Ryan Donato gave the Blackhawks the 1-0 lead at the 1:08 mark of the first period. Donato retrieved his own dump-in and fired a backhand into the net behind Canuck goaltender Nikita Tolopilo.

Chicago’s lead would not last long, as a minute later Canuck winger Drew O’Connor tied the score at 1-1 beating Arvid Soderblom.

Forward Jake DeBrusk would give the Canucks the lead at 2-1 a few seconds later, tipping home a Zeev Buium’s shot from the point.

Vancouver extended the lead to 3-1 at the 6:32 mark of the opening period Teddy Blueger slid a puck behind Soderblom to give Vancouver three goals on seven shots.

The Blackhawks would answer back at 12:00 with pretty tic-tac-toe play finished by Ilya Mikheyev. The goal, Mikheyev’s 12th of the season, was assisted by Oliver Moore and Tyler Bertuzzi.

With the score 3-2 after one period of action, Nazar tipped a shot from Alex Vlasic from the point that beat Tolopilo to tie the game at 3-3 at the 19:17 mark of the second period.

Boeser scored his first goal of the night early in the third period, on the power play, to give the visitors the one-goal lead. The lead appeared to disappear when Landon Slaggert scored at the 15:00 mark only to have the goal disallowed for a kicking motion to direct the puck into the goal.

Vancouver would take advantage of the disallowed goal and take a two-goal lead at the 18:34 mark of the third period before Boeser scored his second goal of the night into an empty net to give the Canucks a 6-3 victory.

The Blackhawks travel to Texas to take on the Dallas Stars for a 5 p.m. CDT puck drop on Sunday at the American Airline Center.

Analysis

Nazar finding the back of the net and assisting on another is exactly what the slumping sophomore needed. Nazar has been a little snake-bitten this season, shooting at 8.2% for the year and only has eight goals and 19 assists in 46 games played. The 22-year-old has been tasked with more ice time this season at 18:27 and has shown some struggles defensively, which in turn, looks to have spilled over into his offense.

The trade deadline decimated some of the Blackhawks’ older players and it is strictly the youth movement from here on out this season. Bedard is clearly the next player in line and this is his franchise for the foreseeable future. The Hockey News rated Anton Frondell the best prospect in hockey not yet in the NHL. The future is bright and General Manager Kyle Davidson spoke to the media and said they are sticking to their plan. As fans, all we can do is wait…two more seasons before they compete for the playoffs.

The post RECAP: Canucks defeat Blackhawks 6-3 as Boeser scores twice appeared first on The Rink.

Blackhawks lines in warmups in Vancouver are the same as last game:

Greene-Bedard-Burakovsky
Teravainen-Nazar-Bertuzzi
Moore-Donato-Mikheyev
Dach-Foligno

Vlasic-Rinzel
Kaiser-Levshunov
Grzelcyk-Murphy
Crevier

Knight

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) November 6, 2025

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First period

The first period in this game was a relatively uneventful one. The Blackhawks got out-shot by Vancouver 16-11, but generally looked evenly matched. Knight made saves that he needed to make, and everyone else generally did their jobs. Ryan Greene had one of the Blackhawks’ best chances, with former Hawks netminder Kevin Lankinen steering his shot in tight aside. Connor Bedard had a few chances, but was not able to get anything past Lankinen, who kept the puck out on his end as well. The first period would end as it had started, in a 0-0 tie.

1st intermission: Blackhawks 0, Canucks 0

That was a lot more fun than Seattle. Free-flowing hockey with plenty of chances both ways.

Shot attempts: 20-26 VAN
Shots on goal: 11-14 VAN
Scoring chances: 9-15 VAN

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) November 6, 2025

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Second period

This is where it all kind of fell apart. The Canucks absolutely owned the second period. They got a power play five and a half minutes in and got some high-quality chances. Knight absolutely stood on his head to keep the puck out of the net. It looked like the Canucks might get a gift goal after the officials did not call for goaltender interference when Knight got checked down by Drew O’Connor, but upon a challenge, the call was overturned and they disallowed the goal. Connor Murphy had the Blackhawks’ best chance in front of the net on a feed from Matt Grzelcyk, with Lankinen proving up to the task in stopping that opportunity. The Blackhawks got bested badly by the Canucks in this period as a whole, though, and only were able to keep the puck out thanks to one goalpost and Knight absolutely playing sensational in net.

Chicago challenges for goaltender interference and win it.

I imagine Jeff Blashill would have been unhinged if this call didn’t go their way given how their last challenge against Vancouver went at the United Center. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/FvODywKi7z

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) November 6, 2025

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Third period

Three minutes into the period, the Blackhawks got their first. Grzelcyk again got the puck along the boards and put it on net. It deflected off of Tyler Bertuzzi in front and into the back of the net, 1-0 Blackhawks. Three and a half minutes later, Bertuzzi set up in his office again at the side of the net. He took a feed from Bedard and put it home again, putting the Blackhawks up 2-0.

Tyler Bertuzzi goal no. pic.twitter.com/qyGCmYusrq

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 6, 2025

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Just under a minute later, after a scramble in front, Ilya Mikheyev found a loose puck in front of the Canuck net and wristed it past Lankinen, making it 3-0 Chicago.

The visitors were not done yet. Louis Crevier got a shot on goal with a lot of traffic in front, with Bertuzzi picking up the rebound. He took his time and wristed his third goal past Lankinen, putting the Blackhawks up 4-0.

AND THAT’S A TYLER BERTUZZI HAT TRICK pic.twitter.com/LVU85kRmJv

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 6, 2025

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The Canucks would pick up two goals quickly to try to get back into the game. Aatu Raty got a wicked wrister over the shoulder of Knight to puck the Canucks on the board, 4-1. Just over a minute later, with the goaltender pulled, Evander Kane got onto the ice and put a one-timer past Knight to make it 4-2. Bedard would pot an empty-netter after that to take care of things once and for all, and the Blackhawks took this one 5-2 in Vancouver.

Analysis

The Blackhawks got a win in what was an incredibly inconsistent game from this team. The second period was all Vancouver, and the only reason they made it through unscathed was because of Knight. He played stellar in net, only letting up two goals late that would have been very tough stops as well. Bertuzzi came alive in the third by planting himself beside the net, which is his best spot, causing traffic and getting in the way of the goalie seeing the puck. It has been a long time since I have watched a game where it got to the third period and exploded with offense all of a sudden. It is good to see the Blackhawks able to come out after a bad period, though, and put something together to take home the win.

The Blackhawks’ next game is on Friday night in Alberta against the Calgary Flames. That game will be at 8 p.m. CST on CHSN.

The post RECAP: Bertuzzi’s hat trick powers Blackhawks past Canucks 5-2 appeared first on The Rink.

Despite Slaggert being active, the Hawks only changed to their lineup was Spencer Knight in at goalie. With Vancouver having played Dallas the night before, the Hawks looked to take advantage of their fatigue early.

First period

Under two minutes into the game, the Blackhawks drew their first penalty of the game. Kiefer Sherwood was called for hooking against Matt Grzelcyk, and the Hawks capitalized with a Ryan Donato tally.

Ryan Donato with a backdoor tap-in on the power play for his second goal of the season. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/q2hnjHeYQZ

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 18, 2025

Later in the period, Tyler Bertuzzi gave the Hawks a 2-0 lead.

Tyler Bertuzzi cleans up the rebound for his second goal of the season with 46 seconds left in the opening frame. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/Hu95gCdTRR

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 18, 2025

The period ended with the Hawks up 2-0.

Second period

The Canucks found their legs in the second period with a power-play goal from Jake DeBrusk and a even-strength goal from Max Sasson. The second period ended tied at 2-2.

Third period

In the third period, Bertuzzi thought he had scored the go-ahead goal with 5:12 left in the third period. Instead the play was reviewed and ruled goalie interference and no goal.

Tyler Bertuzzi had his second of the game but it gets waved off. No clue why pic.twitter.com/lDgKwd4XAH

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) October 18, 2025

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The game went to overtime.

Overtime/Shootout

In overtime, Knight and Kevin Lankinen both put on impressive shows. Knight had to make the save of the game near the end of overtime.

Great stop by Spencer Knight on Elias Pettersson (#40) to extend the game to a shootout pic.twitter.com/iw00JBvBaX

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) October 18, 2025

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In the shootout after three rounds, Brock Boeser buried the game-winner for Vancouver.

Analysis

The Hawks played great in the first and third periods with a letdown in period two. Despite the shootout loss, we saw the importance of Knight and Bertuzzi. Knight had one of his best performances as a Hawk, while Bertuzzi was the best Blackhawks player in the game. Both players playing well will help the Hawks to continue to improve this season.

On the defense, a bright spot was Louis Crevier. Crevier had an effective role on the penalty kill, especially with a good poke check. Wyatt Kaiser also had another strong performance.

This Hawks team continues to grow this season and continues to make strides.

The Hawks’ next game is Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks as Joel Quenneville returns to town. The game will start at 6 p.m. CDT.

The post RECAP: Blackhawks fall in a shootout 3-2 to Canucks appeared first on The Rink.

First period

Quinn Hughes got the Canucks on the board early in the first period. This was Hughes’ second game back from injury. Less than a minute later, Tyler Myers added to the Vancouver lead. Soderblom allowed two goals against four shots on goal.

Second period

Conor Garland scored his 17th goal of the season to put Vancouver up 3–0. Alex Vlasic got the Hawks on the board with his fourth goal of the season.

Alex Vlasic puts Chicago on the board with his 4th goal of the season. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/XdjSItdp2v

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) March 16, 2025

This was Ryan Donato’s 14th primary assist since Jan. 1. He is tied for fifth in the league during that time.

After two, it was Vancouver up 3–1 over Chicago.

Third period

In the third period, the wheels fell off the Blackhawks’ wagon. Elias Pettersson put the Canucks 4–1 with a goal. The Hawks did respond with a Wyatt Kaiser goal, with Levshunov setting him up for the 19-year-old’s first career point.

Kaiser is such a different player when he’s skating like this. pic.twitter.com/imtIXlY98y

— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) March 16, 2025

Less than four minutes later, Nils Aman put the game out of reach with a goal. Former Blackhawks forward Pius Suter made the final score 6–2.

Analysis

If not for Levshunov’s play tonight, this game would have been bleak. Levshunov played a team high 22:39 of ice time. While he did earn his first NHL point, he was also exposed on two Canucks goals. That is to be expected with the young defenseman as he tries to find his footing in the NHL.

The rest of the Hawks were awful. Soderblom allowed six goals on 15 shots for a .600 save percentage. He was off all night and it showed. Hopefully this is just a blip in his otherwise solid bounce-back season.

It is clear that Bedard is frustrated this season and now it is starting to manifest into penalties. In the last two games, he has drawn two 10-minute misconducts. We will never know what he said because the NHL does allow refs to be interviewed. It might be wise for the Blackhawks to give Bedard a phantom injury for a mental reset.

While Bedard is visibly frustrated, Tyler Bertuzzi is just plan invisible. Bertuzzi has not scored in 20 games. During the Bertuzzi drought, the Hawks have been outscored 16–6 in 5-on-5 play.

Hopefully with an infusion of NCAA players signing and a seven-game home stand, the Hawks can start to build some positive momentum again because right now it is pretty bleak.

The Hawks’ next game is Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. CDT against the Seattle Kraken.

The post RECAP: Blackhawks pummeled by Vancouver 6–2 appeared first on The Rink.

Before the game, Luke Richardson once again went to the line blender. Richardson healthy scratched Taylor Hall, who he said needed more practice time before playing again. Hall is coming off a season-ending leg injury last year. In his place was former Canucks forward Ilya Mikheyev. Mikheyev played on the second line. The Hawks also called up Louis Crevier in place of the injured Seth Jones. Jones was placed on injured reserve with a right foot injury. There is currently no timeline on his return.

Here were the lines for the game:

Blackhawks’ lines and pairs in warmups:

Kurashev-Bedard-Donato Mikheyev-Foligno-Bertuzzi Teravainen-Dickinson-Anderson Maroon-Reichel-Smith

Allan-Martinez
Vlasic-Murphy
Kaiser-Brodie

Soderblom

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) November 17, 2024

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First period

In the first period, Richardson looked like a genius, as Mikheyev scored the game’s first goal.

Ilya Mikheyev scores his second goal of the season in his return to Vancouver after being a healthy scratch in consecutive games. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/j2zrBE66VW

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) November 17, 2024

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The play was started with an impressive outlet pass from Nolan Allan.

The Hawks finished the period up 1–0 and could have been up more. Arturs Silovs stopped two chances from Craig Smith and chances from Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen.

Second period

Vancouver responded in the second period with a power-play goal to tie the game. Elias Pettersson banged it home for his fifth goal of the season. Pettersson’s shot went in the net off Connor Murphy.

The second period ended with the score knotted at 1–1.

Third period

With momentum on their side, the Canucks took over the game. Erik Brannstrom got his second goal of the season as the Hawks failed to clear the zone.

Late in the third, the Hawks pulled Arvid Soderblom to try to force a tie. Sadly, Bedard whiffed on a puck in the neutral zone and the puck was recovered by J.T. Miller. Miller fired the puck in to the seal the Vancouver victory. Teddy Blueger added another empty-netter to make the final 4–1 in favor of Vancouver.

Analysis

The simple truth is that this team stinks. The Blackhawks do not score enough goals to win games. The Hawks have scored six goals in their last five games, losing four of those five. Their lone win against Minnesota, their second goal was scored in overtime.  The team has to get more offensive production from their free-agent signings in Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi.

Connor Bedard

Despite not scoring goals, the Hawks have a bigger problem on their hands. The team needs to figure out a way to get Bedard going on offense. He does not have a goal in nine games and went 0-for-8 at the faceoff dot. Mark Lazerus pointed out that Bedard is not snapping off his shot like last season and is deferring more to veterans like Ryan Donato. Perhaps it is time to move Bedard to the wing. The Hosts of the TNT NHL coverage are suggesting as much. The Hawks need to right the Bedard ship and right it fast.

Luke Richardson

Could Richardson be feeling the heat this season? Some are wondering if that is why he is making questionable lineup decisions. The move to bench Taylor Hall was a head shaker. People have also questioned his benching Donato earlier in the year for Andreas Athanasiou. Athanasiou was sent to Rockford this week after clearing waivers, while Donato now leads the team in goals.

Richardson continued to move players around in hopes of generating some offensive spark.

CHSN update

Lastly, CHSN launched its own app on Friday so more fans can watch the Hawks. While some players have said that the pricing is too high, CHSN President Jason Doyle put the pricing blame on the providers.

As for the app itself, some were still unable to watch the game.

You know what’s AWESOME about @CHSN__ and trying to watch the FIRST #Blackhawks game of the season on their rights holder streaming service?

When you go to start streaming after paying and it says you need to subscribe to watch….

What an absolute disaster…. pic.twitter.com/S6bgKfKD1B

— Tab Bamford (@The1Tab) November 17, 2024

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The Hawks continue to be a disaster on and off the ice. The next Hawks game is Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. CST on CHSN.

The post RECAP: Blackhawks’ woes continue in 4–1 loss to Vancouver appeared first on The Rink.

First period

This one started real rough, real quick. Twenty-one seconds in, Kiefer Sherwood got a steal alongside the boards in the Blackhawks’ zone. He passed it across to Teddy Blueger and then to Danton Heinen, making it 1–0 Canucks. At the 4:39 mark of the frame, Jason Dickinson got called for a trip against J.T. Miller. On the ensuing power play, Quinn Hughes put a shot off the end boards that came out in front to Miller, who quickly made it 2–0 Vancouver.

The Blackhawks would get one back, though, in short order. After a pinch by Alex Vlasic, Dickinson stuck with a play behind the net, feeding it in front to Ryan Donato for his second of the season, 2–1 Vancouver. But, just over a minute later, Heinen would pick up his second on a deflected shot from Filip Hronek at the point, 3–1 Vancouver. The goal debatably should have been disallowed due to an offside from Vancouver upon entering the zone, but after a Blackhawks challenge, the goal was upheld.

We were not done with scoring in the first, though. Taylor Hall came up with a loose puck in between the circles and fired it home for the 700th point of his career, making it 3–2 Canucks.

Taylor Hall rips it home for the 700th point of his career!

: Frozen Frenzy action all night on @espn & @ESPNPlus https://t.co/S5tPrXCygm pic.twitter.com/Rvo7A4zJQd

— NHL (@NHL) October 23, 2024

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Two minutes later, the Canucks got it right back on a Conor Garland rebound opportunity, giving the Canucks back their two-goal lead, again in controversial fashion.

I stand corrected: Vancouver had SEVEN players on the ice prior to scoring their fourth goal. The officials missed it. Chicago’s bench was irate. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/TJpYqXeIiZ

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 23, 2024

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The back-and-forth first would end with Vancouver up 4–2.

Second period

The Blackhawks received two more power play opportunities in the second, but could not convert and could barely get any opportunities to score on these chances. Seth Jones was brutal, with an abundance of turnovers and overall brutal play to keep things where we ended the first, 4–2 Canucks.

Third period

It took halfway through the period this time, but the Blackhawks gave up another power play on a Connor Murphy trip of Elias Pettersson. Brock Boeser got the tip out in front this time, 13 seconds into the power play, making it 5–2. Old friend Pius Suter showed up a few minutes later to increase the lead further, 6–2 Vancouver. The Blackhawks would get one back on a two-man advantage, with Tyler Bertuzzi scoring to make it 6–3. That is how this one would end, with Vancouver taking control the whole way through.

Analysis

The Blackhawks played, to this point, their worst game of the season on Tuesday night. Defense was horrid, special teams may as well have not shown up and Mrazek was hung out to dry several times throughout this very one-sided contest. The top line has to be producing, and with Connor Bedard a -3 on the evening, it is clear that they were not playing their best in this one, either.

Mrazek put up his first stinker of the season, with a .800 save percentage in this one, compared to being over .900 in every other game he has played this season. Vancouver got away with a couple, including having seven skaters on the ice at one point leading up to a goal, but that still would not have made a difference in the end. With some brutal play from Jones, it is clear that he is not the player the Blackhawks’ previous regime thought they were getting when they traded for him, as he has played his worst hockey here in Chicago.

Hall was the lone bright spot, picking up point No. 700 in this one as he looks to work his way back from missing almost all of last season. He looks good so far, as he is playing with confidence and playing smart hockey.

Congrats on 7⃣0⃣0⃣ career points, @hallsy09! pic.twitter.com/ujZXTw3Cp8

— WGN Radio 720 (@WGNRadio) October 23, 2024

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The Blackhawks’ next game is on Friday versus the Nashville Predators. That game will be at 7:30 p.m. CDT.

The post RECAP: Hall hits 700 points as Blackhawks lose 6–3 to Canucks appeared first on The Rink.

First period

The Canucks got on the board first at 10:05 of the first period. Filip Hronek intercepted an Alex Vlasic pass in the neutral zone and then fed Conor Garland, who skated in 2-on-1 with Dakota Joshua, who took the pass and fed it back to Garland, who tapped it in the open net for his 10th of the season. The Canucks would take a 1–0 into the locker room as they dominated the first period, including a 12–2 shot advantage, with the Hawks’ two shots coming in the final 30 seconds while on the power play.

Second period

Midway through the second frame, Garland scored his second of the game and 11th of the season at the 8:18 mark to give Vancouver a 2–0 lead. Hronek took the puck at the point and his shot was going wide but hit Garland’s skate on the way in and trickled past Mrazek for the goal.

Tyler Johnson cut the Hawks’ deficit to 2–1 with his 10th of the season at 16:43 on the power play. Nick Foligno picked off a Vancouver clearing attempt and skated toward the half boards, dished it to Philipp Kurashev along the goal line, who fed a wide-open Johnson in front, who buried a one-timer past Demko.

TJ on the power play pic.twitter.com/MeV3HRQ9sd

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) February 14, 2024

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Vancouver regained its two-goal lead at 18:28 when Nils Hoglander scored his 17th of the season. Elias Lindholm retrieved his own dump-in off the boards and found Hoglander, who skated in front and beat Mrazek from in tight to give the Canucks a 3–1 lead, which they took into the locker room after 40 minutes.

Third period

At 6:07 of the third, Joshua scored his 13th of the season to give the Canucks a 4–1 lead. From the half boards, Teddy Blueger fed Joshua in the slot and he deked Mrazek and scored on the backhand for his third point of the game.

Kevin Korchinski cut the gap to 4–2 with his third of the season at 13:27 of the third. Lukas Reichel won a board battle against Quinn Hughes in the neutral zone and fed Ryan Donato, who skated in 2-on-1 with Korchinski. Donato backhanded a feed to Korchinski, who sniped one past Demko.

hello kevin score-chinski pic.twitter.com/HUa14NS8qw

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) February 14, 2024

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Analysis

When the team with the best record plays their A game against the team with the worst record, this is essentially what happens, and of course, it is no surprise. The Hawks were thoroughly outclassed by the deeper and more skilled Canucks, led by its third line of Blueger, Garland and Joshua, which skated circles around Hawks’ defenders. If you are looking for a positive for the Hawks, Johnson had a strong game and was one of few Blackhawks players to generate any consistent chances beyond the goal he scored.

The Blackhawks return to the United Center on Thursday night to face the Pittsburgh Penguins. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. CST on NBCSCH and 720 WGN.

The post RECAP: League-leading Canucks overwhelm Hawks 4–2 appeared first on The Rink.

Blackhawks lines in morning skate vs. Canucks. Reichel and Guttman appear to be scratches.

Foligno-Kurashev-Raddysh
Blackwell-Dickinson-Anderson
Pitlick-Entwistle-Donato
Katchouk-Sanford-RJohnson

Vlasic-Jones
Korchinski-Megna
Phillips-Crevier

Mrazek in starter’s crease

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 22, 2024

The biggest newest of the game was the healthy scratch of Lukas Reichel. The young forward continues to struggle this season and it appears that Luke Richardson is done messing around with the youngster.

The Canucks got both their goals in the first period. The first goal was a tap-in by former Blackhawks forward Pius Suter. Andrei Kuzmenko skated into the zone and executed a spin-o-rama pass that hit Suter on the tape. The second goal of the game was scored by Quinn Hughes. Hughes activated in the offensive zone and picked up a loose puck. He went top shelf over the shoulder of Petr Mrazek. The rest of the game was a stalemate with the Blackhawks playing tough hard-nosed hockey, but did not have any goals to show for their style of play.

The Hawks fell in their 17th straight road game, losing 2–0 to Vancouver. It was the second shutout loss in a row for the Hawks.

Analysis

The Hawks continue to play hard despite being unable to put the puck in the net. During the Richardson era, his teams always compete hard but are just short on talent. It is not fair to evaluate Richardson based on his win-loss record as a coach. He is currently coaching a team with one arm tied behind its back. His mission this season is develop younger players and instill the hard-nose style of play. He has done a decent job thus far especially if you look at Kevin Korchinski’s play. Korchinski is far from a finished product, but you can tell his game has improved throughout this season.

A big part in the Hawks staying competitive in games has been the play of Mrazek. Mrazek turned in another solid performance despite getting no offensive support and playing behind young and unproven defensemen. Mrazek now has allowed three goals or less in his last five starts. He should be a candidate for a contract extension similar to Jason Dickinson and Nick Foligno. The Blackhawks do not have any current NHL starters in their system without Mrazek. With 32 games under his belt this season, he needs just seven games to surpass last season’s high of 39.

While Alex Vlasic has taken a huge step in his development and has been one of the best Hawks defensemen this season. Other younger defensemen have struggled in their own zone. Louis Crevier and Isaak Phillips are the most recent example of young defensemen struggling. They were on the ice when both goals were scored. While both Creiver and Phillips have shown flashes of NHL talent, there is still much work to be done on the development side with both of these players.

The Blackhawks’ next game is Wednesday night against the Seattle Kraken on TNT at 9 p.m. CST.

The post RECAP: Blackhawks blanked by Canucks 2–0 appeared first on The Rink.

The lineup was as follows:

#Blackhawks lineup vs. Canucks:
Reichel-Bedard-Kurashev
Beauvillier-T. Johnson-Raddysh
Foligno-Dickinson-Anderson
Donato-Guttman-R. Johnson

Phillips-Murphy
Kaiser-Crevier
Roos-Zaitsev

Mrazek
Söderblom

Extras: Entwistle, Vlasic (upper body)

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) December 17, 2023

First period

The Blackhawks looked like the better team early on. They were outshooting Vancouver 12–1 at one point. Midway through the first period, veteran Nick Foligno got the Hawks on the board.

Great pass by Joey Anderson to Nick Foligno, who taps home his fifth goal of the season. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/RW6O06DhEe

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) December 17, 2023

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The Hawks led until less than two minutes left in the period when Vancouver answered with a power play goal, as Elias Pettersson scored his 12th goal of the season on a 5-on-3 advantage to tie the game following a crippling block hobbled Connor Murphy.

Second period

Early in the second period, the Blackhawks regained the lead with a power play goal from Foligno.

That’s 2 for 17 pic.twitter.com/WQxbtGkR3Q

— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) December 17, 2023

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Foligno potted his second goal of the game and Connor Bedard got his 13th assist of the season. After the second Foligno goal, the game changed in favor of the Canucks. Dakota Joshua scored with just past three minute gone by in the second period. Brock Boesser added a goal less than 40 seconds later.

With the second period nearly over, Ilya Mikheyev netted his 10th goal of season to put the Canucks up 4–2.

Third period

The Hawks tried to rally back from a two-goal deficit, getting a power play goal from Cole Guttman. Guttman was assisted by Bedard and Philipp Kurashev for their second points of the game.

bedsy guttman pic.twitter.com/Iyv5MEiAbS

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) December 17, 2023

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Petr Mrazek kept the Hawks’ hopes alive with a spectacular diving stick save, one that will surely be a save-of-the-year candidate for the Hawks.

this save pic.twitter.com/w0tkxDlNY8

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) December 17, 2023

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Sadly, the comeback attempt fell short, as the Blackhawks lost 4–3.

Analysis

The Blackhawks entered this game shorthanded on defense and it showed. Without Jones and Vlasic, the defense relied on youth and inexperience, which contributed to the loss. The recently recalled Wyatt Kaiser finished with a -1 rating and has a welt on his midsection from a blocked shot. Isaak Phillips and Louis Crevier were also in the minus for the game. The Blackhawks were lucky that did not have to play with five defenseman, as Murphy took a shot off his knee in the first period prior to the Peterson tally.

The positives in the game were the third line and the power play. The productive line of Foligno, Jason Dickinson and Joey Anderson continued to produce good shifts and was able to score a goal. The team will know on Monday the extent of Anderson’s injury. If Anderson is hurt for an extended period of time, Boris Katchouk would likely be first in line to be recalled from Rockford.

The power play netted two goals today, with Bedard and Kurashev being involved with both goals.

Another encouraging element was the play of Lukas Reichel. After being largely invisible so far this season, Reichel played with some intensity today, and it showed. Hopefully Reichel is able to build off this performance and string together some good games to regain some confidence entering 2024.

As a reminder, this is still the ground floor of the rebuild. This team is very short on talent and has to play a perfect game to have a chance of winning most nights. Despite being outmatched, the team plays hard most nights for head coach Luke Richardson.

The Blackhawks’ next game is Tuesday against the Colorado Avalanche at home with a 7:30 p.m. CST puck drop.

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In a game that was probably undesirable to watch by any Blackhawks fan not in the Pacific time zone, the Canucks got goals from Andrei Kuzmenko (38th), Vitali Kravtsov (fourth) and a late empty-net, bank-shot goal from J.T. Miller (30th). Canucks rookie Akito Hirose got his first two NHL points, assisting on the first two Vancouver goals.

Blackhawks starter Alex Stalock played “fine,” but needed more help. Kuzmenko’s goal was a long wrist shot that went through multiple screens, but he had no chance on Kravtsov’s goal, which went off Seth Jones’ stick. Stalock did make an acrobatic, highlight-reel save just prior to Kravtsov’s goal in the second period.

Oh baby, what a save by Alex Stalock. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/SKyPXlUKdA

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) April 7, 2023

Chicago certainly had solid chances to beat the Vancouver netminder, but Demko was dialed in. Boris Katchouk had a solid power play chance on the doorstep in the first period, another in the second period and a nice spin-o-rama in the third, but was denied all three times. MacKenzie Entwistle also had an open high-danger chance in the first that Demko was all over. Lukas Reichel split the defense in the second period, but rushed his shot and was stopped easily by Demko.

The Blackhawks went 0–3 on the power play, which now has them at 29th in the NHL. Just one conversion has them back in the game.

Tyler Johnson led the Blackhawks with four shots on goal, but also was a -2.

One area where the Blackhawks dominated was the face-off dot. The led 55%–46%, with Jonathan Toews and Jason Dickinson as the big winners at 71% and 58%, respectively. On the other hand, Elias Pettersson only won three of 14 draws.

For those watching the “tank index,” Chicago is currently ranked 30th overall with a .359 points percentage (17 regulation wins, four games remain) ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets (.359, 15 regulation wins, four games remain) and Anaheim Ducks (.359, 13 regulation wins, four games remain). Chicago is third worst in the tie breaker because they have most regulation wins. The Blackhawks are off Friday, but travel just slightly south to Washington state to face the Seattle Kraken on Saturday. Puck drop is 9 p.m. CDT.

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— The Blackhawks had the best chances the first period, with Jarred Tinordi ringing a shot off of the post from the left circle, beating former Blackhawk netminder Collin Delia but not getting it into the net. The Blackhawks would get the games’ first power play, but would not be able to do anything on the man advantage. It took until the 3:59 mark of the frame with the Blackhawks on the penalty kill for something to happen. Jason Dickinson took the puck in around the net and got it out to the point for Connor Murphy, who wristed a shot past Delia, making the score 1–0 Blackhawks.

— Both teams traded shots throughout the second, with nothing getting past either goaltender, until the final minute of play. The Canucks kept the puck in the Blackhawks’ end for one last chance at the end of the period, and Seth Jones got the puck banked in off of him by Phillip Di Giuseppe to knot things up at 1–1.

— In the third, Dakota Joshua rocked Lukas Reichel off of the puck, which led to a Canucks 2-on-1 break, which ended in an Elias Pettersson goal to put the Canucks up 2–1. He would score again a minute later, with the Canucks converting very quickly on the power play they had received to put them up 3–1. The Blackhawks decided to try to tie things up, pulling Petr Mrazek for the sixth attacker. They were able to get one back, with Reichel cleaning up a loose puck and putting it past Delia, 3–2 Canucks. Brock Boeser would put the finally tally on the board to make it 4–2 Canucks and put this one away.

The Blackhawks are losing, but are looking competitive doing it, showing that they are still trying, despite also wanting to get the best draft pick that they can with the season they have been having. They remain a point up on last place in the NHL, with the Columbus Blue Jackets and San Jose Sharks not in action on Sunday.

The Blackhawks’ next game will be on Tuesday night at home against the Dallas Stars. That game will be at 7:30 p.m. CDT on NBC Sports Chicago.

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— Patrick Kane scored the lone goal of the first period, firing a wrist shot from just inside the blue line, beating Delia for a 1–0 lead.

— In the second period, Andrei Kuzmenko would tie the game just over seven minutes into the frame.

— The Hawks would regain the lead when Sam Lafferty’s wrist shot from the far right eluded Delia to make it 2–1.

— Kuzmenko would tie the game with a nifty deflection after a feeble turnover by Seth Jones.

— Dakota Joshua put the Canucks up to stay making it 3–2 just past the halfway marker of the third period.

— Sheldon Dries would add another seconds later and Bo Horvat would ice it with an empty-net goal to seal the 5–2 win.

The Blackhawks are back at it in Alberta on Thursday against the Calgary Flames. Puck drop is scheduled for 9 p.m. CST.

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First period

The first period was all Vancouver. The Blackhawks started the period like they thought it was at 7 p.m. start instead of 6:30 p.m. Vancouver pushed the pace of the period and peppered Marc-Andre Fleury with 11 shots. Fleury stopped all but one shot from Alex Chiasson with eight minutes left in the period.

The Blackhawks did get some offense going late in the first period with some good chances on their power play. Outside of the power play, the most noticeable Blackhawks forward was Sam Lafferty. Lafferty has shown great speed in his brief time with the Blackhawks.

Second period

In the second period, the Hawks were outplayed by the Canucks once again. Their offense could not sustain any pressure in the Canucks’ zone. It was way too much one and done from the Hawks; even their best offensive shift was a one and done: A tic-tac-toe passing play from Patrick Kane to a shot attempt from Dylan Strome.

The Blackhawks were on the defense for the majority of the period. In their own zone, their zone exits were sloppy and there were several defensive turnovers leading to A+ chances for Vancouver.  The lone bright spot on defense was Fleury. Despite being under siege for most of the period, Fleury managed to fend off nine of 10 shots from Vancouver. The Canucks broke through again in the second period with a goal from Brock Besser to extend their lead to two goals.

The second period ended with the Blackhawks trailing by two goals.

Third period

In the third period, the Canucks continued to hold a two-goal lead until Kane tried to will his team back into this game. Kirby Dach stole the puck behind the goal line and fed Kane. Kane fired a pass across the ice to Connor Murphy for the slapshot goal. Murphy’s goal got the Hawks back into the game and energized the sparse Blackhawks crowd.

The Hawks then sealed their own fate with a too many men on the ice penalty with under two minutes to go in the third period. After the costly late penalty, the Blackhawks were not able to come back in this game. Luke Schenn of Vancouver sealed it with a long empty-net goal.

When the final horn sounded, the Blackhawks had fallen to Vancouver 3–1.

Analysis

Monday was a complete disaster for the Blackhawks. The effort in this contest was not good enough to compete at the NHL level. Without Fleury in net in this game, the Blackhawks would have been blown out. After the game, Alex DeBrincat said that the team was flat.

Kirby Dach

Dach continues to struggle on the ice. In the midst of a 2-on-1 opportunity, Philipp Kurashev feathered a pass to Dach for a one-time attempt. Dach whiffed on the shot, as his struggles continued. Dach did win a board battle that led to the Murphy goal, which was a positive. Interim Head Coach Derek King liked Dach’s game against the Canucks.

Marc-Andre Fleury

When the Blackhawks eventually trade Fleury, this team is going to be in big trouble. Fleury has played in 11 of the team’s last 12 games with no end in sight. Despite the high workload, he was masterful again, allowing two goals on 32 shots on goal.

Defensive turnovers

The Blackhawks blocked a season-high 26 shots on the evening. One of the contributing factors to the shot blocks was the team’s inability to clear the zone cleanly and ghastly defensive turnovers. Jake McCabe could not clear the zone, which lead to the first goal of the game. Caleb Jones committed several defensive zone turnovers leading to a few A+ chances.

The Blackhawks will finish up their schedule before the all-star break with an 8:30 p.m. CST start against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.

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In net for the Blackhawks was the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, Marc-Andre Fleury, who entered the night coming off a win against the Seattle Kraken earlier in the week. In this game, Fleury and Thatcher Demko put on a show in the net.

First period

In the first period, the Blackhawks shot themselves in the foot early with Connor Murphy tripping Conor Garland 45 seconds into the game. The period was dominated by the play of Fleury, who stopped 15 Canuck shots while the Blackhawks only mustered six on the net. Both teams had two power plays each and both teams failed to score.

Riley Stillman would leave the game with an apparent leg injury and did not return.

Second period

In the second, the Hawks played one of their worst periods in the Derek King era. Fleury stood on his head in net, turning away another 15 shots by the Canucks, including two consecutive high-danger chances while prone. Fleury and Blackhawks also got a lot of help from their friendly neighborhood goal posts.

Third period

After being outshot 30–12 in two periods, the visitors finally broke through, as Brandon Hagel deflected an Erik Gustafsson shot from the point to score the game’s only goal. That was the only blemish on Demko’s night, as he had 23 saves on 24 shots.

Fleury made 10 more saves to finish the night with 40 saves for the shutout and win. Fleury has owned the Canucks throughout his career. Coming into Sunday, in his last 15 starts against the Canucks, Fleury is 13–0–2. Fleury’s performance on Sunday was the 68th white wash of his esteemed career.

Derek King effect

It is obvious to anyone following the Blackhawks that Interim Head Coach Derek King has had a profound impact on this team. Since the coaching change, Fleury is 4–0–0 with a .964 save percentage. In addition to Fleury’s stellar play, the atmosphere around the team has changed.

Derek King on the Blackhawks:

“They’re gradually getting out of that sense of, when things go wrong, that it’s depressing.

Now its, ‘Things go wrong, we’re OK, hold the fort and we’ll get out of it.’ That’s that confidence coming back.”

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) November 22, 2021

King was very candid after the game, saying that the Hawks played one of the worst periods under him in the second period and rebounded with one of their best periods under him in the third period.

The Blackhawks finish their road trip against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday with an 8 p.m. CST puck drop

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“It’s always there,” Colliton said in the presser. “There was pressure from the first day I got here. It’s up to us and it’s up to me to find a new way to give these guys what they need to perform at their highest level.”

In Chicago’s 0–4–1 start, the team’s worst start in 20 years, the team has yet to have a lead in 300:57 minutes played. This would not be as alarming if the Blackhawks’ second-longest streak was last season (226:06 minutes), but something is not working, and it has been prevalent for more than five early games this season. There is something in Colliton’s “system” that has been failing for more than this early season start.

Chicago has been outscored 21–9 this season and has only mustered three even-strength goals. A team that was horrible at 5-on-5 play last season, the Blackhawks rarely generate any sustained pressure in the offensive zone, have zero puck possession (or any cycling for that matter) and have a poor net-front presence. On most occasions, Chicago has one shot one goal and is out of the offensive zone in the blink of an eye. The New York Islanders took advantage of Chicago’s lack of size and did an excellent job of boxing out the Blackhawks from any rebounds on Tuesday. Vancouver was just as successful Thursday.

The most frightening quality in Chicago’s play is the lack of desperation. Outside of a quick start in the home opener against the Islanders, Chicago has looked methodical, slow to react and out-classed for the majority of this young season. If the top-level players are not producing, this team does not have the secondary fire power to get things done on the scoresheet. The roster structure (a completely different problem) does not give Colliton a ton of options outside of a select few.

To summarize Thursday’s game: Colliton allowed Dylan Strome to play after watching four games in the press box. Alex DeBrincat scored his second goal of the season to tie the game 1–1 at the 8:26 mark in the first period. Patrick Kane and Seth Jones assisted on the goal. Vancouver would outscore Chicago 3–0 the rest of the way en route to a 4–1 victory for the visitors.

Chicago led 30–25 in shots.

The good

— Patrick Kane celebrated his 1,000th career game with his family by his side after hitting the milestone last season. Kane had wanted to wait for a formal celebration until fans were able to return to the United Center.

— Alex DeBrincat continues to show he can be a force with the puck on his stick.

The bad

— Coming back after missing last season, Jonathan Toews has zero points to start the season. He mentioned after the home opener at the post-game presser that his conditioning needs to get better. It is tough to watch the Captain struggle after all he has done for this organization. It would be great to see him get it going.

— Chicago’s 0–4–1 record is the worst start in 20 years.

— The lack of urgency. To say the first five games of the season have been poor would be a disservice to how poor the play has been for three seasons.

— General Manager Stan Bowman is the mastermind behind this organization.

The Blackhawks will look for their first win of the season when they return to the ice on Sunday, hosting the Detroit Red Wings for a 6 p.m. CDT puck drop.

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