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Blackhawks Postgame

Connor Bedard, Blackhawks End Road Woes By Beating Lightning

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The Chicago Blackhawks played a solid game for all 60 minutes to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 on Tuesday night. This was their first road win since beating the New York Rangers 2-1 on Dec. 9, snapping a six-game losing streak.



Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is 13-0-0 against the Blackhawks, was supposed to start tonight, but he was a late scratch. The NHL odds didn’t move with the late news. Kyle Konin, a local goalie mask painter, was signed as the emergency backup goaltender. This was the fourth time he’s been the EBUG in Tampa, twice for the Lightning and twice for the opposition.

Last Friday, the Lightning flipped the switch in the third period to force overtime, and they ultimately won. Tonight, they carried that energy over into the opening frame. Nikita Kucherov, who had three points in last week’s game, found Brayden Point from behind the net, and he buried his 28th goal to give the home team an early lead.

After killing off three first-period penalties, the Blackhawks got an extended 5v3 power play early in the second. Connor Bedard took over with the extra space on the ice. They did score with the two-man advantage, but Bedard tied the game in the final seconds of the second penalty with this perfectly placed wrist shot.

Eight minutes later, the Blackhawks forced a turnover in the neutral zone to get the rush going the other way. Landon Slaggert finished the play by firing a wrist shot through traffic for his second career NHL goal and a 2-1 Blackhawks lead.

The Lightning dominated the third period five days ago, outshooting the Blackhawks 17-1. The puck management was far better in the rematch. The Blackhawks did a great job of clearing the zone and getting pucks in deep. They were rewarded with a third goal after a nice play in the defensive zone. Once the puck was up the ice, Ryan Donato was in the perfect spot to slam up Seth Jones’ shot that banked off the end boards. Teuvo Teravainen iced the game with a late empty-net goal.

Arvid Soderblom was absolutely fantastic tonight. He deserved better in his last outing against Tampa Bay and got it done with 34 saves.

“It was kind of the same picture as the home game against them,” Soderblom said. “They’re a good team, and they create a lot of offense. We played good. The special teams were great. We were able to put some goals in and defend well.”

Nick Foligno & Pat Maroon Hindering, Not Helping

Nick Foligno was named captain of the Blackhawks before the start of the season because of his leadership qualities. Pat Maroon was brought in because of his physicality and Stanley Cup experience. Lately, however, these two veterans are doing more to hurt the team than to help it.

On Sunday, Foligno drew an extra penalty by protesting a holding call. The Minnesota Wild scored the eventual game-winning on that second power play. When these two teams played last week, the Lightning went 3-for-3 on the man advantage. So, when Foligno took an extra two minutes for roughing to give them a power play in the first period, all you could do was shake your head.

Later in the frame, Maroon got two minutes for an unnecessary boarding penalty and an extra two minutes for unsportsmanlike after trying to mix it up following the hit—two flat-out stupid penalties. Thankfully, the penalty-kill unit was up to the task and killed all three penalties. Soderblom came up with some big saves when he needed to.

Connor Bedard Loves the Sunshine State

If you’re a sports bettor, you might want to place a bet on Bedard scoring every time he takes the ice in Florida. Last November, he had his first career four-point game with two goals and two assists in a win over the Lightning. He scored another two goals three nights later at the Florida Panthers, including this gem against Sergei Bobrovsky.

“It felt good leaving my stick,” Bedard said of his power-play goal. “You don’t know until it goes in, but it felt like a good shot.”

That goal will be on highlight packages throughout Bedard’s career. As of now, that reel is full of plays made down in Florida.

Landon Slaggert Shines in Season Debut

It took Slaggert a little while to get back to the NHL after playing 16 games with the Blackhawks last season. He didn’t look at his demotion to the AHL to start the season as a deterrent.

“I believe in being where your feet are at and trusting the process,” Slaggert said. “I knew I had a lot to work on in my own game down there. I think I developed in those areas, and that’s how I got the call.”

Interim head coach Anders Sorensen is quite familiar with the young forward. He coached Slaggert as a teenager with the Chicago Mission before reuniting to start this season in Rockford.

“I’m happy for him,” Sorensen said Tuesday morning. “He deserved to get called up. His second and third efforts are a big part of his game. It’s in his DNA. He’s always been that type of player. He’s like a dog on a bone. He’s been producing in Rockford but, defensively, is being reliable. He’s really good on the PK, so we’ll utilize him there, as well. A lot of good attributes.”

We saw the second and third efforts tonight. Early in the second period, Slaggert had a great shift where he was hard on the forecheck and got to the front of the net to create a scoring chance. He scored the goal, three shots on goal, a hit, and a blocked shot.

“He brought a lot of energy,” Bedard said of Slaggert. “It was great to see him put one in, but his whole game, he was buzzing around and making stuff happen, making them turn it over.”

The offense was great, but Sorensen trusts Slaggert defensively. He was a factor in Tampa Bay having 25 giveaways in the game. He had 1:33 of shorthanded ice time during the first period. He was also on the ice for Teravainen’s empty-netter. That shows a lot for a kid in his NHL season debut to be out there when the team is protecting a late lead.