Entering their series against the Chicago Blackhawks as the top seed in the West, the expectations were high for the Vegas Golden Knights. They went on to defeat the Blackhawks in five games and advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, living up to the hype.
The Blackhawks, on the other hand, were the youngest team participating in this year’s postseason. Yet, they had plenty of playoff experience. Despite the veteran presence of their ex-Stanley Cup champions, they did not have what it takes to last in the playoffs.
Vegas Golden Knights Advance, Overpower the Chicago Blackhawks
After having momentum from beating the Edmonton Oilers in the play-ins, it wasn’t enough for the Chicago Blackhawks as they couldn’t keep up with the fast-paced game the Knights played.
Which Corey Crawford Showed Up?
After the first three games of the series, the Golden Knights dominated the Blackhawks and went up 3-0 in the series. The reason for this series lead was Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford’s inconsistency. Crawford was both inconsistent in individual games and the series as a whole.
In the first few games, he did not look great and let in some goals that were shots he probably could and should have stopped. However, within those same few games, he made some remarkable saves that kept his team in the game. It was as if Crawford was toggling between being a reliable playoff backstop who could steal goals and being a shakey goaltender who the other team felt they could score on at any given moment. That’s all within the same game.
In Games 3 and 4, we saw a different Crawford. In Game 4, in particular, he seemed to stick to the more reliable version of himself. It’s no coincidence that this was the game the ‘Hawks ended up winning. He went on to make 48 saves that game in a 3-1 win.
Vegas Offense Too Much for Chicago to Handle
The Golden Knights are a team with tons of offensive talent. They have a plethora of goal scorers in Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Jonathan Marchessault, and many others. Having so many offensive weapons, they’re bound to be in their offensive zone a lot and generate a good amount of shots and scoring chances.
In total, the Knights outshot the Hawks 187-123 in the series. Those were just the shots that went on the net, however. In terms of shot attempts, the Knights had a Corsi for of 358 compared to Chicago’s 258. This is good for a Corsi of 58.12% with just 41.88% on the other side.
In terms of players, the Knights had a few going really strong for them. Mark Stone, as always, was a consistent contributor for them. He along with Reilly Smith both lead the team with eight points in eight games. Smith played on Vegas’s dominant second line along with Paul Stastny and Jonathan Marchessault.
Poor Defensive Positioning Cost Chicago
While getting dominated in possession, another factor of Chicago’s series loss was their defence. To begin with, the Hawks already had a pretty lacklustre defensive core, so matching up against a high-calibre Vegas offence wasn’t ideal.
On the Rush
Several goals for the Knights had to do with Chicago’s poor defensive positioning. This happened both on the rush and on the cycle. On the rush, the Vegas puck carriers tended to enter with speed, and Chicago defenders would often put too much attention on the puck carrier. This resulted in both defensemen playing on the same guy, leaving at least one player open. At that point, all the puck carrier has to do is thread a good pass to his open teammate. This creates shots from high danger areas and it’s a result of defensemen being out of position.
On the Cycle
On the cycle, a combination of things went wrong for the Blackhawks at times. For starters, the Golden Knights were often able to establish inside position at the net-front. This is something that defensemen always need to establish because if they don’t, it’s trouble. The Knights were able to get to many loose pucks and score a few goals from in tight because of the positioning Chicago’s defence failed to establish.
On top of poor net-front positioning, the Blackhawks seemed to puck chase in their defensive zone similar to the way they would against a rush. When the puck would go behind the net or along the half-wall, the Blackhawks defence would often close in on the puck carrier and the support player near him. If they weren’t closing in, their body was at least facing them. They seemed to forget that there are not two, but three forwards on the ice. The third forward would then just quickly skate away from his man (who was only there occasionally) and have an open, dangerous shot.
An Example
An example of this would be Reilly Smith’s overtime winner in game three. When the puck enters the Chicago zone, defensemen Lucas Carlsson and Connor Murphy are both within three feet of the puck carrier, Nick Cousins. When Cousins works it down to Paul Stastny in the corner, the defence continues to follow him. Not only do the defensemen, but Jonathan Toews, who’s supposed to be covering the third forward, takes a step up as well. His entire body is completely facing the puck carrier. This leaves Reilly Smith wide open in the slot to score the overtime winner.
Overview
Despite coming into the series with momentum, the Blackhawks could not handle the top-seeded Golden Knights. Vegas was just too fast, and their high-powered offence was too strong for Chicago’s lacklustre defence to match up against.
Mistakes ended up costing the Blackhawks big time. They needed to clean up their game and couldn’t do it. Inconsistency in goal was also a theme for the Hawks that ended up hurting them. The combination of all the things that went wrong for Chicago with what went right for Vegas was just too much for Chicago to overcome.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
