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Game 1: Hawks 1, Bolts 5

January 14, 2021, 4:52 AM ET [169 Comments]
Theo Fox
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Blackhawks lost the first game of the new season 5-1 against the Stanley Cup champion Lightning. A veteran tried to set the tone with his work ethic and competitiveness while a rookie had a steady debut.

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Official Roster

The final active roster and taxi squad:

Due to cap constraints, the Hawks were forced to begin the season with a 20-player roster even though the maximum limit is 23. That may change if Jonathan Toews goes on LTIR.

Even though they are on the taxi squad, it is expected that Philipp Kurashev and Nicolas Beaudin are the primary rookies to cycle into the lineup in the early goings.

Also, a goalie rotation consisting of Malcolm Subban, Collin Delia, and Kevin Lankinen will be the norm for at least the first half of the season (give or take).

This platoon essentially proclaims that there won't be a formally anointed starter for the season. Instead, each game will have an announced starter just for that night.

However, if a goalie steals the show being heads and heels better than the other two, then maybe the second half of the season is different by riding the hottest hand.

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Starting Lineup

The starting lineup for the season opener:

And the starters for the opening shift:

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Scoring Recap

1st Goal: Palat (0-1)

Ondrej Palat was able to take a rebound off of a Hedman point shot then kick the puck from his skate to his blade for a successful stuff attempt.

Duncan Keith, who was stationed to the left of Subban, wasn't able to get inside positioning after the point shot which gave Palat enough time and space to operate.

2nd Goal: Joseph (0-2)

This was common throughout the game but both D-men went to the corner rather than having one stay at home to provide defensive coverage around the crease.

In this case, Calvin de Haan should have remained in the slot as Ian Mitchell had already arrived in the corner to contest the puck against Mathieu Joseph.

Also, Pius Suter and Brandon Pirri went to cover one player (Alex Killorn) which prevented Suter from helping Mitchell in the corner as Anthony Cirelli made his way there.

Once the puck made its way back up the boards for Killorn to send a shot on net, de Haan and Mitchell got caught puck watching instead of properly covering Joseph and Cirelli.

3rd Goal: Cirelli (0-3)

The play started off benign as Erik Cernak wristed a low-percentage short-side shot from the right boards but Cirelli deflected the puck perfectly past Subban.

Keith raced to the point when he should have taken Joseph who was hovering in the high slot and allowed Lucas Wallmark to cover Cernak who was at the top of the circle.

It didn't help that Connor Murphy just allowed Cirelli to create separation without any resistance and without pursuit to ensure he remained covered.

4th Goal: Stamkos (0-4)

Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, and Brayden Point moved the puck around the top of the umbrella before Point got it back to Stamkos on the opposite side for a wide-open one timer.

The Hawks PK formation simply disintegrated where Ryan Carpenter and David Kampf got crossed up which broke the box and in turn opened up passing and shooting lanes.

5th Goal: Point (0-5)

Nikita Zadorov had his man (Palat) covered but Stamkos made a nice play to draw Suter away from Point. Adam Boqvist couldn't slide over in time to cover Point who buried an easy one timer.

6th Goal: Strome (1-5)

Given how anemic the offensive drives were the entire game, it was going to take a fluke goal for the Hawks to score their first and only goal of the game.

Andrew Shaw sent the puck from the right corner to Dylan Strome behind the net. The puck ricocheted off of Strome's blade, hit Cernak's skate, and trickled by Andrei Vasilevskiy.

One thing to like about that play was Boqvist using his body to bump Blake Coleman off of the puck which allowed Shaw to pick it up and feather it over to Strome.

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Game Notes

Andrew Shaw

Shaw was arguably the best player in the game for the Hawks. He hustled for every puck, competed hard against every Lightning player, and played physical every shift.

Ian Mitchell

Despite a few rookie gaffs, Mitchell played a solid game overall. He was poised and confident making crisp passes and quick decisions plus was willing to battle for pucks.

Veteran Defensemen

The team in general but the veteran blueliners specifically -- Keith, Murphy, and de Haan -- routinely gave up inside positioning to the quick and skilled Lightning team.

It was too regular of an occurrence that the veteran rearguards failed to stay between the opponent and the net. The youngsters Zadorov, Mitchell, and Boqvist were better in comparison.

Additionally, the veteran D-men were guilty of inching their way out of the zone rather than making one strong pass out. Zadorov, Mitchell, and Boqvist again were relatively better.

Power Outage

However, the D corps wasn't all to blame as the entire team was constantly outworked, outmuscled, and outsmarted which resulted in losing 50/50 pucks all over the ice.

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Upcoming Games

With the first game in the books, the Hawks have a trio of games coming up on the Florida road trip:

Friday, January 15
@ Lightning, 6:00pm CST

Sunday, January 17
@ Panthers, 6:00pm CST

Tuesday, January 19
@ Panthers, 6:00pm CST

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Helmet Sponsor

Finally, here is a close up of the Blackhawks helmet sponsor which not surprisingly is United Airlines:

Not bad actually as the United name could double as a team slogan.

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See you on the boards!

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