"You can't turn pucks over against these guys, they're so quick… We turned pucks over at the wrong time and they were in the back of our net."
— Carter Baum (@CarterBaum) February 27, 2022
Costly turnovers were the difference on Sunday as the #Blackhawks were shut out by the Blues at home.https://t.co/MGajvFhSoa
The Blackhawks began the month of February with a 5-0 shutout loss to the Wild on February 2 and ended it yesterday with a 4-0 shutout loss to another division rival in the Blues. Yet another Central Division foe blanked the Hawks when the Stars won the 1-0 shootout goalie duel between Marc-Andre Fleury and Jake Oettinger on the 18th.
While the D pair of Connor Murphy and Caleb Jones was faulted for 3 of the 4 goals by the Blues, their transgressions are merely a microcosm of a larger team issue of not only giving up the puck at inopportune times but also letting the opponent capitalize on those errors then not returning the favor when presented with gifted pucks.
There are many reasons that separate the contenders from the tweeners and bottom dwellers and two of those reasons are not making many mistakes as well as making the other team pay for their own. A team like the Hawks who are bereft of a critical mass of above average players at all positions is on the wrong end in both cases.
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Blackhawks Game Summary
Starting Lineup
DeBrincat - Strome - Kane Hagel - Dach - Lafferty Kurashev - Slavin - Kubalik Borgstrom - Carpenter - Entwistle
Phillips - S Jones C Jones - Murphy McCabe - Regula
Fleury Lankinen
Scratches: de Haan, Gustafsson
Abridged Boxscore
1st Goal (0-1): Kyrou (Schenn, Barbashev) 2nd Goal (0-2): Buchnevich (Thomas) 3rd Goal (0-3): Perron (Schenn, Faulk) PP 4th Goal (0-4): Perron (unassisted)
SOG For/Against: 30/35 PP: 0-for-3 PK: 2-for-3 Faceoffs Won: 50%
FINAL: Blues 4, #Blackhawks 0
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) February 27, 2022
Shot attempts: 54-41 STL
Shots on goal: 35-30 STL
5-on-5 scoring chances: 20-20
5-on-5 high danger chances: 11-5 STL pic.twitter.com/BmZrhMPOTP
* The Hawks had a fairly equitable distribution of TOI for the forwards and defensemen with no player in the single digits and only Seth Jones skating more than 20 minutes (22:10).
* Alec Regula turned in a steady game and was rewarded with 18:45 of ice time including on both special teams; quarterbacking the 2nd PP unit is a role where he could potentially thrive in for the Hawks.
* MacKenzie Entwistle had a career-high 7 hits; his previous best was on January 31 when he dished out a half dozen against the Canucks.
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IceHogs Game Summaries
Friday Boxscore
1st Goal (0-1): Cramarossa (Chaffee) 2nd Goal (0-2): Rossi (Chaffee, Rau) 3rd Goal (0-3): Rask (Swaney, Rau) 4th Goal (1-3): Teply (Altybarmakian, Watson) 5th Goal (2-3): Slavin (Connolly, Stanton) 6th Goal (2-4): Rau (Rask, Ottenbreit) 7th Goal (3-4): Slavin (I Mitchell) SH
SOG For/Against: 25/29 PP: 0-for-2 PK: 3-for-3
Saturday Boxscore
1st Goal (1-0): Reichel (I Mitchell, Teply) PP 2nd Goal (2-0): Connolly (Busdeker, Watson) 3rd Goal (2-1): Aksiantsiuk (Karlstrom, Back) 4th Goal (3-1): Barratt (Gicewicz, Morrison) 5th Goal (4-1): Stanton (Connolly, Hardman) 6th Goal (4-2): L'Esperance (McKenzie, Rosburg) 7th Goal (5-2): Hardman (Connolly, I Mitchell) PP 8th Goal (6-2): Hardman (Kalynuk, Busdeker) 9th Goal (6-3): Louis (Gleason, Aksiantsiuk) PP 10th Goal (6-4): Rosburg (Gardner, Gregoire) 11th Goal (7-4): Busdeker (Galvas, Gicewicz) SH/EN
SOG For/Against: 27/32 PP: 2-for-3 PK: 5-for-6
Sunday Boxscore
1st Goal (1-0): Altybarmakian (Reichel, Beaudin) 2nd Goal (1-1): Louis (Kero, Gleason) 3rd Goal (2-1): Hardman (Connolly, Kalynuk) 4th Goal (2-2): L'Esperance (Gleason, Louis) 5th Goal (2-3): Dellandrea (McKenzie, Gardner)
SOG For/Against: 24/31 PP: 0-for-4 PK: 6-for-6
Weekend Notes
* Ian Mitchell really is growing to be an all-around defender becoming reliable in every game situation and playing with a ton of confidence which is evident in his much-improved passing.
* Wyatt Kalynuk has been mixing in physicality with his smooth skating and tight gap control; that physical play has an increasingly intense mean streak and temper.
* Michal Teply continues to ramp up his underrated compete level and playmaking; as he gets stronger, he's getting more effective at driving through traffic and winning puck battles.
* Josiah Slavin scored a pair of goals in Friday's game which were his first markers since November 19; both were absolute lasers from the circles.
* Lukas Reichel scored in the opening period of his return to Rockford on Saturday and set up the Hogs first goal on Sunday; his game-breaking speed was on display again in both matches.
* Mike Hardman had a big weekend with 3 goals and an assist and demonstrated a true power forward game by delivering hard hits and using his size to create space.
* Andrei Altybarmakian contributed a spirited effort with and without the puck through his aggressive forechecking, disruptive speed, and fisticuffs to stick up for a fallen teammate.
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Roster Updates
#Blackhawks have re-assigned Jakub Galvas and Lukas Reichel to the Rockford IceHogs, who play at home tonight against Texas.
— Carter Baum (@CarterBaum) February 26, 2022
Seth Jones also taking a maintenance day today and will not practice. https://t.co/sN8p2PqksG
#Blackhawks have recalled Isaak Phillips and Josiah Slavin from Rockfordhttps://t.co/Q1rKJcnu7h
— Carter Baum (@CarterBaum) February 26, 2022
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Scouts Out & About
8 scouts at Blackhawks-Blues today: BOS, BUF, MTL, NYR, WSH, NSH, SJS, SEA
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) February 27, 2022
See you on the boards!