NEWSLETTER
The best thing for the Blackhawks after last night’s loss to the Edmonton Oilers is that they won’t have to dwell on it too long. A quick turnaround today for as they hop a flight West to Vancouver to take on the Canucks at 7:00 p.m. CT tonight. It should provide a confidence boost to a Blackhawks squad that looked like the old-Blackhawks from three weeks ago against a superior Edmonton club.
• We knew Connor McDavid was going to score, we just didn’t know how he was going to score. McDavid opened the game with a rebound goal mid-way through the first period. After seeing him carve-up the Rangers and Jets in dramatic fashion, a rebound goal at the doorstep was a bit anti-climatic for McDavid’s standards.
Just your casual 17-game point streak. #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/BEAvisdHbP
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 21, 2021
• But a goal is a goal in the NHL and McDavid extended his points streak to begin the season to 17 games with the 1-0 tally.
Oilers Connor McDavid's 17-game point streak is now tied for the 8th longest in NHL history to begin a season
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) November 21, 2021
• The Oilers are led by McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, we knew they were going to be a handful to deal with on their own. But with McDavid’s opening goal, the floodgates for other Oilers on the team to take advantage. In a span of eight and a half minutes, McDavid, Tyson Barrie, Kailer Yamamoto and Ryan McLeod all scored to put Edmonton up 4-0 in the first period. It was over from there.
• But that didn’t mean that Draisaitl wasn’t still going to get his for the night.
🗡 D A G G E R 🗡#LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/vn0t2ebxBi
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 21, 2021
• His 18th goal this season leads the NHL and is on pace for…86 goals.
Leon Draisaitl has 18 goals in 17 games. He's all right.
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) November 21, 2021
• While that seems far-fetched for Draisaitl to attain, it would be the first time since Brett Hull scored 86 goals in 1990-91 for a player to reach the 80-goal plateau in the NHL.
• What also stood out last night was the beginning of the second period. For the first eight uninterrupted minutes of the period, it seemed the Blackhawks were playing in their own zone exclusively. It was pretty close to it as both Connor Murphy and Caleb Jones played a 4:50-minute shift and faced all four Oilers’ line combinations in the process.
Connor Murphy and Caleb Jones just logged a shift of 4:50. Holy cow. #Blackhawks
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) November 21, 2021
• I had never seen anything like that.
From what I can tell, since 2007, there have been roughly 13.8 million shifts in the regular season. Connor Murphy's shift tonight was the 30th longest among all shifts since during this period. https://t.co/1JDtSoYTZJ
— EvolvingWild (@EvolvingWild) November 21, 2021
• Incredibly, both Murphy and Jones returned to the ice without missing a shift. If it were me, I would have skated off the ice and collapsed on the bench, demanding someone carry me to the bus.
On his 4:50 shift, Connor Murphy said it oddly got easier as it went on.
"Your heart rate peaks and then it doesn't have anywhere higher to go and then it kinda just starts going down."
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) November 21, 2021
• Is that how hearts work?
• What led to the Blackhawks being down four goals in the first period and being hemmed in their own zone for nearly the first half of the second period were turnovers. Turnovers everywhere. It was the downfall of the night for Chicago against a team too talented to be handed scoring opportunities.
King: "You're going to turn pucks over… It's [about] what we do after that. We can't let it snowball. We've got to clean up some areas."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) November 21, 2021
• But even with shooting themselves in the foot, the Blackhawks were not too far off from keeping the game competitive. At least at 5v5 they did.
#Blackhawks at 5v5 had more shots (27-26), scoring chances (20-19), equal high-danger scoring chances (7-7), & equal goals (2-2) with EDM. Lankinen stopped 24/26 shots at 5v5. CHI allowed 2 SHGs, a PPG & had too many costly turnovers. That's your difference tonight. #CHIvsEDM
— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) November 21, 2021
• Allowing not one, but two short-handed goals and giving the top powerplay unit in the NHL four opportunities, including a five-on-three, is more than enough to dig a hole you cannot crawl out of.
• The bright spot for the Blackhawks last night was Alex DeBrincat. He scored his team-leading 10th and 11th goals of the season to attempt to keep the game respectable.
This might’ve been a double deflection with Kirby Dach and Alex DeBrincat? #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/NeC4WUU2P2
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) November 21, 2021
• DeBrincat is now ninth in the NHL in goals and brings a five-game point streak with him to Vancouver. DeBrincat has seven points over his five-game streak and seven goals in his last seven games.
Philipp Kurashev jumps out of the box and connects with Alex DeBrincat, who scores his second of the night. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/FI0bYne7Vc
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) November 21, 2021
• The question of whether or not he is a star in the NHL is over. The answer is yes.
• Speaking of stars, former Blackhawks star defenseman and future Hall of Famer Duncan Keith faced his former club for the first time since being traded this offseason. With the injury to Darnell Nurse, Keith, who had been playing a second-pairing role for the Oilers this season, was thrust back into a familiar position as the top defenseman on his club.
Duncan Keith…who led the Chicago Blackhawks in TOI for 16 straight seasons…stepped up in the absence of Darnell Nurse…and the led the Oilers in TOI with 25:06
— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) November 21, 2021
• Pretty poetic.
• Today would have been former Blackhawks forward Jimmy Hayes’ 32nd birthday.
On what would have been his 32nd birthday, today we honor the memory of Jimmy Hayes #Blackhawks #RIPBroadway pic.twitter.com/0qAxT1f511
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) November 21, 2021
• If you feel so inclined, consider donating to The 11 Fund in honor of Hayes.
• In Blackhawks prospect news last night, Colton Dach scored his seventh goal of the season for the Kelowna Rockets. He has 13 points in 13 WHL games this season.
Dach jumps all over that rebound for lucky goal number seven of the season.
🚨 Colton Dach
🍎 Gabriel Szturc (@GSzturc)#blackhawks pic.twitter.com/KCdE3ElNA9— Kelowna Rockets (@Kelowna_Rockets) November 21, 2021
• Also happening in the Blackhawks farm system last night was the Rockford IceHogs topping the Chicago Wolves for the second night in-a-row. After allowing the Wolves’ two goals on the first five shots of the game, Collin Delia and the IceHogs settled into the game and forced overtime. In the shootout, Dylan McLaughlin scored the only chance for Rockford and Delia stopped all four Wolves skaters. The win was Delia’s first of the season after making his only other appearance this year a month ago on October 23.
In the #AHL tonight, Collin Delia made his first start since coming off COVID protocol and made 31/33 saves, didn’t allow a goal in the shootout for a 3-2 #IceHogs win. Watch the reaction from Delia and his teammates and you tell me how much this performance meant to him pic.twitter.com/O7yAU0gahn
— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) November 21, 2021
• Delia was M.I.A. from the IceHogs essentially since his only start of the season, allowing five goals in a loss to the Iowa Wild. It wasn’t until earlier this week that we learned he had been in COVID protocol and away from the club. As you can tell in the video following the shootout win, this one meant something to Delia and the club, who are now 5-6-1 this season.
• Blackhawks development coach Kendall Coyne-Schofield spoke with Tracey Myers about her role with the club and balancing that work along with being a star in the Women’s Hockey realm and her expectations heading into the 2022 Winter Olympics. Highly recommend checking out the full interview.
Our @Tramyers_NHL caught up with Kendall Coyne Schofield recently to ask her about the 2022 Beijing Olympics, working for the Blackhawks, her new book, what she does with what little down time she has, and much more.https://t.co/KmAV2DlTsA
— NHL.com (@NHLdotcom) November 21, 2021
• In speaking of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the participation of the NHL in the Games feels a bit shaky. After how the league has had to deal with COVID this season, and having to postpone games already with the Ottawa Senators, there is concern around the league that NHL players might not head to the Games after all.
Mired in worsening COVID-19 concerns, the NHL's participation in the Beijing Olympics is coming under a more intense spotlight, though players still want to play and it's too early to determine whether the impact of the pandemic will lead to a withdrawal.https://t.co/DtDAhxLsny
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 21, 2021
• It’s still too early to make any assumptions, but the league has just about six weeks to finalize their decision. A lot can happen in six weeks.
• Also of note regarding COVID and athletes, the U.S.-Canada border will be closed to unvaccinated athletes coming into Canada starting on January 15. Obviously this impacts the NHL.
Canada closing its border to unvaccinated athletes on Jan. 15 https://t.co/L2SO1qx1Mz pic.twitter.com/nnRiItmDgV
— CTV News (@CTVNews) November 20, 2021
• Luckily for the league, most players are vaccinated with only a handful, maybe, still left without a COVID vaccination.
• That will do it for today. Hope you all enjoy your Sunday afternoon of football. 🐻 ⬇️
Game Recognize Game, Fields-Jackson, Analytical Preparation, No More Taunting Penalties? And Other Bears Bulletshttps://t.co/Cy4QZ1VfjA
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) November 21, 2021
• We will see you after the Bears game For Blackhawks-Canucks tonight at 7:00 p.m. CT!
