The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Minnesota Wild in overtime at United Center on Sunday night. It was a thrilling way to end what was an overall good game.
One of the game’s best players was forward Jason Dickinson. For one, he scored a beautiful goal that showed off incredible patience with the puck and a brilliant shot.
Getting the Hawks on the board first offensively pales in comparison to what he did on the defensive side of the puck in this game.
Dickinson was the center of the line responsible for containing Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov. The Wild superstar is one of the best offensive players in the game right now and is an early Hart Trophy candidate.
Kaprizov was held to one assist in the game and it was a subtle little pass that Matt Boldy rifled into the net. Outside of that play, Kaprizov was held in check and Dickinson was the biggest reason for that. He was brilliant.
After the game was over, his teammates were sure to sing his praise:
“That whole line [Dickinson] was, you know, great against [Kaprizov’s] line and that’s the key for us”. Said Petr Mrazek after the game when asked about how Dickinson played defensively.
A goaltender can see everything in front of him and he had the be the most thankful out of everyone for Dickinson’s play against Kaprizov.
Mrazek did note that he plays against Kaprizov as any other NHL player because everyone is good but you know a star like that is going to be more lethal at any given moment. Having a solid defensive forward out there is important to containing players like that.
“Awesome. I think he and Joey and Teuvo did a great job tonight just sitting down that top line.” Alex Vlasic said to the same question of how he thought Dickinson played. “It’s a hard thing to do, he [Kaprizov] is one of the hottest guys in the league right now. For them to be able to do that for us is huge.”
Just like a goaltender, you know a defenseman is going to appreciate a forward playing that well in his own end. Vlasic wasn’t half bad himself in the effort to keep the Wild star off the board as much as possible.
There are a lot more stars that the Blackhawks are going to face off against this season. Dickinson’s work has only just begun this season. If he can continue to score in some of these games, the Blackhawks will be even better off.
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