The Chicago Blackhawks lost to the Vancouver Canucks at home by a final score of 6-3.
The Chicago Blackhawks capped off trade deadline day with a match against the Vancouver Canucks. The Blackhawks certainly aren't a playoff-caliber team, but the Canucks came in with the worst record in the NHL at 18-36-7. It is almost certain that they will finish the year with the best odds of winning the lottery.
Arvid Soderblom surprisingly started the game in goal for the Blackhawks. Spencer Knight is sick, so Caydon Edwards was signed to a PTO to be the backup.
Before the game kicked off, Darren Pang and the Blackhawks hosted a wonderful ceremony to kick off "The Next Originals", the final chapter of their centennial celebration.
Once the puck was dropped, it looked like two teams who made a handful of trades in an effort to build for the future. Just because the Canucks are in last place doesn't mean it isn't a team full of proud professionals.
Ryan Donato found a loose puck dumped in by Frank Nazar and made a forehand backhand move to make it 1-0. That was just 1:08 into the game.
Exactly one minute later, Drew O'Connor's deflection goal made it a 1-1 tie. 24 seconds later, Jake DeBrusk made it 2-1. From there, the Canucks started to clearly outskate the Blackhawks.
Teddy Blueger made it 3-1 at 6:32, which was the third goal on Soderblom on just seven shots. With an emergency backup goalie on the bench, there wasn't even a thought about pulling him.
Instead of going away quietly in the first period, the Blackhawks started to show some fight from there. After accepting a pass from Tyler Bertuzzi, Oliver Moore made a great play to set up Ilya Mikheyev for an open cage. The goal was scored at exactly 12:00. That 3-2 score held through the first intermission.
The second period was heavily dominated by the Blackhawks. They possessed the puck more than Vancouver, outshot them 10-6, and scored the only goal with less than one minute remaining in the middle frame.
Frank Nazar tied the game with a deflection of Alex Vlasic's point shot. The 3-3 score went into the second intermission. After a tough start to the game, the Blackhawks really buckled down to get it tied.
Despite having the momentum after a brilliant second period, the Canucks took it back early in the third period when Brock Boeser batted one out of mid-air past Soderblom to give the Canucks a 4-3 lead.
With Soderblom on the bench for the extra attacker, the Canucks threw one into the empty net. They didn't settle for just one empty net goal, though. They had a second one and skated out of town with a 6-3 victory.
This is a game that the Blackhawks fell to a lesser team because they didn't come out of the game playing well defensively. When you go down 3-1 before the first period is half over, it is going to be hard to come back once the game settles down.
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What’s Next For The Blackhawks?
The Blackhawks will be back in action again on Sunday evening when they take on the Dallas Stars. This is a one-game road trip down to Texas to take on the Stars before returning home for a Monday night game against the Utah Mammoth at the United Center.
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