10 observations: Hawks shut out again in loss to Devils originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Blackhawks were blanked by New Jersey Devils 3-0 at Prudential Center on Tuesday.
Here are 10 observations from the loss:
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1. The Blackhawks were shut out for the fifth time this season and second time in as many games. They've gone went 121:14 minutes without scoring a goal and tallied only one 5-on-5 goal during the three-game road trip; three of their five goals came on the power play and the other was an empty netter.
2. Jonathan Toews did not play because of an illness, so Lukas Reichel was recalled and played left wing on the second line with Jason Dickinson and Taylor Raddysh. It looked like Reichel lost his man on New Jersey's first goal, but I think the line change threw things off. He went to his left-wing position after hopping over the boards while Reese Johnson, who was playing right wing, drifted to the left side as well. Hard to fault Reichel for it, given the circumstances. I would've liked to see him on the first power-play unit and not the second.
3. The Blackhawks were outshot only 29-24, but the Devils led 35-13 in the scoring chance department at 5-on-5, per Natural Stat Trick. It felt like it was New Jersey's B game, too.
4. The Blackhawks went 0-for-3 on the power play and generated four scoring chances on their three opportunities. The Devils went 1-for-2 on the power play. Special teams obviously played a role in the game.
5. Jack Hughes breakout season is upon us. He skated circles around the Blackhawks for the majority of this 59-second shift that ended in a goal, which was the communication breakdown mentioned above. Man is he fun to watch.
6. Dougie Hamilton was absolutely buzzing. He scored a goal, added two assists and registered 12 shot attempts (seven on goal). When he was on the ice at even strength, the Devils led in shot attempts (30-9), shots on goal (19-4), scoring chances (19-3) and high-danger chances (10-0).
7. The Blackhawks had only six giveaways and the Devils had 12. I think that's more indicative of the fact New Jersey had the puck all night though.
8. Arvid Soderblom took a stick to the eye early in the third period after Tomas Tatar's blade got up inside the eye-hole of the mask. Jaxson Stauber put his helmet on and was preparing to go in but Soderblom stayed in the game. Stauber would've been the sixth goaltender to appear in a game this season. Just crazy bad luck.
9. MacKenzie Entwistle and Boris Katchouk found themselves on two 2-on-1 rushes in the first period. Entwistle's pass on the first one never got to Katchouk because John Marino got a piece of it and the second one ended with Entwistle wisely shooting the puck, but it went straight into the chest of Vitek Vanecek. A couple of missed opportunities.
10. The Devils are among the league leaders in just about every statistical category, particularly on defense, whether it's slot shots against, rebound chances against, rush chances against or quality chances against. And they're doing it without Ondrej Palat, who's missed the last 20 games with a groin injury. This team is no fluke. They play so fast. It'll be interesting to see how their game translates to the playoffs.
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