Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down: Oilers 7, Blackhawks 3

Ask the townsfolk, and they’ll tell you that ol’ Connor McDavid is still skating around that rink, scoring goals into the Blackhawks net

The Chicago Blackhawks spent their last game before the all-star break getting run out of the rink in Alberta, with the Edmonton Oilers winning 7-3 on Saturday night.

Despite the lopsided scoreboard, the game actually started off kinda slow. Only one goal was scored in the first period, with Tyson Barrie scoring a power-play tally for the Oilers:

About five minutes into the second period, Jason Dickinson tied the game at one after taking in a nifty backhand pass from Patrick Kane:

Despite all evidence suggesting they should do everything in their power to not put Edmonton on the power play, Chicago did so and Leon Draisaitl restored Edmonton’s lead about a minute after Dickinson’s goal:

Then the game got real bad real fast, as the Oilers scored three goals in 2:33. Barrie scored first, when a point shot appeared to hit Connor Murphy in front, sending the puck trickling through the legs of goaltender Petr Mrazek, allowing Barrie to sweep it into a gaping net:

One minute after that, Connor McDavid undressed Seth Jones before skating into the low slot and flipping this backhander past Mrazek:

Zach Hyman scored 96 seconds later and the rout was on:

Chicago got one back in the third period, with this PPG from Jonathan Toews briefly making it a 5-2 game:

Emphasis on “briefly” in the sentence above as Evander Kane scored 12 seconds later. Ryan McLeod scored three minutes after that for a 7-2 game. Taylor Raddysh provided the final goal of the night with about five minutes left in the game:

And thus ends the pre-All-Star break portion of the Blackhawks’ schedule. Just 35 games left!

Notes

• This game did not feel all that lopsided either on the scoreboard or in terms of puck possession until that three-goal outburst late in the second. The flowchart below didn’t lean too far in Edmonton’s favor before that point, even if it’s safe to conclude that the Oilers had a better overall quality of possession than the Blackhawks did for just about the whole game.
• The Seth Jones penalty which led to Edmonton’s opening power-play goal is a touch frustrating because the scouting report for facing the Oilers in the last five years has always been to stay out of the box at all costs and force Edmonton to play 5-on-5 because they can often be had there. Perhaps a touch unfair for Jones to end up in the box there, but giving the officials any morsel of a chance to send your ass to the box against this team is unwise.
• It’s easy to fault Jones for that his unsuccessful swipe at McDavid before that insane goal in the second period but it’s also true that McDavid does things like that regularly — Jones was just the latest victim.
• The Columbus Blue Jackets lost on Saturday night so the Blackhawks will head to the bye week in the penultimate spot in the NHL standings. The good news is that the teams in front of them — the Arizona Coyotes and Anaheim Ducks — faced other in a game that went to overtime. Pity points for everyone!
• This is the time of the year when the reality of the Blackhawks situation hits the hardest: the weather sucks, there’s nothing on the calendar because the holidays are long gone and having a solid Blackhawks game on TV could at least provide some form of entertainment. Instead, this one didn’t even make it to the second intermission before being decided. Yeah, yeah … I know: Connor Bedard. Whatever.
• Speaking of Bedard, we’ll continue our attempts to speak this into existence:

Game Cards

Three stars

1. Connor McDavid (EDM) — 1 G, 2 A
2. Tyson Barrie (EDM) — 2 G
3. Blackhawks fans (CHI) — Don’t have to watch this team for over a week!

What’s next

The Blackhawks take a long break before returning to action on Tuesday, Feb. 7 against the Anaheim Ducks at the United Center.