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The Chicago Blackhawks were defeated by a score of 3-1 by the Dallas Stars and a big part of that outcome came from possession of the puck.
En route of the Blackhawks, Jamie Benn went 16-0 on faceoffs in the game and tied an NHL record. Since the NHL started tracking faceoffs, Benn is just the sixth player in history to take at least 16 draws and win them all.
Blackhawks’ head coach Luke Richardson said that, “I think it was more they were really good. You have to give them credit. I think they won more than 75% of the faceoffs and they’re a fast team, so when we start out without the puck, I think that’s a hard thing. We’re chasing the game quite a bit.”
This has to be a wakeup call for the Blackhawks as Nick Foligno is the only player on the team that has a faceoff percentage of at least 50% among everyone on the team who has taken over 10 draws. Foligno normally plays on the wing and has a 55.8 faceoff percentage.
Of the other four Blackhawks to take the most draws on the team, Connor Bedard is 30% in the faceoff dot, Lukas Reichel is 35.4%, Jason Dickinson is 45.9%, and Philipp Kurashev is 48.9%. These are bad numbers all around and Chicago is stuck chasing the game against better teams that can control the play.
Related: Nick Foligno Takes Subtle Jab At Blackhawks TV Situation
Benn put on a clinic against the Blackhawks and it emphasizes what the team really needs to work on to see improvements overall. Since it is just the sixth time a player has been that dominant on faceoffs in a game since the stat started being tracked, it’s anyone’s guess when the next time we’ll see that feat accomplished.
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