The Chicago Blackhawks came into Saturday’s action having won two out of their last nine games, and starting to show some dangerous trends that, if not addressed, could spell disaster for their season. We all knew coming in that this was going to be a growing season, and not one to expect to make the playoffs, but it still is hard to watch almost the same thing play out as last season, just with more off-ice drama. Arvid Soderblom got the start in net, hoping to secure a win to start off the month of December strong. Anthony Beauvillier would make his Blackhawks debut as well after being acquired on Tuesday in exchange for a fifth-round pick. One absence from the lineup fans might have noticed was Wyatt Kaiser, who was finally sent down to Rockford ahead of the game.
First period
The Jets got the majority of offensive time in the first few minutes of the game, pinning the Blackhawks down on their own end for the majority of the time. Then, with four and a half minutes gone, the Blackhawks cleared the puck down the ice. Connor Bedard took away a lead pass from Winnipeg and got it to Philipp Kurashev. Kurashev put the puck toward the net, but it deflected off a defender right back to Bedard, who put the puck past Connor Hellebuyck, making it 1–0 Blackhawks.
Connor Bedard with a wicked one-timer 👀 pic.twitter.com/fxpAca1xNn
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 2, 2023
The Blackhawks took the first penalty of the game, as Connor Murphy was called for interference. On the ensuing power play, Gabriel Vilardi skated through the Blackhawks defense, getting the puck to Mark Scheifele, who snapped it past Soderblom, tying things up at 1–1, which would hold as the score after 20 minutes.
Second period
After some back and forth action to start the second, the Blackhawks took another penalty, as Jarred Tinordi got called for hooking. On the ensuing penalty kill, the Blackhawks got a great chance when Jason Dickinson took a pass up the side boards. He skated in on a 2-on-1 with Joey Anderson, who could not quite control the rebound off of the initial shot, but did kill off more of the Winnipeg power play. Then, Nikolaj Ehlers got the puck up ice to Morgan Barron past a diving Connor Murphy. Ehlers skated in and fired the puck past Soderblom, putting the Jets up 2–1. The Jets kept coming, but the Blackhawks’ defense stood strong to close out the period. In another Bedard highlight to close out the period, he put a wicked backhand pass across to Kurashev for a shot on net.
Connor Bedard is ridiculous pic.twitter.com/tPNArIj9Iz
— Neil Pierre-Louis (@pierreanalytics) December 2, 2023
Third period
It took five and a half minutes for the first really good chance to come in the third. Adam Lowry put a shot on net that squirted through Soderblom’s pads. The puck was lying there, but Nikita Zaitsev swept it away quickly before any damage could be done.
Zaitsev saves a goal off the line after the puck trickled through Soderblom. Hawks still down 1 with 14:38 left.
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) December 2, 2023
With 10 minutes left in the third, the Jets were on the attack again. They won the face-off, getting the puck back to Declan Chisholm, who got it over to Dylan Samberg. Cole Perfetti deflected the shot right over the stick side of Soderblom, putting the Jets up 3–1. The Blackhawks tried with all of their might, even pulling their goalie, but it was to no avail. Winnipeg would take this one, with a final score of 3–1.
Analysis
The Blackhawks are struggling as of late in scoring goals. In every loss that they have recently, they have only put up three goals once, in a 7–3 drubbing by the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets. In this game especially, they had a passing clinic put on by their opponent. That simply shows that the team is out of position defensively too often, and not playing tight enough defensively as well. This team has dealt with a lot of injuries, but hopefully with Beauvillier in the fold, and with players slowly returning from injury, they will be able to get a few wins together in the coming games.
The Blackhawks have a quick turnaround, heading to the State of Hockey for a Sunday afternoon tilt against the Minnesota Wild. That game will be at 1 p.m. CST on NBC Sports Chicago.