Chicago Blackhawks: Let a very important game slip away

The Chicago Blackhawks let a very important game against one of the teams they are trailing in the standings slip away after holding the lead.

The Day started with the Chicago Blackhawks trailing the Winnipeg Jets by three points for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. That meant that their game against Winnipeg north of the border was super important. Things were good when Dominik Kubalik scored 16 seconds into the match to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead early. It got even better when Brandon Saad scored about ten minutes later to make it 2-0.

From there, things sort of fell off. Saad’s goal would be the last goal Chicago would score. The Jets scored four unanswered to give them a 4-2 win. It was a disaster of a loss for the Hawks in a situation like this. People like to blame the referees in a game like that, and there may be some validity to it, but they still can’t meltdown like that every time a call doesn’t go their way.

Now, the Hawks are set back just a little bit. They are now at 58 points. The Jets climbed into the first wild card spot with 63 points and the Calgary Flames fell into that second spot with 62 points. The Hawks now trail by four points so they lost a point of ground with this loss. It is going to be very hard to make up four points while jumping all of these teams in the way but it can be done. They control their own destiny.

They are going to continue playing those Western Canadian teams that they trail in the standings for the rest of the trip. The next one is Tuesday night when they visit the Edmonton Oilers. That is another stiff test for Chicago. Like the Jets, he Oilers have a lot of firepower at forward so the Hawks need to prepare. The Hawks are not going to run the table for the rest of the season, that is just impossible. What they need to do is forget losses quickly and move on. This game was an eye-opener for how tough things were going to be, so learn and move forward.