So It Goes … : Blues 5, Blackhawks 3

Well, that’s a note to go out on.

After a lackadaisical start to the game, at least they made it competitive.

The Chicago Blackhawks lost to the St. Louis Blues 5-3 on Thursday, now tied with the Columbus Blue Jackets for the bottom of the standings after Columbus took Boston to overtime. That’s very good news for Chicago, but the way they got there kinda … well, it wasn’t a great game.

The Blues started the scoring about five minutes into the second period following a lackluster, scoreless first period. Jakub Vrana was left all alone at the side of the net and Petr Mrazek was not quite able to get over in time.

On a very similar play the other way, Andreas Athanasiou scored to even the game on the power play. Jake Neighbours tripped Boris Katchouk, allowing the Blackhawks the man-advantage tally about six minutes after Vrana’s goal.

See? The Blackhawks aren’t the only team that leaves players all alone at the side of the net.

About two-and-a-half minutes later, Logan Brown tipped a shot from Justin Faulk past Mrazek, making it a 2-1 game.

Less than a minute later, Alexey Toropchenko raced past a downed Connor Murphy, received a pass as he entered the Blackhawks’ defensive zone and blasted a shot past Mrazek, giving the Blues a 3-1 lead.

Just 31 seconds into the third period, after a Jordan Binnington penalty for tripping, Tyler Johnson was able to tip in a puck off a pass from Taylor Raddysh to make it a 3-2 game.

Jordan Kyrou likely received some help from Alex Vlasic to boost the Blues’ score to four less than halfway through the third.

Boris Katchouk scored less than a minute later, after a zone entry by Seth Jones bounced to Katchouk and he bullied his way to the net.

Brandon Saad sank an empty-netter from outside the blue line in order to give the Blues a 5-3 lead and that was all she wrote.

Notes

• The Blackhawks’ power play was firing on all cylinders for once this season, as the Blackhawks capitalized on two of their three chances and generated 10 shot attempts and five shots on goal in just 3:58 of power-play time. The Blackhawks also generated 0.77 expected goals on the man advantage versus 2.13 at 5-on-5.
• The Blackhawks also managed to outplay the Blues, although, as stated in the preview: not that hard of a feat. The Blues are also one of the worst possession teams in the league, so does it make some sense that the Blackhawks managed a 53.13 percent expected-goal share? Yeah.
• It’s hard to be angry when they’re both kids and you want them making mistakes now, but Lukas Reichel was on ice for three goals against, most on the team (and two goals for, I should add) and Alex Vlasic was on for two against. Not ideal.
• Not that surprising though when seven players, including Seth Jones, Connor Murphy and Andreas Athanasiou, were on ice for multiple goals. Every Blackhawk skater was on ice for at least one goal against on Thursday night.
• Athanasiou and Tyler Johnson both had good nights, generating about a goal-and-a-half between them. Both ended up with four shots and a goal on the night.
• Can’t say Richardson’s not playing the kids when Alex Vlasic played the second most minutes (20:49) and Reichel played 18:34. Neither looked particularly good, but its the reps that count.
• I’m not gonna get all sappy but it’s been fun. I’ll still be on the podcast but this may be the last bit of hockey writing I do for … a while.

Thanks.

Game Charts

Three Stars

1. Brandon Saad (STL) — 1 G, 1 A
2. Tyler Johnson (CHI) — 1 G, 1 A
3. Justin Faulk (STL) — 2 A

What’s next

The Blackhawks will take on the New Jersey Devils to finish up the home stand on Saturday night at 7 p.m.

Head over to the new site for that coverage.