The Chicago Blackhawks could really use a big-time game from Patrick Kane.
The Chicago Blackhawks were outplayed in almost every facet of the game on Monday night against the Vegas Golden Knights. It was pretty ugly because Vegas is so much deeper than Chicago which makes them dangerous in all three zones. They run four lines of forwards and three defense pairs that protect their goaltender as well as any team in the league. The Blackhawks need a huge game from Patrick Kane to overcome this.
Patrick Kane is still one of the best offensive players in the league. You know that is the case when he can have four points in four games against the Edmonton Oilers and people see it as underwhelming. Most players would very much love that sort of production but we are sort of expecting more from Kane. He is capable of changing a series all by himself as we have seen in the past and that might be what the Hawks need to beat Vegas.
The Blackhawks were only able to get one past Robin Lehner and it was a sweet short-handed goal by David Kampf that came as a result of a great play by Brandon Saad. That was a nice play but it was certainly not enough scoring to win a game. Everyone knows that Chicago’s offense starts and ends with Kane so seeing him ramp it up in game two would go a long way.
As good as Kane is, however, it can’t all be on him. You saw in the play-in series how much some help from Jonathan Toews, Dominik Kubalik, and Kirby Dach amongst others really elevated them. We even saw Duncan Keith play as he used to in the glory days against Edmonton. Guys like Olli Maatta and Matthew Highmore contributing were nice too. Depth is the key to winning hockey teams but seeing a big game from Kane tonight would be awesome.
This is an afternoon game as the puck drops at 4:30. It is a key game in the series because coming back from down 2-0 against the Golden Knights would be extremely difficult. They make it hard to create offense and they have plenty of players who can put the puck in the net themselves. This is an exciting matchup for sure and hopefully, the Hawks can see a big game from Kane lead them to victory.