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Hawks Win and Lose + Dach's Debut

October 21, 2019, 8:11 AM ET [667 Comments]
Tyler Cameron
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT


Scott Powers summed this one up nicely immediately after the Blackhawks 5-3 loss last night.



Will the penalty kill continue to haunt CHI this year? Will the Hawks figure out their power play anytime soon?

These are a couple questions that will work themselves out over the next couple of weeks.

They have 2 games remaining on this 7-game home cooking; Vegas on Tuesday and Philadelphia on Thursday.

The Hawks snuck out an OT win on Friday vs. Columbus. Robin Lehner had another strong game and Johnny Toews went full shinpad to score his 1st of the year. The Hawks will need to grind out a lot of games like this thought-out the year. A good ugly win!

The Hawks now sit 2-3-1 and last night’s loss might look bad on paper as a 5-3 defeat however, I thought the Hawks played well – for the most part – vs. one of the better teams in the league.

It felt like every time the Hawks made a mistake though, the Caps would capitalize (pun intended).

Whether it was Toews (and Keith) failing to clear the zone on the penalty kill when they had ample time to do so. Or Patrick Kane not being able to settle down a cross-ice pass at the blueline that led to a SHG, they Hawks weren’t able to rally back from these errors to squeeze out a point or two.

The main storyline in this game last night was that Kirby Dach made his debut. He played 13:41 TOI with 1 shot attempt. He started and finished with Dylan Strome and Patrick Kane.

He played a safe game and as Colliton stated post-game “he didn’t hurt himself tonight.”

I suspect Dach will get another look on Tuesday vs. the Golden Knights, however, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the lines mixed up a bit again.

The Blackhawks bottom 6 is severely outplaying the top 6 and that’s a problem. Don’t believe me? Look at these stats from last night (courtesy of Slavko Bekovic):



I know he had an unfortunate stick break that could have lead to a goal, but Alex DeBrincat has not looked like his amazing self so far this season.

Sure, he has 4 points in 6 games but shift-to-shift I see him trying to force too much as well as uncharacteristically fumbling the puck.

I imagine he’s just shaking out the early-season / massive-contract extension jitters, but while he’s doing that, I would put him back with Dylan Strome as those 2 look better together than apart.

Also, I know the 3rd line has been great so far, but how much of that has been thanks to the wingers – Saad and Kubalik?

Can Dominik Kubalik get a promotion already? This guy, wow. He was a beast again last night with a goal, 10 shots on goal and 14 shot attempts. He’s going to produce offence, so just give him more ice time already Jeremy.

Saad-Toews-Kubalik anyone?

If you went that route, you might as well trying to nuclear option of DeBrcinat-Strome-Kane. If their defensive play suffers, split them up, but I would try it out.

Alex Nylander also needs more ice time. I thought this guy had a strong game on Friday and was even better last night. He had 2 assists and was elevate late in the game as Colliton awarded him with more ice time.

Overall, not upset with the way the Hawks played last night. The power play needs some practice and confidence and the PK and defensive play will continue to be an issue unless they can clean up some of those mistakes we saw Friday and Sunday.

What were your thoughts on Dach? How did you think the Hawks played this weekend?


See ya out there!

TC

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