Blackhawks: Jonathan Toews was awesome in shootout loss
The Chicago Blackhawks need their captain to be on the scoresheet with some more regularity if they are going to win and he was just that vs the Coyotes.
The Chicago Blackhawks got off to a fast start against the Arizona Coyotes. They had a strong showing from Jonathan Toews from the second he stepped on the ice. In fact, he scored on his first shift to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead just 53 seconds into the hockey game. It was the captain’s best game of the season which allowed the Hawks to have a chance to win the game but they ultimately came up short.
Toews had one goal and two assists for a three-point night. At that point, the Hawks had a 3-1 lead but they got themselves into major penalty trouble. You can’t win in the NHL if you can’t stay disciplined or kill penalties when you do run into trouble. The Hawks gave the Coyotes six power plays and they converted on two of them to tie the game. Chicago did okay with the man advantage themselves as they went one for two but the reason the Coyotes ended up tied after the regulation was because the Blackhawks took too many penalties.
This also led to the Coyotes having a significant shot advantage. Their 47-29 advantage in that department isn’t great but it is amazing that Robin Lehner only let up three goals. There is no doubt he played well in this one as well. He is not very good in the shootout and that is evident but he gave the Blackhawks a chance to even get to that shootout.
If Toews and Lehner continue to play like this then the Blackhawks will continue to pick up points but they need to be better at not taking penalties and killing them off at a higher clip if they do take them. This Coyotes team is legit and they are good at keeping scoring to a minimum so the fact that the Blackhawks got three on Darcy Kuemper is impressive but they weren’t able to finish them off. It was a nice stretch of three games against them, the New Jersey Devils, and Boston Bruins that saw them earn five out of a possible six points.
Related Story. 3 players who stood out in the SEC Championship. light
The Blackhawks schedule really doesn’t lighten up at all either. They have another tilt tomorrow night against the Vegas Golden Knights in the desert. This is an important game for both teams so you can expect a bit of entertainment in this one. Vegas is a strong team and another good test for the Blackhawks as they try to climb their way into contention.