The Blackhawks Lead The league In This Impressive Stat
Photo credit: CNBC
The Chicago Blackhawks have a league-leading stat in the NHL, they've scored first in 19 games this season.
This is unexpected given, the Blackhawks are still undergoing a rebuild at the moment. Yet with Anders Sorensen taking the reins, and setting up a play style that emphasizes the offensive weapons available to him, it should continue should it?
Letting Connor Bedard off of his leash, was the start of the Blackhawks' new direction in the NHL.
Against the New York Islanders, he scored 3 points and today unfortunately he wasn't able to capitalize on Jason Dickinson's goal.
Yet, the collapse would come.
Tied 1-1 with less than 10 minutes left, young defenseman Wyatt Kaiser had an obvious opportunity to clear the puck after a marathon shift of two-plus minutes stuck in the defensive zone. But Kaiser was indecisive and held it too long, Devils forward Jesper Bratt cut him off and forced a turnover and Jack Hughes scored the goal-ahead goal seconds later.
«I think there were a lot of moments in that shift where we could have done things a lot better,» interim coach Anders Sorensen said.
«I think there were a lot of moments in that shift where we could have done things a lot better,» interim coach Anders Sorensen said.
Blackhawks and Devils
While the Blackhawks did strike first, and added 19 games to their record of doing so they were incapable of building on the breathing room Dickinson gave them.
Instead of Bedard or Hall keeping the pressure on during the game, they were hemmed into their own zone by the end of the 3rd period.
Those singular breakdowns at the worst times explain how the Hawks have scored first an NHL-leading 19 times in 30 games - and been leading, tied or trailing by one goal in the third period 29 times in 30 games - yet sit in last place with a 9-19-2 record.
A sign that Sorensen has his work cut out for them, especially if they're going to play subpar hockey after the 1st period.
It's a statistic we should be heartened by as they're not afraid to shoot the puck and neither is Bedard. But they have to play a full sixty minutes if they are to grow as a team and face the challenges of playing a contender like the Devils head-on.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 14 | 141 ANSWERS The Blackhawks Lead The league In This Impressive Stat Do you think Interim Coach Anders Sorensen can get a full sixty minutes of good hockey out of the Chicago Blackhawks, or was today a fluke? | ||
| Yes | 85 | 60.3 % |
| No | 19 | 13.5 % |
| Fluke | 37 | 26.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
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