Winter Classic Revenge Not In Cards For Blackhawks

The Winter Classic left a bad taste in the mouths of the Chicago Blackhawks. They felt they owed the St. Louis Blues one after the 6-2 loss on New Year’s Eve. They didn’t get the win, but they earned a point in an entertaining back-and-forth 6-5 shootout loss.

This game started much better than the first meeting at Wrigley Field on New Year’s Eve. The fourth line struck again about five minutes into the game. Pat Maroon led a 2v1 rush over the blue line and sauced the puck over the stick of Ryan Suter to Craig Smith, who buried his seventh goal of the season. The red-hot Ryan Donato doubled the lead 38 seconds later with a rising wrist shot that snuck over the shoulder of Jordan Binnington and under the crossbar. Connor Bedard recorded an assist on the play, giving him 34 points in his last 34 games.

8 points in 4 games straight for Donato 🙌 pic.twitter.com/254Es0Vo0U

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) February 9, 2025

Before the game, interim head coach Anders Sorensen said that “staying connected as a group of five” would be the biggest key to success. The Blackhawks played with structure in the first period but fell apart in a sloppy second period. The Blues tied the game with goals from Philip Broberg and Nathan Walker, only 10 seconds apart. Mathieu Joseph gave St. Louis a 3-2 lead late in the third period, as the forecheck forced a turnover behind the net, leaving Joseph all alone out front.

Tonight’s theme was goals coming in bunches, which continued in the third period. Alec Martinez tied the game by blasting a one-timer past Binnington, his second goal in the last three games. Cam Fowler broke the tie 42 seconds later when his seemingly innocent shot from the left point fluttered through traffic and just over the goal line.

The Blackhawks came right back less than two minutes later when Teuvo Teravainen’s pass towards the crease hit off Suter’s stick and went into the Blues’ net. Five minutes later, Ilya Mikheyev drove hard to the net and tucked the puck home through the five-hole for his 10th goal of the season and third point of the period.

Look at the speed of Ilya Mikheyev, who scores to hit the 10-goal mark on the season. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/tH8yp6InQI

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) February 9, 2025

With less than five minutes to play, Robert Thomas was the only player on the ice to see the puck lying loose behind Arvid Soderblom and swept it over the line to send the game to overtime. The game headed to the shootout after a scoreless five minutes.

Soderblom entered the night with no saves on nine career shootout attempts. He stopped the first shot by Jake Neighbours and gained some confidence. Both goaltenders only allowed one goal in the first nine rounds. Radek Faska scored for St. Louis in the 10^th round, and Tyler Bertuzzi lost the handle on the puck to give the home team the win. Teravainenwas the only Blackhawk to beat Binnington.

The Curse of the Second Period Strikes Again

We’ve seen a lot of bad periods this season, and the middle frame seemingly provides many of them. The Blackhawks had everything going right for them in the opening period. The swagger they had against the Nashville Predators on Friday followed them down to St. Louis. They got the two quick goals early by playing within their structure and had 53% of the scoring chances.

Then they took the ice for the second period, and it was as if the Blackhawks swapped jerseys with 20 different guys. All the structure, assertiveness, and attention to detail were gone. The Blackhawks were outshot 17-3 and outscored 3-0. The Blues had eight high-danger scoring chances to none for the Blackhawks. Chicago was lucky only to be down a goal heading into the final frame as St. Louis hit three posts during the frame.

“We can’t be that one team and then, next period, be that next team,” captain Nick Foligno said. “It’s not going to be sustainable, and it’s not what we’re trying to do here. I thought we were leaning away as opposed to leaning into battles. Guys were not really engaging.”

Frank Nazar Gets Demoted

Frank Nazar came into tonight’s game with a ton of confidence after a two-point effort against the Predators last night. But, as with all young players, there will be peaks and valleys. Friday was a peak, and Saturday was a valley.

Nazar started the night centering Teravainen and Mikheyev. Things began to go bad on the Blues’ second goal of the game. He left the zone too early, which made Ethan Del Mastro’s pass easier to pick off, and then the puck was in the back of the Blackhawks’ net. Later in the period, he was slow to realize the puck was turned over and drifted slightly as Joseph put the Blues up by a goal.

The line was not very good tonight. In 6:58 of 5v5 ice time, they had five shot attempts to 12 for the Blues. Eventually, Sorensen replaced Nazar with Foligno, and that combination took off as they produced two goals in the third period.

When overtime started, Nazar was on the ice with Bedard and Seth Jones; however, he had a turnover just inside the offensive blue line, which led to a scoring chance the other way. Since there is no roster freeze during the upcoming two-week break, I wonder if Nazar, Landon Slaggert, Del Mastro, and Nolan Allan will head down to Rockford to keep playing and stay sharp.

4 Nations Face-Off Break at the Wrong Time?

The Blackhawks can certainly use a few days off. Everyone besides Teravainen, who will represent Finland, will get some time off before they play again on Feb. 22. However, this team seems to be gaining some momentum lately, even with the shootout loss.

The Blackhawks have only three regulation losses in their last 11 games. Those losses came against three teams that are securely in the postseason: the Minnesota Wild, Carolina Hurricanes, and Florida Panthers. They earned wins over the Vegas Golden Knights and Tampa Bay Lightning and took the Hurricanes, Lightning, and Edmonton Oilers to overtime. The young players who will matter most when this team is good again are making strides and becoming regular contributors. It’s almost a shame they have to take a vacation at this point of the season.