The three-time Stanley Cup champions hung tough for 40 minutes, but the expansion side overwhelmed them with three goals in 3:40 to win 5-2.
The reeling Blackhawks have dropped seven in a row; they're 12 points behind the Wild for the second wild card berth. The Golden Knights, on the other hand, regained a double-digit lead in the Pacific; they're 10 up on the Sharks.
Teams use a variety of coordinated breakouts on the power play, but this might be the Knights' go-to.
The defenseman (Shea Theodore, in this case) quarterbacks. He chooses to press the attack or drop to one of two forwards coming with speed from behind (Alex Tuch or William Karlsson). The other two forwards (Reilly Smith or Jonathan Marchessault) hang by the walls, mostly stationary, spacing out the attack. With gaining the zone in mind, the puck carrier can choose to push back the defense (like Tuch does here), pass the puck, or dump it into a corner to recover.
Down 2-1 through 40 minutes and after four unsuccessful power plays, Vegas leaned on a different power play breakout look to earn the tying goal.
They began the final frame with a five-man breakout, which led to a Marchessault bid.
Later, they tried the same breakout with their other man advantage unit.
Both breakouts resulted in clear-cut offensive zone possession.
Hunt would tie the game because of this control, the first of three goals in 3:40 to finish Chicago off.
"It's a different look, you can't always do the same thing."
As for why the Golden Knights felt the need to adjust -- besides failing to capitalize on their previous power plays -- the Blackhawks' relatively passive penalty kill had something to do with that.
Here's an example of a more aggressive PK and using the drop pass to exploit it. This is from late November against the Coyotes.
Chicago, however, refused to bite time after time. Notice how their F1 forechecker stops pursuing after a half-hearted attempt, unlike Arizona's.
Smith observed, "At certain points, they are passive. Usually, their tendency is even more passive than [tonight]. They try to jump a lot on bobbled pucks, but when you have good possession, they back off. That's how they've played for a while."
It's also worth noting that Gerard Gallant smartly inserted Brendan Leipsic on the Hunt goal's power play unit, in place of Oscar Lindberg. That was the lightly-used Leipsic's only time on the man advantage in the game, but his superior speed was a factor on the five-man breakout.
Minuses
The Blackhawks took control of the game in the second period, highlighted by a Patrick Sharp penalty shot (stopped by Marc-Andre Fleury) and this Alex DeBrincat marker, which gave the visitors a 2-1 lead.
The Sharp penalty shot occurred because of a dangerous Cody Eakin breakout pass up the middle which was picked off.
Chicago was simply quicker on the puck during the first half of the second period; by my count, they had a 9-3 even strength scoring chances edge in that stretch of time. Fleury managed to keep the game close.
"I don’t know what the reasoning behind it was," conceded Gallant. "They definitely had more puck control than us the first half of the period."
Pluses
However, Vegas found its footing after a Brent Seabrook mid-second penalty gave them a break from defending.
"The second half [of the second period], we played a lot better," agreed Gallant.
Nate Schmidt expanded:
Especially as a D core, we talked about getting our game back. I'm not going to speak for the forwards. But we had a lot more to give.In between TV timeouts, [we talked]. That's our motor. When our D are moving the puck and getting it to our forwards, that's what kind of drives our team. Selfishly as a dman, that's why I think that. (laughs)
It's kind of a conglomerate. Between [Assistant Coach Ryan McGill] and [Engelland]...everybody. Even [sophomore defenseman Shea Theodore] gets his mouth moving a little bit, which is good. (laughs) That's what I love about our group.I mean, it's nice to have one guy, right? But at the same time, it's good to have that continuity in your group, knowing that everybody's pulling that rope together. Nobody's in your face, everybody's together.
I'm not sure what Jonathan Toews is doing here.
"My job is to push the D as far back as I can," said Schmidt, who was leading the rush before handing it off to William Karlsson. "That's what I love as a dman. When [the forward makes] a play, you jump up, and [give] the puck back. That's textbook. Role reversal.
"He gets to be the third guy up on the rush."
Another struggling squad -- the Edmonton Oilers, losers of four straight -- come into town on Thursday.
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