Late Second Period Collapse Hurts Blackhawks

photo from blackhawkup.com

For the first thirty five minutes of last night's game, the Blackhawks played a "perfect" game of hockey, going 2-0 up against a struggling Washington team until a bad defensive breakdown led to a 2-on-1 and then the Capitals' first of three goals in the last six minutes of the period.


Brandon Saad ended the Blackhawks home shutout streak on a 2-on-1 with Marian Hossa that beat Braeden Holtby stick-side, and Duncan Keith increased the lead in the second with a power play goal.

It all went a little bit downhill from there.

Brent Seabrook went in to pinch and was caught out of position, giving the Capitals a 2-on-1 situation, and although Keith did his best to take away the passing line and the bottom of the net, Corey Crawford let it in high on the glove side, and that gave Washington the momentum it needed to rally and score another two goals in the last minute if the period. Seabrook then inadvertently assisted on Washington's second goal as it bounced off his stick, changed direction and in. Crawford had no chance of stopping it. Had it missed Seabrook's stick, it would have missed the net entirely. The third goal was also a redirection (by Joel Ward, of the Capitals) that he almost got a piece of, but not close enough.

The third period was a mess of back and forth, where neither team really had more than a couple of good scoring chances, despite the Blackhawks outshooting the Capitals thirteen to four.

Despite allowing three goals (for a save percentage of .875), Crawford was definitely the better goalie on the ice, making two or three point blank saves in the game, including a patented Corey Crawford High Glove Save While Doing The Splits. He's been great so far this season; this is the first time he's allowed more than two goals in a game, and he's only allowed seven goals in the last four games (four in the last three). It's frustrating to see a goalie playing so well when his team is struggling with offence. Crawford has a GAA of 1.70, but they've scored more than three goals only three times this season, and only once wit Crawford in net.

One good point about this game was the discipline. Apart from Marian Hossa, no other Blackhawk was given a minor penalty, the lowest number of minor penalties taken by the Blackhawks so far this season. They remain first in the league on the penalty kill.

My Three Stars of the Game

3. Brandon Saad. His first goal in eight games was a beauty, and ending the almost ten period shutout streak for the Blackhawks gave them some important momentum, even though it was ultimately shut down in the second and third periods.

2. Braden Holtby. He saved thirty eight of forty shots for a .950 save percentage this game, and was probably one of the most consistent player for Washington last night.

1. Andre Burakovsky. The Washington rookie is having a stellar start to the season, with ten points in thirteen games, and his goal was the one that gave the Capitals the confidence and the momentum to come back from a 2-0 deficit and win the game in regulation.

Next game: November 9th, vs. Sharks