Chicago Blackhawks: Goalies are scoring goals against them
The Chicago Blackhawks are in trouble. They lost their second game in a row against a team that has been struggling badly themselves.
The Chicago Blackhawks are having issues right now. The Nashville Predators came to town on a major down as they are playing their second game with John Hynes behind the bench in Peter Laviolette‘s place. They came in and took care of business against the Blackhawks at the United Center. The Hawks should at least keep things close against a team like the Predators but for the most part, they laid an egg. Things need to start getting better quick otherwise some people are going to start losing their jobs.
The Predators win the game 5-2 in a game where they had a strong effort. They got out to a 3-0 lead which made the game out of reach for Chicago early. The highlight of the game was when Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne scored an empty-net goal against the Blackhawks. That is something that you just do not see very often in the NHL. It is less frequent than a perfect game in baseball because it is so hard. Rinne is the first goaltender to do so since Mike Smith did it in 2013. This is something that the hockey world will be talking about for a while.
The Blackhawks are now 1-2 on their quickly passing four-game homestand. Their only win came against the lowly Detroit Red Wings and the Hawks had to come back from down2-0 in order to do so. They are not getting contributions from everyone along with the goaltender being hung out to dry in every game. The goalies have been playing well but their team can’t give them any help right now. You can obviously look to the GM and see how bad that he has messed up the roster but the guys who are there need to step up as well.
It is also weird to see a guy like Alexander Nylander in the lineup over Dylan Sikura. The Nylander trade was a disaster but the coach just needs to accept it. This team is not good at all and a third straight year without a postseason appearance is becoming more and more likely every day. This is a team loaded with star players but the depth isn’t where it needs to be and it shows in games that Patrick Kane doesn’t have five points.
The last game of the homestand for Chicago comes on Saturday night when the Anaheim Ducks visit the United Center. The Ducks are lower than Chicago in the standings if you can believe it so it is another opportunity against a struggling team. Now, the Hawks are bad to so saying that they “should” beat the Ducks is wrong. They still have to play hard if they want to make this a .500 homestand.