Blackhawks dominate early but fall 3-2 to Seattle after missed calls and a disastrous third period.
The Chicago Blackhawks fell 3-2 to the Seattle Kraken at home on Thursday night. The Blackhawks’ loss featured two excellent periods of play from Chicago and outrageous decision-making from the referees.
Box Score: Kraken 3 – Blackhawks 2
KrakenGame StatsBlackhawks27Shots On Goal2451%F/O%49%33.3% (1/3)PP%50% (1/2)4Penalty Minutes616Hits1110Blocked Shots616Giveaways194Takeaways7
The Refs
The biggest story of the night was the non-call of Ryan Lindgren’s slash on Connor Bedard’s breakaway. Bedard mouthed off to the referee, Justin Kea, and received two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. The call cost the Blackhawks a goal.
The more egregious error came before that, the one that could cost a player a lot more than just two points in the standings. Ryan Lindgren targeted Andre Burakovsky’s head, who missed the rest of the game, and there was no penalty. Burakovsky will also miss Friday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres.
Story continues below.
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On Nov. 12, New Jersey Devils’ defenseman Brenden Dillon received a two-minute minor for boarding despite targeting Tyler Bertuzzi’s head with his elbow. Dillon later received the maximum fine of $5,000 the following day. Bertuzzi missed the next game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Whether it’s a single traumatic blow to the head or repeated concussions, these types of injuries are life-altering. I know it because I have to live with this type of injury due to a single traumatic blow and multiple repeated concussions. If the league really cared about stopping these types of hits (and they always nit-pick which calls to focus on early in the season), they would nip these types of hits right away. But they didn’t.
Two-Period Effort
The Chicago Blackhawks started the night strong and followed that effort with their best second period of the season. They dominated 5-on-5 possession with a 75.86% Corsi and quality scoring chances with a 65.8% expected goals share. Heading into the third period, the Hawks had a 2-0 lead against a Kraken team that has struggled to generate offense all season. And they handed the game to Seattle.
The Kraken had an 85.71% Corsi and an astronomical 99.47 xG% in the third. Tye Kartye tipped in a point shot from Brandon Montour after the Kraken created some traffic in front of Spencer Knight. Shane Wright deflected a Ryker Evans point shot that found its way past Knight.
The first two periods saw excellent playmaking by Ryan Greene (he was solid on the breakout and offensive zone), Connor Bedard (five shots on goal, nine shot attempts), and Artyom Levshunov (strong OZ shifts and a 67.78xG%). The Hawks stood up the blueline, made risky but calculated plays in the neutral zone (Wyatt Kaiser was excellent at defending the red line), and their transition game was on point. All of that went out the window in the third period, where it seemed like Chicago was trying to defend a two-goal lead.
This is still a young team. Playing the full 60 minutes the way the Hawks did in the first two is going to be challenging. It’s also on the coaching staff for being too passive when the Blackhawks should have kept pressing. Joey Daccord (despite his season .900 SV%) is an excellent goalie. But he was not the reason the Hawks were unable to score in the third period. Looking at the third-period shot map below, the Hawks never brought the attack to Seattle.
