This Went Pretty Much As Planned: Toews Plays 1000 Games!

On paper, a game between one of the top teams in the league versus one of the weakest, this is a clear mismatch. On ice, it turned out to be pretty accurate because you it became obvious who the better team was. The score flattered the Blackhawks and could have been worse because the Panthers appeared to score in the first minute of the game...another long night, right. Fortunately, the goal was disallowed because of a kicking motion from Barkov and it wasn't until the final two minutes of the period that Barkov scored for real. From there the Panthers got better and cruised to a 4-0 shutout win. All in all, a fairly uneventful game for Blackhawks fans with very little to cheer about.

Some good, some not so good:

• Shots? A positive was that the Hawks directed 37 shots at Bobrovsky, unfortunately none of them went in. He made some big saves, especially against the Strome line and when the Hawks were on the power-play, but otherwise he wasn't tested enough and I'm surprised they actually had 37 shots.
• Delia!! Another positive was the play of Hawks goalie, Collin Delia. He faced 44 shots and it felt like more than that. I was cringing when the Panthers scored that disallowed goal in the first minute, then he settled in and was steady, though he still has problems controlling his rebounds. He made a spectacular save early in the game (not long after the no-goal) on ex-Hawk, Anthony Duclair that was probably the highlight of the game for the Hawks. He had no chance on Forsling's goal as he definitely got bumped and Barkov's second goal in the third period was on a 5 on 3 PP. They may want to consider starting Delia for more games, though Lankinen will probably get the second game against Tampa on this back to back.

• Tazer! Congratulations to Jonathan Toews for reaching the milestone of 1,000 games. He has played all of them in a Blackhawks jersey and as captain for the majority of them. I know this is a discussion for another day, but you have to wonder how much longer he'll be a Hawk. That being said, I hope he retires a Blackhawk. The other highlight of the night was watching the video tributes from ex-teammates, family and some freshly retired Hawks (Seabrook, Crawford, Hjalmarsson, Shaw) Here's a video with some of the tributes from ex-teammates.

• Heads up Kirby!: Notice how many times Kirby Dach has been lit up with big hits? Last night, they didn't result in any penalties, so they weren't necessarily dirty and at least they stopped taking instigating (Ryan Carpenter) penalties. He's young and skilled, so he'll be tested and treated roughly by defensemen on opposing teams, so the Hawks need to play lot more aggressively to protect their young stars. He's fortunate he didn't get injured on that second hit from Gudas.
  

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• Bye bye? I get the feeling we won't be seeing many of these players that are rotating in and out of the lineup as healthy scratches. I'll be analyzing who should be on the team next season in a future post, but it doesn't look promising for Henrik Borgstrom, Philipp Kurashev, Dominik Kubalik and Tyler Johnson. I don't understand why Reese Johnson stays in the lineup, he's kind of a poor man's Ryan Carpenter. Calvin de Haan had a rough night, he gave the puck away several times in the Hawks end and he got burned badly on Ryan Lomberg's goal. Kinda makes you wish Connor Murphy could return sooner.
  

Up next: More of the sunshine state, second part of a back to back in Tampa Bay on Friday at 6:00 pm CST. Yikes!