Devils Due
Friday night’s game with the New Jersey Devils hosting the Chicago Blackhawks, was a devastating blow to the 2015 Stanley Cup Champions. Entering this game, the Devils were hot having only lost two of their last eight games, despite a slow start to the season in which it took five game to find their first win.
Jiri Tlusty was also returning to the lineup after missing the previous two games, because of a right shoulder injury. The Blackhawks were coming into the game desperately looking for a win after losing their last four road games, and having been outscored fifteen to six in those losses. In particular, they were still reeling after a disappointing loss to divisional rival, the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night, in which they blew a three goal lead. To add to the misfortunes of the Blackhawks, they were still without Duncan Keith and Marian Hossa because of injuries.
Both teams started their number one goaltenders, so it was Cory Schneider against Corey Crawford. Schneider was appearing in his tenth straight game, and Crawford was looking to redeem himself after the Blues loss. Unfortunately, there was no redemption.
Before four minutes had passed in the game, Lee Stempniak opened the scoring. Niklas Hjalmarsson had the puck, and attempted to pass it to Trevor van Riemsdyk when Stempniak intercepted it and drove to the net to score. Stempniak has scored more goals against the Blackhawks than any other team, and this was the 18th of his career. The Devils led the Blackhawks one to zero.
The second goal of the night came at 17:48 of the period. Travis Zajac won the face-off and passed it back to Kyle Palmieri who came around to the front and scored on a snap shot. Damon Severson was also credited with an assist. Now, the Devils were up two goals to none.
Friday Night Fight
It was after this goal, and the lackluster performance of the Blackhawks that Jonathan Toews dropped the gloves with Adam Henrique. Although the two may have verbally sparred earlier, Toews gave Henrique a bit of a shove after an icing call. The two started to tussle, but Toews had the upper hand. He landed a few blows to the body and head while Henrique mostly wrestled to hang on, and did not seem to land many punches. Toews embodied the Blackhawks’ frustrations, carried over from the previous game, as he tried to spur his team on after those two unanswered goals.
Unfortunately for the Blackhawks, it was the Devils who responded. The Devils were on the attack, and Zajac took a shot that rebounded off Crawford, and bounced right back to Zajac for a goal. It was the Devils’ second goal in 26 seconds. The first period concluded with the Devils ahead, three goals to none.
Scott Darling relieved Crawford to start the second period. Although Crawford was not solely the reason for the Blackhawks disappointing start to the game. Though he was not very impressive, especially if given the big picture of his performance against the Blues. In the first period, the Blackhawks looked like they were reacting to the Devils rather than trying to force the Devils to play their brand of hockey. In some of the goal highlights, the Blackhawks looked like they were standing around, while the Devils were dynamic and making plays.
The Devils continued to put the pressure on the Blackhawks. Seven and a half minutes into the second period, Palmieri drove into the offensive zone and passed the puck back to Severson, who sent it across to Mike Cammalleri for the Devils’ fourth goal. Darling had to go post-to-post to try to stop the puck, and was not quite fast enough.
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Breaking Through
The Blackhawks’ first break came with about nine minutes left in the period. Sergey Kalinin was in a puck race with Trevor Daley right behind him. Kalinin took a shot, but it rebounded off Darling. The puck bounced right to Palmieri who put it in the net, but the referees called no goal on the ice.
Devils’ head coach John Hynes used his coach’s challenge for the goaltender interference. When Kalinin crashed the net with Daley on him, the two crashed into Darling who ended up in the net. It could be argued that contact with the goaltender was incidental, because Daley was behind Kalinin, almost pushing him into Darling. On the other hand, Kalinin made no attempt to avoid Darling, though it would have been hard.
Since the call on the ice was no goal, and video review was probably inconclusive, the official call was no goal. The Devils remained four goals up with the Blackhawks yet to score.
As the period wound down, the Blackhawks played with a bit of desperation, perhaps feeding off the call. It paid off because with a little over a minute left, Patrick Kane scored with an assist from Erik Gustafsson, and Andrew Shaw providing a screen. The Blackhawks finally got on the scoreboard, making it four to one in favor of the Devils.
At the end of the second period, David Schlemko took a high-sticking penalty against Shaw, so the Blackhawks started the third period on the power play. Between the goal, and the man-advantage, the Blackhawks started to show some life.
Approximately five minutes into the third, Daley thought he had scored. The Blackhawks drove in, and took a few shots with some great scoring chances. Daley’s was the closest, but the puck seemed to be under Schneider who was up against a post. However, upon the official review, it was ruled there was no goal, as the puck did not cross the line.
Young Guns
Still, the Blackhawks persisted, and played much better. With just over six and a half minutes left, Darling was pulled for the extra attacker. The Blackhawks kept the pressure on, but the Devils were effective in thwarting their chances of making a comeback.
Although, with little more than a minute and a half remaining, Tanner Kero scored his first NHL goal with assists from Artemi Panarin and Teuvo Teravainen. Panarin had the puck, and was looking for an open lane to pass. He got to Kero, who waited for Schneider to make a move, and his patience paid off as he back-handed it right into the net. Unfortunately, the Blackhawks were still two goals behind with the final score of four to two, for the Devils’ victory.
The Devils are now 4-0-0 when scoring first. It was a huge win for the Devils, who proved they could win a game without relying so heavily on Schneider. They improved to nine and two in their last 11 games.
For the Blackhawks, they have to find a way to win road games. They have a six-game road trip coming up later in the month, so it is going to be key for them to find ways to win. Especially without Keith. Fortunately, Hossa and Anisimov (who went out in the second period with a lower body injury) should be returning in the next game, or two.
A bright spot for the Blackhawks, Kane has now extended his point streak to nine games, and their next game will be Andrew Desjardins’ 300th NHL game.
This game was also the redemption of Darling. In his three games played this season, he had a 3.37 goals against average, and a .880 save percentage. A rough start for the goalie who came on so strong in his rookie campaign. In this game, he allowed only one goal, and returned to his much more dynamic style of play. In the 40 minutes he played, he had 12 saves and a .923 save percentage. His performance stemmed the Devils from extending their lead even more.
