Chicago Blackhawks' 3 Heroes, Goats From Opening Night Loss
Oct 12, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Michal Kempny (6) battles for the puck against St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko (91) during the second period at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
No matter the result, the Chicago Blackhawks will always have heroes and goats in their games
On Wednesday night, the Chicago Blackhawks opened their 2016-17 regular season with a 5-2 defeat to the rival St. Louis Blues. The loss wasn’t as grand as the score would indicate; the Blues tallied a pair of empty-net goals late to seal the deal.
I’m going to try and do a post throughout the season in which we look at three heroes and three goats from each Blackhawks result. Some days and nights, it’ll be easier to do one over the other. But there’s always at least three heroes and goats in each game — sometimes it just takes some searching.
Sometimes, these will be based on easy-to-see things like goals, assists and saves — or a lack thereof. Other times there will be smaller things that stand out, in good ways or bad.
Let’s jump into it here, starting with the heroes before transitioning to the goats.
Oct 12, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; St. Louis Blues center Paul Stastny (26) scores against Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) during the third period at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
Blackhawks’ heroes
— Corey Crawford. This probably seems like a strange pick in a game the Blackhawks lost 5-2. But let’s look at the facts. Crow was perfect at even strength. He allowed three powerplay goals and was screened by teammates on two of them.
On the third goal, which is the one you can really argue he should’ve stopped, Crow took a stunner right off the shoulder, and three Blackhawks were circled around Paul Stastny, who was there to tap home the rebound.
At least one of those guys should’ve been pushing Stastny down before he could even consider touching the puck. Instead, they were mostly just staring at him.
Crow kept the Blackhawks in a game they probably shouldn’t have had a chance to win. Chicago was outshot 33-19, and a fair number of those 19 attempts were feeble. A .906 save percentage isn’t amazing by any stretch, but a 1.000 mark at even strength is a great start.
— Michal Kempny and Gustav Forsling. These two rookie defensemen (NHL rookies, anyway) looked really comfortable at both ends of the ice in their league debuts. Were there mistakes? Sure. But nothing glaring by any stretch.
Kempny and Forsling both made smart decisions with the puck in the defensive zone, consistently selected the right choice between trying to skate the puck out and making a short pass to start a clearance. Forsling’s highlight was skating out from the pressure of two Blues along the boards in the first period and maintaining the puck the entire time. Solid work.
Both guys also tried to set things up on the offensive side, with Kempny particularly active in that regard. He did some pinching as well, but it was never dangerous.
Forsling saw 15:29 of ice time, including 2:33 on the powerplay, while Kempny hit 18:44, including 2:32 on the penalty kill. That’s probably a comfortable figure for Kempny, but I would expect Forsling to see more time very soon. Good early returns for both guys.
— The third line. I would have given this spot to the second line, which was flying around all night and the only one creating consistent scoring chances for Chicago. But none of Artemi Panarin, Artem Anisimov or Patrick Kane scored. The third line did create a goal.
Ryan Hartman, who had a tough game in general, had a really nice keep-in right at the blue line midway through the second period. He flipped the puck toward Blues goaltender Jake Allen as linemates Marcus Kruger and Tyler Motte entered the zone.
Kruger stole the puck from a Blue near the boards behind the net and pushed it to Motte, who made a quick little pass from behind the net to Hartman charging to the front. Hartman found daylight on Allen for what would turn out to be the Blackhawks’ last goal of the night.
Although Hartman had a so-so night at best (he played just 8:33), I would like to see more from the Motte-Kruger-Hartman tandem. If that line can successfully defend and turn play the other way (the line started all of its shifts in the defensive zone), it’s a plus. If it can also score, it’s a really big plus.
Oct 4, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks right wing Jordin Tootoo (22), defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk (57) and defenseman Duncan Keith (2) celebrates after scoring a goal during the first period of play against Detroit Red Wings during a preseason game at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports
Blackhawks’ goats
— Trevor van Riemsdyk. If coach Joel Quenneville had any doubts about which defenseman should leave the lineup when Niklas Hjalmarsson returns from his suspension Friday, they were quickly answered in this game.
TVR was absolutely abysmal. He was repeatedly pantsed near the net, including once by a fellow defenseman in Colton Parayko. And Parayko was falling down while he pantsed TVR. How does that even happen?
blackhawks
Blackhawk Up 2wChicago Blackhawks' Hockey Is Back, In Multiple Forms
More headlines around FanSided:
3w - Chicago Blackhawks Morning Links: Go Team North America3w - Chicago Blackhawks Ex-Forward Brandon Saad Has "No Regrets"3w - World Cup Of Hockey Early Reactions: Team USA In Trouble3w - Chicago Blackhawks' Early World Cup Experiences Mixed3w - World Cup Of Hockey Predictions: Winners, Crawford And MoreMore News at Blackhawk Up
TVR looked really slow, he was constantly out of position and he took two minor penalties to boot. Somehow, he still managed more ice time than Forsling at 16:06. That number will go down to 0:00 Friday, but don’t worry. TVR will probably wind up rotating with Kempny and Michal Rozsival. Joy.
— Jordin Tootoo. The guy played 4:26. As The Committed Indian pointed out, he wasn’t on the ice for a single Chicago scoring attempt for. The one time I actually remembered seeing Tootoo was in a board battle in his own zone, in which he kind of just dropped his stick and skated toward the middle of the ice.
Q quickly realized Tootoo wasn’t going to work without putting him next to a pair of guys capable of carrying him to success. Nick Schmaltz in his first NHL game and Vinnie Hinostroza in his eighth weren’t that pair.
The worst part about Tootoo playing was he actually dragged down those two youngsters. Tootoo hardly played, and Q didn’t seem to want to jumble his younger/newcomer forwards too soon. So Schmaltz (8:51) and Hinostroza (7:47) hardly played either.
We need to see what these youngsters have to offer, and having them drag around an anchor won’t let that happen. Get Dennis Rasmussen in the lineup Friday, push Schmaltz to a wing and let’s see what that line can do.
— The refs, the vets and the penalty kill. Alright, so there was a hideous segment late in the second period and early in the third in which the Blackhawks couldn’t stop committing penalties. And it wasn’t the young guys, for the most part. Jonathan Toews, Anisimov, Duncan Keith and TVR all saw the box between the 17:54 mark of the second period and the 1:31 mark of the third.
Thing is, the calls against Toews and Anisimov were extremely soft. Toews was called for a pretty light slash, after which Parayko (I think) flopped into the wall like someone had cut his feet off. Anisimov’s hook in the middle of the defensive-zone ice was also sketchy.
But as veterans of the team, those guys can’t be putting themselves in the position to get called for penalties, especially when the Blues were clearly outskating Chicago in the second period to begin with.
So then we get to the PK, which was severely hampered by Hjammer being out. So that wasn’t a good start. Toews, Anisimov and Keith are all PK guys as well. So … you see where that’s going.
On top of that, Vladimir Tarasenko was constantly left open on the Blues’ powerplays. I know 5-on-3s are going to leave ample space for the offensive team, but if there’s one guy you want to try and cut off, it’s Tarasneko. Instead, he was kind of given free reign over the ice.
Just not a great effort from the PK unit overall. Hopefully Hjammer’s return boost that unit.
Bonus goat
— The United Center audio and ice crews. Oi. If there was ever a harbinger for a bad night, it had to have been the UC’s audio system crapping out for the first half of Jim Cornelison’s national anthem. I assumed NBC had just screwed up the audio, but a friend in attendance at the game told me otherwise.
Far more egregious, however, was the condition of the ice. I know it’s typically not that good. Early in the season, it’s especially difficult to get the ice in “good” condition. But last night … the puck resembled a ping pong ball.
There was a point late in the contest when Kempny, trying to turn behind his own net with no one even close to him, simply fell over. I’m going to assume Kempny knows how to skate, and he was far from the only one falling with little to no contact. Let’s hope for better UC ice moving forward.
More from Blackhawk Up