Chicago Blackhawks help eliminate the Vegas Golden Knights

The Chicago Blackhawks are having a really nice week at home so far. It started on Monday with a very fun win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Then on Wednesday, they hosted the Vegas Golden Knights in their final home game of the season.

There was a lot riding on this game for the Golden Knights. They came in with a real danger of missing the postseason for the first time in franchise history. They have been seriously injured all season long and have underperformed at times so it is shocking that they are in this position.

Well, after a hard-fought game and a high-round shootout, the Blackhawks prevailed. That eliminated the Golden Knights from postseason contention because they needed two points. They also needed the Dallas Stars to lose in regulation to have a chance which did not happen.

As mentioned before, when healthy, the Golden Knights are one of the best teams in the National Hockey League. With stars like Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo, and Shea Theodore amongst others, it is a very good group.

The Chicago Blackhawks played a very tough game against the Golden Knights.

Chicago hasn’t had much success against them in general but they prevailed on Wednesday night. A big day from Sam Lafferty (two assists) and Taylor Raddysh (two goals) allowed Chicago’s offense to have what they needed to win the game.

Good goaltending from Kevin Lankinen helped a lot. Each team had exactly 40 shots on goal between regulation and overtime so it was an evenly matched high shot volume game for both sides.

Even though it doesn’t mean anything to them, it was great to see the Hawks put together a performance like that against an elite team that was fighting for their lives. There are a few players in this game that will benefit from that experience.

Tyler Johnson was the only shooter to score a goal in the shootout. It has been a tough year for him with his injury but all he wants to do is finish strong. He won the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and 2021 so some extra rest should do him well this summer.

Vegas is done and Dallas is in. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are certainly going to be fun this summer despite the fact that the Blackhawks aren’t in it. There are going to be some insane matchups that any hockey fan would enjoy.

This was game 81 for the Chicago Blackhawks. They are going to hit the road one more time for a tilt with the Buffalo Sabres in Western New York. This is the last chance for the Hawks to feel good about themselves going into what promises to be a very interesting offseason.