Chicago Blackhawks: Using last change is super important
The Chicago Blackhawks need to take advantage of having the last change.
The Chicago Blackhawks are now tied in their series with the Edmonton Oilers. They played well in their first game and won the game but then in game two, they struggled mightily. Connor McDavid imposed his will and showed the world why everyone considers him the best player in the National Hockey League. He combined his incredible speed with his incredible skill to score a hat trick and that led to a big Edmonton victory.
Well, in the first two games of the series, Edmonton was considered the home team. They are the host city but that is not why they were the “home team”. They were the five seed and the Hawks are a 12 seed so they have the first two games as the “home team”. There are no fans but there are still hockey advantages to playing at home.
When you are the home team, you have the advantage in the faceoff dots and you get to make the last change. That is why in game three, the Blackhawks need to take advantage of being the “home team”. We will see if they utilize their right to use the home locker room but they should be more worried about taking advantage of the last change.
Connor McDavid has pretty much done what he wants against the Hawks. Just because they are able to match up what they want against him, doesn’t mean they will completely stop him. That is plain unrealistic but letting him have three points a game is something that just can’t happen if you want to win.
The Blackhawks have had plenty of success using David Kampf‘s line against top players and they can also use Jonathan Toews‘ line. Where they get into trouble is if Kane’s line or the wrong defense pair is out there with McDavid. That was noticeable in game two at many points. It is very important that Jeremy Colliton plays his lines wisely in game three when he can have the matchups he wants.
Where matching up against the Oilers gets trick is their other superstar. Leon Draisaitl isn’t as good as McDavid but he is absolutely in the conversation for the second-best player in the league. He did lead the league in scoring in 2019-20 and might be the MVP. They do a lot of damage together on the power play together but are separated as the top-two centers. Whoever the Hawks use between Kampf and Toews on McDavid, the other needs to be out there against Draisaitl.
Related Story. Corey Crawford deserves some respect. light
It would be wise to stay out of the box as much as possible because then McDavid and Draisaitl are out there together to lead one of the best units in the league. If the Blackhawks can’t do a better job of containing number 97 in this game, things will start to look bleak as far as their chances. With all of the goals in this series, however, it has surely been very entertaining.