Set Phasers To Love Me: Blackhawks 5, Blues 3

The Blackhawks have now won six of their last seven games.

Jaxson Stauber made 29 saves in his NHL debut and helped lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a 5-3 victory over the Blues in St. Louis on Saturday night.

The bad news is the Blackhawks didn’t have a shot on goal until over 10 minutes into the first period. The good news is the Blackhawks scored on that opening shot.

Jason Dickinson snapped the puck into the net off a slick pass from Sam Lafferty in the circle to make it a 1-0 game near the middle of the first period.

The Blackhawks third line then put the team up 2-0 about three minutes later on the Blackhawks’ second shot of the game. After Dickinson cleared the puck, Lafferty found it and fired a wrister from the circle for a shorthanded goal.

The Blackhawks extend their lead to 3-0 two minutes into the second period. Reese Johnson scored from the low slot off a slick centering feed from Colin Blackwell.

The Blues got one 54 seconds later. On the power play, Jordan Kyrou and Brayden Schenn passed back-and-forth a couple of times before Kyrou sent a wrister that beat Jaxson Stauber high yp yjr glove side, making it 3-1.

The Blackhawks didn’t wait long to respond themselves, scoring 1:05 after the Blues goal. Dickinson passed the puck to Andreas Athanasiou in the neutral zone, and Athanasiou skated to the top of the right circle, sniping the puck home for a 4-1 Blackhawks lead.

That goal would end Binnington’s night.

The Blues cut the Blackhawks lead in half 13:12 into the second period after Ivan Barbashev stuffed home Kyrou’s pass five-hole on Stauber.

Isaak Phillips fought Barbashev after the latter had a hard hit on Dickinson, and the rookie had his clock cleaned pretty well. Please stop letting children fight.

The Blues got within one at 9:15 of the third period after a Nick Leddy slapper from the top of the circle made it through traffic and into the back of the net.

The Blackhawks re-gained a two-goal lead with 3:59 left in the game. A give-and-go between Tyler Johnson and Max Domi ended with Domi’s shot perfectly placed for the top-left corner. That score held to the end of regulation, so the Blackhawks defeated the Blues 5-3.

Notes

• This was the most lopsided win the Blackhawks had this season, just in favor of their opponent. Chicago had only 37.5 percent of the shot attempts, 35 percent of the shots, and 38.78 percent of the expected goals at 5-on-5 — yet they won 5-3. That’s hockey for you!
• Though, let’s be honest, the Blackhawks only having 18 shots on net in a game against a team that is bottom-10 in shot suppression is pretty indicative of how bad the Blackhawks are this season at puck possession.
• But Binnington getting chased for allowing four goals on seven shots is the embarrassment he deserves for being a shitty man baby. Karma, baby.

• Still, credit to the Blackhawks players for taking advantage of the miscues by the Blues and the garbage goaltending when it mattered.
• You know it’s wonky times when R. Johnson is on a two game goal streak. He’s been improved this season over last — though that’s not hard, considering his play last season — but goals in back-to-back games for the nice guy is still surprising. Good for him, though.
• The third line of Dickinson, Lafferty, and Athanasiou was obviously the best line of the night. Not only did they knock in some goals, they also were the only Blackhawks line above water statistically. For example, they had a whopping 71.92 percent expected goal share in 10:28 of ice time. The next closest was the Kane line at 46.79 percent.
• The Domi, T. Johnson, and Kane line had a very rough first two periods, being absolutely dominated by the Blues. But they were pretty good in the third, and that Domi goal was easy to see coming.
• Extra special congrats to Stauber for getting a win in his first NHL game. I’m a sucker for nice things happening to rookies. Both he and his mom were very excited.

• If you have mixed emotions about the Blackhawks wins lately because it hurts their draft lottery chances, don’t sweat it too much — it’s not sustainable, so just enjoy it while it lasts. Also, it’s the Blues, and it’s always good to see them lose.

• P.S. I just wanted to take a moment to tell everyone at SCH how much I’ve appreciated the community we have here. We don’t exactly know what the future holds or how long we’ll be around, but however it all unfolds, I just wanted to say it’s been an honor to have been a commenter for years and on staff more recently.

Game Charts

Three stars

1. Jason Dickinson (CHI) — 1 goal, 2 assists
2. Jaxson Stauber (CHI) — 29 saves on 32 shots, first NHL win in debut game
3. Sam Lafferty (CHI) — 1 goal, 1 assist

What’s next

The Blackhawks head home to the United Center and immediately have to play the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday at 6 p.m.