Weekly Chicago Blackhawks Review: Wrapping up week 3

Week 3 of the Blackhawks Season – October 23-29, 2022

In week 3 of the NHL season, the Chicago Blackhawks played four games.  They played the Seattle Kraken, Florida Panthers, and Edmonton Oilers at home and the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo.

The Hawks beat the Kraken 5-4, beat the Panthers 4-2, lost a thriller to Edmonton 6-5, and lost 4-3 to Buffalo in Overtime.

Positives from the Blackhawks week

1.) The Hawks red-hot penalty kill scored another short-handed goal against the Seattle Kraken.  This one was put into the net by Jujhar Khaira.

The penalty kill continued to go perfect against Seattle, continued perfect through six more penalties against Florida, and ended at 15/20 (75%) for the week.  The Blackhawks’ penalty kill currently sits at 73%.

2.) The team won their first three home games for the first time since the 1983-84 season.  As I am sure every Hawks fan predicted, the Blackhawks are playing extremely competitive hockey this season and are winning games.

3.) For the first time in team history, the Blackhawks came back from three straight first period 2-0 deficits and ended up winning the games.  While this is a great statistic, the early goals against need to stop soon.  It is much harder to win games when the other team scores a few goals early.

Negatives

1.) The Blackhawks have been taking a lot of penalties recently.  During week 3, the Hawks were short-handed 20 times in just 4 games.  Despite an incredible penalty kill, scoring at even strength or on a power play is much easier.

2.) Connor McDavid scored a hat trick against the Blackhawks.  Yes, McDavid is arguably the best player in the world.  However, it is never fun to give up a hatty.

The Edmonton game was certainly entertaining to watch.  It was full of goals, penalties, hits, and tons of emotion.

3.) The Blackhawks had a 3-1 lead against Buffalo and ended up losing 4-3 in overtime.  I know we weren’t supposed to expect much from the Hawks this year, but this was definitely a game that the Blackhawks should have won.

Record

Weekly: 2-1-1, 5 pts

Season: 4-3-1, 9 pts

My 3 Stars of the Week

*** Jonathan Toews – 4 GP, 2 G, 2 A, 4 P

** Mx Domi – 4 GP, 2 G, 3 A, 5 P

* Patrick Kane – 4 GP, 2 G, 5 A, 7 P – Patrick Kane scored his first goal of this season against the Florida Panthers.