EDMONTON, Alberta — Spencer Knight was watching a routine play unfold during the second period of Blackhawks’ 3-2 overtime loss Saturday when 18,347 Oilers fans at Rogers Place abruptly erupted.
“[The puck] was around the net and everyone was quiet,” Knight said. “All of a sudden, everyone started freaking out. I almost jumped a little bit. I was like, ‘What the [expletive] is going on?’ And then I was like, ‘Oh, it’s the World Series.'”
Some 1,670 miles away in Toronto, the Blue Jays had just come within an inch of walking off Game 7 in the bottom of the ninth inning. With all of Canada captivated, Rogers Place decided to show the baseball TV broadcast on the video board during play, and that shifted attention away from hockey considerably.
“I couldn’t help but look,” said Hawks coach Jeff Blashill, who seemed to be restraining some annoyance.
“The crowd went nuts, and I was trying to figure out what was going on. So it was a weird, interesting moment. It’s been neat being up here [in Canada], just from the aspect that it’s one country’s team and you can tell that and you can get that vibe. But it was an interesting moment.”
The TV broadcast wasn’t shown during the third period, leaving fans to learn of the Dodgers’ eventual 11th-inning victory via their phones. Although the Hawks claimed they didn’t request it be taken down, they certainly weren’t upset that it was.
“It was kind of nice just [hearing] game noise,” Knight said. He assumed the Jays had won based on the crowd reactions before learning otherwise during his post-game interview.
On the ice, the Hawks battled the two-time defending Western Conference champions evenly for 60 minutes — outshooting them 25-20 during five-on-five play — before succumbing to the Oilers’ heavy star power in three-on-three play.
Andre Burakovsky tied the game in the third period and Wyatt Kaiser made some solid plays in the final minutes of regulation to help secure one point for the Hawks, but they barely touched the puck in overtime before Evan Bouchard chipped in the game-winner.
“We’ve been in this position a lot,” Ryan Greene said. “We’re just trying to figure out how to win games like this. I think it’s a good thing that we’ve been tight with some of the top teams in the league, but we’ve got to find a way to get it done.”
The Hawks are now 5-4-3 this season and 0-1-1 on their six-game road trip, but they’re at least now past arguably the two toughest matchups on the trip.
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