Where, When, And How The Blackhawks Scored And Conceded Against Edmonton

Chicago is a team with a mix of high skill, youth, and hard-working players. They’re most known for the dazzling hands of Patrick Kane and the professionalism of Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith, but it’s the work rate from players like Matthew Highmore, Brendan Saad, Olli Maatta and others that helped them win the series against the Oilers.

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Playoff “Photographer” @BadSportsArt)

Chicago won the series in four games while outscoring the Oilers by just one goal, 16-15. The 1st period accounted for 14 of the 31 total goals including a whopping nine from the Hawks.

I went back and watched every goal scored in the Blackhawks’ series against the Oilers to try and get a feel for how they scored their goals and what went wrong when they allowed them. Here’s what I found.

How Chicago scored

• They liked to play the puck out to the point and set up multiple players in front of the goal to tip. The tips usually came from right around the edge of the faceoff circle and rarely did the Oilers have a defenseman covering the tipper.
• Chicago’s forecheck was strong along the walls creating turnovers and opening up extra offensive chances. After forcing the turnover, Chicago looked immediately to make the decisive pass to set up the goal.
• They took advantage of many defensive lapses from the Oilers, especially puck watching. They caught Edmonton with passes to wide-open players for one-timer goals on multiple occasions in the series.

How Chicago conceded

• They struggled when there were puck battles in the D-zone, especially in front of the net. Edmonton scored on five scramble plays directly in front of the goal.
• At times they were lackadaisical in exiting the zone. Rather than looking for a pass to get out of the zone, they would throw the puck aimlessly up the boards which caused simple turnovers and quick-strike offense for the Oilers.
• Of the 15 goals allowed, two were 100% on the goalie. Once Crawford misplayed a puck behind the goal and the other he was caught napping on a McDavid odd-angle shot.
• They allowed six power play goals. Their PK is incredibly passive which means cross-ice passes are nearly impossible. However, they struggled on the scrambles in front of the goal despite often having the numbers advantage.
• Speed through the neutral zone created issues for their 5-man defensive unit. They were easily caught out of position and tended to default to collapsing in front of the net.
• Chicago gave up four goals in the first five minutes of the game including two in the first minute. They also conceded four times in the first five minutes of the 2nd period.

Types of Goals

• Scored by CHI
  • Shot from point / tip – 7
  • Defensive breakdown – 5
  • Goalie Error – 1
  • Strong PP – 1
  • Accidental – 1
  • Rebound – 1
• Allowed by CHI
  • Scramble – 4.5
  • Strong PP – 2
  • Shot from point / tip – 2
  • Defensive Breakdown – 2
  • Goalie Error – 2.5
  • Transition – 1
  • Forechecking – 1

When the goals were scored

• Scored by CHI
  • 12 even strength
  • 4 power play (1 5-on-3)
• Allowed by CHI
  • 8 even strength
  • 6 power play
  • 1 6-on-5
• Scored by CHI
  • 1st Period – 9
  • 2nd Period – 4
  • 3rd Period  – 3
• Allowed by CHI
  • 1st Period – 5
  • 2nd Period – 6
  • 3rd Period – 4

Where the goals were scored

*Stick tap to NaturalStatTrick.com for the image.