Here are my takeaways from their 5-4 loss to the Sharks.
The David Kampf-Brandon Saad-Dominik Kubalik line was absolutely dominant in the first period. Kubalik scored the first goal of the game -- and his NHL career -- and had five shots on goal by himself in the opening frame. The line dominated every shift and had a huge possession advantage in the first period. Then coach Jeremy Colliton outsmarted himself. He broke up the line, placing Kubalik on the top line with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. I have no problem with rewarding a player who’s performing well, but that line was so dominant that it was foolish to mess with the chemistry. As soon as that move was made, the game changed. Maybe it’s a coincidence. Maybe it’s a result of the Hawks' bad penalties. But it didn’t work.
Alex Nylander really struggled in the game and had a shift in the first period in which he had the puck for an extended period of time. He was controlling the shift, working the puck to teammates and keeping the puck in the zone. In his final pass attempt, his pass was off the mark. Had Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson not been at the end of a shift, it would've been a breakaway. Those are the times that Nylander, whose defensive commitment has come in to question, can help himself by making a smarter play and "live to fight another day," as analyst Eddie Olczyk put it.
Andrew Shaw -- who had another very Andrew Shaw game -- took a very Andrew Shaw penalty at a horrible time. Earlier in the game, Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon put a solid check on Kane behind the net. It was a vicious-but-clean hit. Kane was looking behind himself, and Dillon took the opportunity to catch him off guard. Now, I have no problem with responding when a star player is hit hard, clean or not. The trouble is Shaw chose to exact his revenge right after the Sharks had tied the game at 4-4, at center ice behind the play and out in the open where literally everyone saw it. When your penalty kill is horrible (50 percent on the season so far) and the opponent has all the momentum, it would be smarter to find another time for retribution. Dillon played 23-plus minutes Thursday. Shaw knew he’d get another shot. He should've waited.
The Blackhawks' "top pair" has gotten off to a really bad start. In their first shift last night, Duncan Keith and Erik Gustafsson were divided like the Red Sea, leading to a quality scoring chance for the Sharks. The Hawks then took a 1-0 lead. On their next shift, Keith and Gustafsson jumped over the boards and the Sharks had another great scoring chance.
The defense has been horrible in front of goalie Corey Crawford, but the numbers are what they are. He has an .875 save percentage and 4.63 goals against average. He has to be better, excuses be damned.