Don't blame Blackhawks' Rundbland for Game 1 loss
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Go ahead and blame David Rundblad if you want to for the Hawks' 4-1 loss to Anaheim in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
The Hawks' defenseman was certainly a big factor in giving up the Ducks' first 2 goals Sunday in front of an electric Honda Center crowd. But pointing the finger at a 24-year-old making the first playoff start of his career isn't exactly fair.
The Hawks had plenty of chances to steal this game against a turnover-prone, leaky Ducks team, but they failed to solve goalie Frederik Andersen on 32 of their 33 shots and now trail in a series for just the second time since the beginning of the 2013 postseason.
Anaheim got goals from Hampus Lindholm, Kyle Palmieri, Nate Thompson and Jakob Silfverberg, four players who aren't exactly a who's who of Bruce Boudreau's squad. Those first three names had a combined 2 goals in the playoffs entering this series.
Game 2 is Tuesday at 8 p.m.
“We did a lot of good things, but at the same time it wasn't good enough,” said Duncan Keith, who played 28 minutes, 25 seconds and was a minus-3. “Their goalie made some big saves, but I think there's a lot of areas where we could be better.”
One of them is certainly on the power play, where the Hawks had three chances Sunday — two of which came almost back-to-back to begin the third period. The closest they came to scoring was near the end of the second PP on a Brad Richards shot that bounced off Andersen and was nearly put home by Brandon Saad.
“It seemed a little lackadaisical out there,” Saad said of the Hawks' power play. “They're a good team short-handed and they push the pace and go on the attack. So we've got to be aware of that and bear down on our chances.”
Said coach Joel Quenneville: “Didn't get to the net as much as we'd like. Put a lot of pucks to the net, but we've got to get more bodies, more traffic.”
It's just one game and this figures to be a long series, but after an ugly first period for Anaheim, which was outshot 16-7 and lucky to be leading 1-0, the Ducks basically outplayed and out-hustled the Hawks. The most telling comment in the postgame interviews came from Boudreau, who just a day earlier had voiced concern about being able to outwit Quenneville.
“I still don't think that it was our A game,” Boudreau said. “You allow over 30 shots … we got lucky and we scored and we were opportunistic tonight. But we're going to have to play better if we're going to continue to stay with these guys.”
That's a powerful statement from someone coaching in his first conference finals. Anaheim's Big Four of Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler and Matt Beleskey were impressive but combined for just 2 assists and 8 shots on goal.
As for the Hawks, they got just 2 shots on net from Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, with Kane's shot being deflected by Andersen's stick for the save of the game.
Now Quenneville's squad must come back to win a series for the first time since dropping Game 1 to St. Louis in last season's opening round.
“We started the right way; we did what we wanted to do,” Quenneville said. “Playing catch-up wasn't exactly what you want. But they get the break, scoring first, and that second goal turned out to be a good one.
“But we played the right way. (If) we score first or do the right things again next game like we did today, that's what we're looking for.”
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