The Chicago Blackhawks had a big win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday. That ended an eight-game winning streak for the Stars and had the Hawks feeling good about themselves.
That set them up for a letdown on Sunday when they hosted the Minnesota Wild. Unlike the prior 24 hours, the Hawks lost to the Wild took the game by a final score of 4-0.
Kirill Kaprizov got the scoring started for Minnesota as he now has 40 goals for the third season in a row. Marco Rossi and Frederick Gaudreau scored the second and third goals of the game to take command of the game. In the latter stages of the game, Kaprizov scored a second goal to put the game out of reach.
Minnesota is not headed to the playoffs this year but they are one of the last teams out. In this game, however, they showed exactly why some folks think they could be a contender again soon.
A couple of thoughts from the game.
The Blackhawks had a hard time with the Wild
The Chicago Blackhawks were one of the worst teams in the NHL this season. However, they were extra bad against the Minnesota Wild. As mentioned before, the Wild aren’t great but they have Chicago’s number right now.
This game made it a three-game sweep for the Wild over the Hawks this year. They won all three games by a combined score of 10-2. As the Blackhawks get better over the next handful of years, they are going to have to find a way to win some games against the Wild.
The Blackhawks beat the Wild in the 2013, 2014, and 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs, and two Stanley Cups came with it. Now, the tables have turned but everyone would take the playoff success over the regular season success any day.
Arvid Soderblom Didn’t Get Much Help
Early in the season, the Chicago Blackhawks didn’t get great results from Arvid Soderblom. However, he has been better as of late. Petr Mrazek has gone above and beyond but Soderblom has been a good backup to him.
In this loss to the Minnesota Wild, he gave up four goals but the Hawks did not play well in front of him. Soderblom made 33 saves so–he did his part. But the team in front of him didn’t provide much help. Kaprizov and the Wild had their way with the Chicago defense so any goalie would have struggled in a game like this. He deserves to get some praise for making all of those saves despite the results of the game.
It’s not clear if Soderblom is going to be an everyday starter in the future or a serviceable backup but his play in this game was good. It is far from his fault that the team lost. Even if he becomes a great backup, that would be a great asset for a rebuilding team.
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