4 Thoughts From Blackhawks 4-1 Loss To The Canucks

The Chicago Blackhawks lost 4-1 on Saturday night to the Vancouver Canucks, a bigger loss on paper then the game actually was. Let’s dive in with four thoughts.

1. Blackhawks Ilya Mikheyev strikes against Canucks

Ilya Mikheyev scored the Hawks lone goal tonight. Mikheyev needs to get going offensively. This was his first goal against his former team, something the Hawks need more of to compete. Mikheyev scoring against Vancouver seems fitting, but if he really is going to find a spot in Chicago long term the Hawks need more from him.

2. Seth Jones major loss for the blue line.

The Blackhawks lost a major piece to the defense with Seth Jones falling to injury. Connor Murphy stepped up big in Jones absence, playing 25:04 followed by Vlasic with 23:33. The Hawks defense gets a lot less deeper without Jones, with Kaiser and Martinez leading the second pair. Vlasic does have a major opportunity to take on a big role especially on the power play.

3. Hall’s Healthy Scratch

Taylor Hall is the second major healthy scratch from Luke Richardson. Scratching hall is a bit of a head scratcher. He has not produced much, but neither has most of the roster. Of the Hawks lines tonight, putting Hall with Bedard and Kurashev while moving Donato down to playing with Reichel and Smith might have been able to lead to more success.

4. Bedard’s Homecoming

Connor Bedard’s homecoming ended with a 4-1 loss. Bedard’s scoring slump continues with just one shot on goal, a minus two and averaging just 16:48 minutes of ice time. Bedard played primarily tonight with Ryan Donato and Philipp Kurashev. Over the course of the night, the trio generated four scoring chances but were on the ice four eight against.

This season has turned into one major issue for the Blackhawks, getting Connor Bedard producing offensively. Bedard’s scoring woes might fall on the fact that he is facing opposing team’s top defenders, but Luke Richardson and company have to work to make sure Bedard’s development is not being hindered.