't have many situations starting in the second period where they struggled. They never had to play against the Vegas powerplay with a struggling penalty kill but I am still curious as to what they worked on during practice. Passing lanes, positioning, and conservative pressure would probably be the key aspects of the practice, but this is simply speculation. The powerplay, however, is still snake bitten BUT they did enough to not lose momentum rather than deflate the entire team with a lackluster effort.

I think the Blackhawks should go with Alex Debrincat and Dominik Kubalik manning the left and right faceoff circles respectively. Patrick Kane works behind the net while Jonathan Toews or Kirby Dach stand in front of the net while Seth Jones mans the point. Kane has a plethora of potential plays and Jones could pass the puck to the open wing. With three booming shots on this unit, it would be hard to just collapse on Kane, and too intimidating to leave Kane with too much space. Either way, this powerplay tonight didn't lose momentum, and the penalty kill didn't have to play. Two wins on the special teams side of things.

And last, to me, was the response by the team.