The Blackhawks hosted the St. Louis Blues for the league’s annual Winter Classic game on Tuesday night. It’s the league’s biggest annual event. Chicago knew this would be an opportunity to get back on the winning side and re-capture the support of a fanbase losing patience after a pair of poor performances.

Welp…

Game Summary

The game got off to about as poor a start as you can imagine for the Blackhawks. The Blues controlled play for the first shift, then were given a powerplay 48 seconds into the game after Louis Crevier shot the puck over the glass.

Cam Fowler, playing in his 1000th NHL game, made it 1-0 Blues less than a minute into the power play. The puck found Fowler in the low slot, and he ripped it over Petr Mrázek‘s left shoulder.

The Hawks fourth line responded to the goal with a nice shift, but the Hawks were quickly back on the penalty kill after Nolan Allan was tagged for interference behind the Chicago net. Once again, the Blues would capitalize, as Jordan Kyrou tapped in his 16th goal of the season.

It felt like another blowout loss was coming. It was all Blues eight minutes into the game. The Blackhawks looked shell-shocked.

Finally, 13:41 into the period, the Hawks would get a power play of their own after Philip Broberg was called for interference. Taylor Hall, who moments earlier was deposited into the Blues bench by Zach Bolduc, got the Hawks on the board after one-timing a Ryan Donato rebound.

From there, the Blackhawks seemed to find their legs, finishing with a 10-7 shots-on-goal lead, which included an 8-0 run to end the period.

Unfortunately for the Hawks, the momentum wouldn’t last. The Blues would again take a two-goal lead 7:15 into the period when Justin Faulk snuck a point shot through traffic. Blues lead 3-1.

6:19 later, St. Louis would strike again as Holloway poked a Faulk crossbar shot into a wide-open net. I’m not sure if Seth Jones lost track of the puck, but he surely lost track of his man. Holloway was hardly nudged before he scored.

This proved evident less than five minutes later when a routine Fowler floater from the left point found its way behind Mrázek again.

5-1 St. Louis.

Looking to swing momentum on the next shift, Nick Foligno dropped the gloves with Brayden Schenn and won the bout, but the Hawks failed to score before the period ended.

The game was over, for all intents and purposes, but both teams added a goal in the third period, with Bertuzzi scoring a power-play goal and Alex Texier sealing the deal.

Blues win 6-2.

Jay’s Final Thoughts

As I write this, out of gas from one of the longest (and coolest) two days of my professional life, I find myself incredibly disappointed. Monday, Foligno talked about this game being a springboard for the team and they laid an absolute egg. Yeah, you can look at the stats and tell yourself, “It was closer than it looked.” It wasn’t, and Sorensen said as much. “I think our scoring chances were pretty even. The difference is they win in front of their nets. That’s really what it boils down to.”

Yep. That’s it.

The Captain, Foligno, agrees. “We’re not committed to blocking shots and helping Petr [Mrázek]. You have to look at yourself and say, ‘I have to do more.’ That’s where this team’s at right now. Have have to help ourselves out. We crumble right now instead of digging in.”

Woof. If that doesn’t nail it, I don’t know what does.

Hall was absolutely dejected after the game. “I’m shocked at how we played,” Hall said. “Our fans…they’ve been through a lot this year. They came and supported us so much today…and for us to lay an egg like that…I’m just…I’m really sad for the people that supported us. For us in here, this has to be a huge wake-up call.”

I don’t know where this team goes from here. The optimist in me says they rally behind this pitiful loss, but they haven’t rallied at all this season. Why would it suddenly change now? If it’s up to me, every veteran not signed long-term is one the market. Kyle Davidson should be open for business. What’s the worst thing that can happen with Landon Slaggert, Colton Dach or Ethan Del Mastro on this team? They lose 6-2?

Oh…wait.

Nuggets and Timbits

• The Hall goal in the first period was made after Lukas Reichel aggressively disrupted Faulk from clearing the puck. It’s great to see Reichel playing with confidence and without hesitation. He’s back to using his hockey instincts, which seemed to have disappeared last season—confidence matters.
• Both goalies had trouble seeing shots from distance, as Foligno alluded to. Mrázek had several long shots hit the post, while Jordan Binnington seemed to kick out big rebounds from shots at or near the point. The Blues noticed it early. Apparently, the Blackhawks did not.
• The Blackhawks record in outdoor games falls to 1-6-0. They have yet to win one of their five Winter Classic games.
• After scoring in the third period, Bertuzzi now holds the team lead with 12 goals.
• With his assist, Bedard increased his point streak to five games. He has three goals and four assists over that stretch. He also has 15 points in his 12 games under Sorensen.
• The Blues and Blackhawks both introduced their All-Quarter Century teams during the second intermission:
• Blue First Team: Alex Steen, Keith Tkachuk, Vladimir Tarasenko, Chris Pronger, Alex Pietrangelo, Jordan Binnington
• Blues Second Team: David Backes, Ryan O’Reilly, David Perron, Al MacInnis, Colton Parayko, Brian Elliott
• Blackhawks First Team: Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Corey Crawford.
• Blackhawks Second Team: Alex DeBrincat, Marian Hossa, Brandon Saad, Brian Campbell, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Jocelyn Thibault.