Blackhawks 5, Flames 1 – Recap

By Kevin Schroeder
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: November 1, 2016

The Blackhawks didn’t get out to the greatest start – Calgary looked to have a bit more energy and the out-shot the Blackhawks 13-6. However, the Hawks made one of their shots count – a great shot by Patrick Kane put the team up 1-0. In the second, Calgary really seemed to be getting the better of the action. The Flames scored on a penalty kill when Duncan Keith‘s stick broke and the handoff to get a new one on the way back to defend was botched. That would be the only goal in the frame. The Hawks kicked it into high gear in the third, though. They played with more energy, and while they only got six shots on goal, four went in. Kaner found Artem Anisimov for a tap-in to extend Anisimov’s point streak to eight games. Tyler Motte had a beauty that I’ll talk about more in a minute. Artemi Panarin found the empty net while falling down. Niklas Hjalmarsson beat Elliott for good measure late.

A few things

The Motte goal – wow.

Tyler Motte goal pic.twitter.com/vQF55Wm6bE

— Stephanie (@myregularface) November 2, 2016
That’s something I’ve only seen Patrick Kane do, and that’s not the first time this year he’s done something that I described that way. He had a great drive to the net a couple games back that might have been even more impressive than this where he split a couple defenders and just couldn’t get the puck to go in. He’s been very good with the puck. He’s played well on the PK unit. And he’s nine games into his NHL career. I watched him play a lot while he was at Michigan and saw some serious potential in him, especially last year, but I had no idea he’d be this impressive this quickly. I thought there was a decent chance he’d need a bit of an adjustment period, especially considering that last year at Michigan, he was playing with a future NHL star in Kyle Connor and a guy whose ceiling is at least “solid NHL bottom six forward” in J.T. Compher, and that has not been the case at all.

The PK unit had another great night, killing off all four penalties the team took.
Corey Crawford had an excellent night. He made a handful of great saves with his only goal allowed coming on an effective 2-on-1 where Keith was a step behind the play without a stick.

My picks for 3 stars

★★★ Corey Crawford, G, CHI (33 SV, 1 GA)

★★ Patrick Kane, RW, CHI (1 G, 2 A)

★ Tyler Motte, LW, CHI (1 G)

Twitter: @KSchroeder_312

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com