The Blackhawks lost 4-1 to the Golden Knights in Game 1 of the Western Conference Round One Stanley Cup Playoff series at Edmonton.
Here are three takeaways:
Crawford vs. Lehner
Before Vegas' Game 1 starter Robin Lehner was traded to the Golden Knights ahead of the Feb. 24 trade deadline, he and Corey Crawford were goalie partners on the Blackhawks during the 2019-20 regular season.
Crawford had an uncharacteristically tough game in Game 1 across the ice from his former partner and the Blackhawks didn't make it tough enough for Lehner, who had equipment issues in the second period.
Crawford saved 29 of 33 Vegas shots and Lehner stopped 19 of 20 from Chicago.
Crawford whiffed on a wrist shot from Shea Theodore after being screened by Paul Stastny and Adam Boqvist as the play developed, which gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 7:22 of the second period.
Reilly Smith scored at 3:32 of the third period to make it 3-1 Golden Knights when Crawford came out on top of the crease to face the shot and allowed it to bounce over his blocker and in.
Lehner had to get a skate blade repaired twice in the second period, once early on in the frame and once late. The first time the 2019 Vezina Trophy finalist's blade went out the Hawks hit a post while he was struggling for mobility before the whistle blew.
Crawford almost always bounces back after a less than ideal performance in net. It's too bad he wasn't able to build off of Game 4 vs. the Oilers in the qualifying round when he saved 43 of 45 shots to help clinch the series for the Blackhawks in a 3-2 win.
We'll just see about that
After the Blackhawks challenged William Carrier's goal at 9:39 of the second period for being offsides and lost, they were tagged with a delay of game penalty.
It looked like the Hawks made a good call by challenging the play, but then the officials made a bad one in not overturning it.
The Hawks were tasked with killing the penalty, but Brandon Saad decided to go ahead and steal the puck in Vegas' zone and set up David Kampf for a shorthanded goal at 10:51 of the second for Kampf's first career playoff marker resulting in a possible play of the year for the Blackhawks.
Let it rip
Near the midway point of the game, the Hawks had only put seven shots on net. To be fair, they rang two off the post early on in the second... But, after being limited to just four shots on goal in the third period, the Blackhawks recorded a shot total of 20 in Game 1 and hit a total of three posts.
In facing a big goalie like Lehner, who positions himself to block as much of the net as possible, the Blackhawks need to get some traffic in front and try for deflections, which worked against the Oilers.
The low shot total is likely due to the Knights sporting an offense that can roll out all four forward lines. Chicago just had to limit Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the Oilers series, but the Knights are a more complete team with each line presenting a challenge. The Hawks may be better off taking a less conservative approach and looking to generate more scoring chances in Game 2.
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Robin Lehner, Golden Knights best Corey Crawford, Blackhawks in Game 1 originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
