The Blackhawks went back on the road for a three-game road trip, starting off visiting the Ottawa Senators on Thursday at the Canadian Tire Centre. In hopes of continuing their two-game win streak, they were once again, shutout. This had been the fourth time this month they’d gotten shutout, unfortunately. However, it was definitely not the worst as it had been a 2-0 final. For the Senators, this was an exciting victory, their fourth straight, and they hope to keep it going when they play against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. Petr Mrazek made 32 saves for Chicago, keeping them in the game and staying strong.
Blackhawks lineup against the Senators:
Donato – Bedard – Kurashev
Foligno – Johnson – Raddysh
Entwistle – Athanasiou – Reichel
Slaggert – Dickinson – Anderson
Vlasic – Jones
Korchinski – Megna
Kaiser – Zaitsev
Mrazek
Soderblom
Senators lineup against the Blackhawks:
Tkachuk – Pinto – Batherson
Grookshank – Stutzle – Giroux
Kubalik – Greig – Joseph
Katchouk – Kastelic – Kelly
Sanderson – Zub
Chychrun – Bernard-Docker
Kleven – Brannstrom
Forsberg
Korpisalo
The first had been the only period where the Ottawa Senators scored to shutout the Blackhawks 2-0. In the second and third, Chicago was lucky enough to keep out any other possible shots but was unfortunately unable to cut the lead or even make a comeback.
In the second period, Nikita Zaitsev did not make a return after leaving in the opening 20. Coach Luke Richardson said that the defenseman had not only been dealing with an illness recently but also has been battling with an upper-body injury.
The Senators had two chances in the third period to extend their lead when the Blackhawks had an empty net for an extra attacker, but both shots ended up hitting the post.
Just 36 seconds into the first, Claude Giroux gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead when he took a centering pass from Jacob Bernard-Docker during a 3-on-2 rush and then went on to beat Petr Mrazek short-handed from the slot with a wrist shot. Giroux’s shorthanded goal had been marked the fourth-fastest to start a game in NHL history since 1933-34. Parker Kelly made it a 2-0 lead at 13:52 with his eighth of the season and his second goal in the past four games. He sent a wrister from above the left face-off circle on goal that deflected in off Nikita Zaitsev’s glove after keeping in a clearing attempt from Connor Bedard.
Kevin Korchinski on how they came out and played, and possession: “Obviously, we had a slow start and we can’t have that. Last game, we had a strong start, so we just didn’t come out as hard and it just kind of bit us in the butt in the second and third. We couldn’t get a lot going,” – “They play hard – even so, we know our game and we know what works. We got to get pucks, puck slow, and grind away, chip away at their d-men. We just got to get back to that, how we played last game.”
Ryan Donato on the game and wanting to have played the same as they did on Tuesday: “We keep on talking about our starts and they got to be better. It’s not too difficult if you just start on time, right? It seems to be difficult for us right now and hopefully, we can turn that around,” – “We wanted to do the same things – We get on the power play and think we’re going to do some good things, right? You think the game should go well and then good teams make good plays… It’s tough, but then you got to answer back. You’re not always going to get up the first goal in the game no matter what, even if you’re on the power play. So for us, we got to be mentally tough and battle back.”
Notes:
– Connor Bedard had two shots and had been minus-2 in 19:55 of ice time in his first trip to Ottawa.
– This had been Nikita Zaitsev’s return to Ottawa for the first time since being acquired by the Blackhawks last season. He only played six minutes of ice time in the first period before an injury that resulted in him being out for the remainder of the game.
– Andreas Athanasiou led Chicago with for shots on goal… Nick Foligno had five hits, Seth Jones had 4, and Joey Anderson had 4; all combining for nearly half of the hits in the game for the Blackhawks.
– The Ottawa Senators ended an 11-game winless streak against Chicago that dates back to December 20th, 2016.
– In 14:07 of ice time, Ottawa defenseman, Tyler Kleven, had two shots and one hit in his first game since November 9th, 2023. He had been recalled from the AHL on Thursday.
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