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If we took out a certain few minute span at the end of the second period, this would have been a pretty terrific game. Sadly, that apparently is not an option in the NHL. It’s too bad really. That whole giving up 3 goals in a short time span thing, particularly the 2 right at the end of the period probably earned the team a good screaming at from Quenneville and deservedly so. On the bright side, the Blackhawks did score an even strength goal on home ice so we can put that talking point to rest for a while.

• Heaven Marian Saad to Brandon Hossa… no wait, that’s not right. Marian Hossa to Brandon Saad for a goal. That was beautiful work. It was just magical to watch. Hopefully Saad is soaking in every bit of knowledge he can from Hossa, because even if he never becomes the goal scorer that Hossa is, he could learn a lot about using the tools he has to be a terrific hockey player. Another bright spot was the third defensive pairing. Trevor van Riemsdyk continues to show that he’s capable of making smart decisions more often than poor ones and be trusted to slot in on any of the pairings when the blender calls for it. For the past week, David Rundblad has actually looked like the player we actually thought he might be instead of a guy scared to make a mistake and spend the rest of the season in the press box.
• Purgatory The Blackhawks had 53 even strength shot attempts (Corsi) to the Capitals 27. Outshooting an opponent to the tune of 26 shot attempts really should end up with a better result. Chicago’s On Ice Sh% was 2.94% for the game. The Capitals On Ice Sh% was 14.29%. They had lost 5 games prior to this with some pretty rotten luck so I suppose they were due for a bit of a course correction. The even strength shooting percentage for Chicago is still pretty low compared to what they usually do as a team, so there’s no reason to panic, but it sure isn’t very fun.
• Hell The Capitals scored three goals in the last 5 minutes of the 2nd period. One came after Brent Seabrook made a poor decision and got beat on a pinch that Burakovsky then buried top shelf. The next one came from the same line but this time it was Marcus Johansson making all the noise. Mere moments later, Joel Ward continued his torrid goal scoring pace on the young season giving the Caps the lead they would leave the building with at the end of the night.
• Life After Death The start of the 3rd period was a little slower than we’ve come to expect when the Blackhawks are trailing in a game. About halfway through the period, Chicago decided it should put the gas pedal through the floor and the Score Effects started in earnest. They controlled 79.17% of the play while trailing in the game so the failed comeback certainly wasn’t for a lack of trying. Too little too late in this case. It’s also interesting to note that both Jeremy Morin and Peter Regin were glued to the bench for the last 10 or 11 minutes of the third period despite being +8 and +9 in Corsi +/- in only 8.1 and 7.7 minutes of even strength ice time respectively.
• War-On-Ice
• Event Summary

The swagga: PD

Broken: Trib

Kids with guns: ESPN CHI

Sweepstakes: TSN (autoplay)

Spitting out the demons: SI

Left hand Suzuki method: FB

It’s time for another season of the Fireside Chat. In case you’re new to the site, this serves as a landfill for my lingering thoughts over the past couple weeks or so. It may involve hockey; it may involve the Blackhawks and sometimes it may involve neither of those. It might be a 2000 word opus and it could be a few brief thoughts.

As The Committed Indian’s first big free agent signing, these were the demands of my contract. So buckle up.

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Well that was fun! After much hand wringing and worrying and gnashing of teeth, Quenneville got out the Yahtzee cup, shook it and dumped a bunch of lines out on the ice in Montreal. Prior to this game, the Blackhawks shooting percentage had been left to rot in a dumpster behind the United Center and the fan base was on the verge of inventing new technology to measure shot quality just to win fights on the internet.

It’s amazing what a 5-0 win can do for the old confidence.

• Wonder Twins Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Quenneville reunited Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane on a line to start the game with Captain America, Ben Smith filling out the line. Because of all the penalties during the game, Smith shared some shifts with Kris Versteeg, but really the third member of that line was not the focus. Toews scored on the Power Play, notching his 200th NHL goal in the process. As terrific as that was the team’s offensive explosion at 5 on 5 was really what they needed. Versteeg had two goals. No really, he did. Brad Richards scored a goal. The Toews to Kane goal was pretty much just them saying “Wonder Twin Powers Activate! Form of an even strength goal!”

• Hawkeye Corey Crawford. Did you know he’s from Montreal? Did you know that’s his hometown? Oh, you did? Oh. Crawford got a well deserved shutout. The last two minutes of the third period was like gnawing on broken glass because everyone knows they always give up a goal and lose the shutout within 2 minutes of the game. Miraculously, they held it together and Crawford got to impress his mom and other family in attendance with a big flashy win. He looked very solid in the net despite some traffic, which is really his strongest quality as a goalie. He also faced a high number of perimeter shots, often with bodies obscuring his view, and stopped them all. Those perimeter shots are Crawford’s Kryptonite so it was nice to see him unaffected by it on the night.

• Mr. Fantastic Patrick Sharp. He plays 5 on 5, he plays on the Power Play. He’s going to be sitting at home for a while. Sharp got hit by Emelin along the boards in the third period and couldn’t get up without help. All the eyeballs on the hit seem to agree that it looked like a right knee injury for the shooter. After the game, Quenneville said he’ll be out “for a bit” and later clarified that it would be weeks, not days, before Sharp is back. This is a big loss. I know we all tried to tell ourselves that the team could live without him this summer because we thought he might get traded, but he’s important. He currently has a 60.3% CF% at 5v5 with a ridiculously high 73.36 CF60 (Corsi For Per 60 or shot attempt rate). That’s the second highest CF60 in the league, so missing him for a while will definitely require some adjustment.

• The Power Play had a few different looks tonight in terms of formation and the ones they don’t often used looked pretty good. Who knows if that was on purpose or just something they improvised because of Montreal’s coverage, but here’s hoping they keep putting some different schemes and units on the ice. We’re guaranteed to see some different units with Sharp out so maybe it will happen.

• Game stats: War On Ice
• Game Overview: Event Summary

4 EVEN STRENGTH GOALS, A POWER PLAY GOAL, 5-0 WIN, SHUTOUT BABY