Chicago Blackhawks: It is going to be a very long season

The first game of the season didn’t go well for the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Chicago Blackhawks went into their game against the Tampa Bay Lightning severely outmatched on paper and it ended up being even worse than we thought on the ice. Not every game is going to be like that for Chicago but it was proof that it is going to be a very long season. Tampa Bay started the night off by raising their Stanley Cup Championship banner and that gave them the momentum that they needed to start the game the right way.

Chicago started Malcolm Subban in net to begin their campaign and it didn’t go well for him. It isn’t clear if he will be the number one this year but he was surely thrown to the wolves in this game. Not only does Chicago play a “run and gun” system but the Lightning is very skilled themselves. It is a nightmare scenario for a goaltender and Subban saw it first hand as the Lightning won the game 5-1.

Giving up five isn’t going to be the everyday norm for any Blackhawks goalie but it is certainly a possibility against an elite team like the Lightning. The Blackhawks did take four minor penalties and the Lightning scored on three of their four power plays. The penalty kill (from the skaters to the goalies) needs to be better.

That type of Special Teams disappointment can’t continue. The Hawks were only outscored 2-1 at even strength which sounds much better going forward. It would be nice to see them stay out of the box and actually kill some penalties when they do take them. They also went 0 for 3 on the Power Play so the Special Teams units clearly were a difference-maker in the game.

Their one goal came from Dylan Strome, assisted by Andrew Shaw and Adam Boqvist. The Hawks need to see Boqvist develop his offensive game from the back end this season and this was a nice step. Strome is a big part of this team going forward so it will be nice to see his game evolve this year, especially since he will be the number one center.

Of course, there was no production offensively from anybody else but there were some nice chances at times. Andrei Vasilevskiy is one of the best goalies in the world and he looked like it in this game. Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, and Dominik Kubalik will certainly get going here and it will be important for this team’s chances on a nightly basis.

We know how strange this season is already and is going to be until the very end. COVID-19 has made it where the divisions are realigned and each team will only play its division. Well, it is also going to offer parts of the schedule where teams play each other in the same building a few times in a row. The Hawks have that here as they will play the Lightning again at the Amalie Arena on Friday night. We will see by then if some changes are made but they have that tough matchup yet again.