Chicago went back on the road after having two games at home, one of which they won. They visited the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday, April 10th at the Enterprise Center. The Blackhawks had a messy start as they allowed four goals on four shots in only 4:55. Petr Mrazek had been taken out of the net early after he allowed the first three goals, and Arvid Soderblom made 21 saves on 23 shots for Chicago. The Blues defeated the Blackhawks 5-2, the second straight loss they’ve taken and it was the second victory straight for St. Louis. Landon Slaggert scored his first NHL career goal in the third period.
Blackhawks lineup against the Blues:
Reichel – Bedard – Kurashev
Johnson – Athanasiou – Raddysh
Blackwell – Dickinson – Andersen
Donato – Entwistle – Slaggert
Vlasic – Jones
Korchinski – Megna
Tinordi – Zaitsev
Mrazek
Soderblom
Blues lineup against the Blackhawks:
Bolduc – Thomas – Schenn
Saad – Buchnevich – Kyrou
Torpochenko – Dean – Kapanen
Walker – Alexandrov – Blais
Perunovich – Parayko
Krug – Kessel
Leddy – Tucker
Hofer
Jordan Kyrou scored on a breakaway with his 28th goal of the season to put St. Louis in the lead early in the first period at 17:56. Before he scored, he took a stretch pass from Nick Leddy. Kyrou went on to strike again in the opening three minutes when he made it 2-0, beating Petr Mrazek with a wrist shot short side from the left face-off circle on a 2-on-1 rush with Brandon Saad. Pushing the Blues’ lead to 3-0 at 15:23, Torey Krug sent a shot through traffic, hunting down Mrazek from the point to record his fourth goal of the season. At 13:01, Zack Bolduc increased the lead to 4-0 with his fourth of the season off a one-timer. Bolduc off Robert Thomas’ cross-crease pass, and struck from the right of the goal line.
After the third goal, Mrazek had been pulled from the net and Arvid Soderblom entered the net in relief.
With 11:20 remaining in the middle frame, Philipp Kurashev cut it to 4-1 to get the Blackhawks on the board. After a shot by Kevin Korchinski ricocheted off the end boards, Kurashev collected the rebound at the right side of the net. This had been Kurashev’s 17th goal of the season, as well as his first goal in the month of April.
Robert Thomas made it 5-1 at 9:59 when he put it in off the rebound of Brayden Schenn’s one-timer from the right circle. Zack Bolduc assisted this goal, marking this as his first multi-point NHL game (one goal, one assist). With just 3:09 remaining, Landon Slaggert scored his first NHL career goal for the 5-2 final. Slaggert cut it, beating Joel Hofer over his right shoulder from the right side.
Jason Dickinson on the Blackhawks 5-2 loss: “They came out, they wanted to win, they wanted to win, they wanted to score, and they got to it straight away – It’s not fun losing like that,” – “An embarrassing first period. We had one shot, maybe three shot attempts, and we’re down four-nothing.”
Landon Slaggert on his first NHL goal, the loss, and the first period: “Definitely good to get the first one out of the way. It was a great play by Donato and ‘Twisty’ there to give me the puck. Obviously, like you said, I wish it came in a different fashion… Disappointed with the outcome but happy to get the first one out of the way,” – “It’s obviously tough. They came out hot and I don’t think we were ready to go right away – I think we did play a lot better going into the second and the third. It’s obviously hard when you dig yourself a hole like that… We can control our effort and I think that was a big thing, and just making simple plays. You don’t overcomplicate it, make the simple plays, get pucks out, get pucks in, and I think we did just that.”
Notes:
– Philipp Kurashev has 20 points in the past 18 games (eight goals, 12 assists).
– The Blackhawks played without Nick Foligno, who missed the game due to personal issues and is expected to return on Friday to play against the Nashville Predators.
– This had been Landon Slaggert’s 12th NHL game.
– Joel Hofer made a total of 18 saves for St. Louis and recorded his first NHL point.
– Robert Thomas recorded a goal and an assist, and Jordan Kyrou has seven points recorded during a four-game point streak (four goals, three assists).
This had been Thomas’ third straight multi-point game, and has nine points, during a four-game point streak (two goals, seven assists).
– Pavel Buchnevich recorded an assist, which marked his 400th NHL career point (162 goals, 238 assists), and he has a four-game point streak with four points (one goal, three assists).
– The four goals the St. Louis Blues scored in the first period were marked as the fastest goals to start a game this season (6:59).
– Torey Krug didn’t play after the second period due to an undisclosed injury. No updates have been given.
– The St. Louis Blues are 13-2-2 in their past 17 games against the Blackhawks.
** This is my 98th post here… What a coincidence?! **
