Blackhawks: A regulation loss to the Ducks is perfect for the tank

The Chicago Blackhawks played a game, despite all of the trade madness, on Monday night. The show must go on. They continued their run on the west coast against the Anaheim Ducks in southern California. These two bottom feeders were bound to put on a show.

Of course, the Hawks have the ability to compete with some of these lower-level teams. They are bad too but they are well-coached and work hard every single game. Of all the bad teams in the league, they are amongst the hardest to play against because they bring the hardcore effort.

In this game, the Hawks took a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal scored by Tyler Johnson. He has been playing really well lately. Max Domi, who is having a really nice year, collected the primary assist on this goal.

Isac Lundestrom scored to tie the game for Anaheim later in the period. In the final minute of the first period, Jakob Silfverberg scored to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead going into the intermission.

The Chicago Blackhawks lost to the Anaheim Ducks in regulation on Monday.

Well into the second period, Andreas Athanasiou scored to get the Hawks even again. This was a power-play goal. With assists on the goal, both Domi and Johnson collected their second points of the game.

Once again, the Hawks couldn’t keep it together in the final minute of a period as Max Jones took advantage of a great play made by Mason McTavish to get the Ducks back on top. Later in the third, Troy Terry scored a really nice goal on another nice play by McTavish. That 4-2 score would hold as the final.

It isn’t fun watching your team lose but this was a brilliant night for the tank. Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty were both moved to Toronto. Patrick Kane has one foot out the door. The Vancouver Canucks pulled out a win. Finally, the Blackhawks lost to the Ducks.

Both the Ducks and Hawks are now tied for second to last in the NHL with 47 points. The Columbus Blue Jackets are dead last with 43. Anaheim and Columbus will sell fewer players than Chicago so the hope is that those teams keep winning.

Chicago’s next game is big for the tank as well as they will be visiting the Arizona Coyotes. They have 49 standings points so beating them would tie them for the Hawks. The Connor Bedard sweepstakes are really heating up here.

We will also have to wait and see if any more trades are made. Max Domi and Andreas Athanasiou lead the list of players that could be moved before Friday’s trade deadline. Some interesting times are ahead for the Hawks and this regulation loss to Anaheim could really help in the end.