Arvid Soderblom Pushes Blackhawks’ Point Streak to Five Games

A week ago, Steven Stamkos was in the midst of a 13-game pointless streak. He was the hero tonight by netting a hat trick for the Nashville Predators in their 3-2 overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks. With the point for the overtime loss, the Blackhawks have their first five-game point streak since a stretch in late February of 2023.

The Blackhawks had another first period where they didn’t start on time and were thoroughly outplayed. The Predators outshot the Blackhawks 17-6 in the opening frame, producing 15 scoring chances and nine high-danger chances. However, Arvid Soderblom stood tall and kept the game scoreless heading into the first intermission.

The second period got off to a much better start for the road team. Alex Vlasic opened the scoring early in the frame when his shot from the point hit Ryan O’Reilly and deflected into the net. The goal was the first Justus Annunen ever allowed to the Blackhawks, after shutting them out in his first two starts while a member of the Colorado Avalanche.

Less than 30 seconds later, Alec Martinez took a double minor for high-sticking his former Vegas Golden Knights teammate, Jonathan Marchessault. Seconds later, Stamkos potted a shot from the left dot to pass Mike Bossy on the NHL all-time goals list. Stamkos struck again later in the period, after Nick Foligno coughed up the puck into the middle of the ice. The future Hall of Famer thought he had a natural hat trick late in the period, but the play was whistled dead because he played the puck with a high stick.

Early in the third period, the Blackhawks had a goal overturned, as Louis Crevier’s game-tying tally was wiped out after a successful offside review by the Predators’ bench. This didn’t phase them, as Ilya Mikheyev tied the game a few minutes later by camping out in front of the net and one-timing a pass from Ryan Donato.

Last night against the Utah Hockey Club, Connor Bedard got away with an extra-long shift before scoring the game-winning goal. Tonight, Frank Nazar got caught on the ice too long, and he left Stamkos all alone to finish off his hat trick. After no points in 13 contests, Stamkos has four goals and eight points in his last three games.

Arvid Soderblom Continues Road Success

If NHL goaltenders had “walk-up” music when they take the net, Soderblom would definitely choose “Don’t You Forget About Me” by Simple Minds. You know, The Breakfast Club song! While everyone has been buzzing about Spencer Knight, and rightfully so, Soderblom reminded everyone on Saturday that he’s still here, too.

Soderblom was fantastic early in this game. If he had started as slow as the rest of his teammates, the Blackhawks would have been down 3-0 five minutes into the game. Nothing illustrates this more than the absolute robbery of Marchessault.

It wasn’t just the number of shots Soderblom had to face in the first period, but rather where they came from. It felt that every shot was from in close and dangerous.

In the end, Soderblom made 38 saves in the losing effort. He continued his trend of playing better on the road than at the United Center. He gives up nearly one fewer goal per game on the road, with a 2.64 goals-against average (GAA), versus a 3.51 GAA on home ice this season. After tonight’s performance, he has a .920 save percentage (SV%) on the road and .888 at home.

Joe Veleno Makes Blackhawks Debut

Joe Veleno arrived in Nashville on Saturday morning to join his new team after being acquired from the Detroit Red Wings on Friday. He was inserted into the middle of the fourth line, centering Pat Maroon and Lukas Riechel, who moved out to the wing.

“He’s got some pace, got some size to his game,” general manager Kyle Davidson said of Veleno on Friday. “I think he can play the center position. So, there’s some versatility to him. He’s still only 25, and we’ll give him some run, give him some opportunity, and see what he can do. He came in very highly touted. He’s a talented guy, and we’ll give him some opportunity and see if we can pull some additional value out of him. Sometimes, a little opportunity and a change of scenery does that for some guys.”

The 25-year-old center had a relatively quiet night, which wasn’t unexpected considering the circumstances. In 13:07 of total ice time, including 2:22 on the penalty kill, Veleno had a shot on goal, three hits, and went 4-for-8 at the faceoff dot. There was some miscommunication between Veleno and Donato on the slow line change that led to the overtime goal. Not sure why he was getting an overtime shift, but here we are.

“I liked him,” interim head coach Anders Sorensen said. “He had some pop in his step. I thought he was in good spots defensively. I thought he read the game well. I thought he had some good offensive zone touches, as well.”

Odds & Ends

• Bedard has points in back-to-back games after seven straight games without making the scoresheet, with his primary assist on Vlasic’s goal. He went 2-for-7 in faceoffs, to finish below 50% for only the sixth time in the last 14 games. Bedard finished with four shots on goal, but he probably wishes it was five after he passed up a glorious chance in the third period.

• Donato extended his career-best point streak to eight games by setting up Mikheyev’s third-period goal. Connor Murphy had the secondary assist to give him a new career-high of 16.
• The Blackhawks’ offense is better when the defensemen are active and aggressive. Vlasic had the team’s first goal, and Crevier nearly had the second. The blueline combined for six of the Blackhawks’ 19 shots on goal and 14 of their 37 shot attempts. Now, if the forwards could only be as aggressive as the defensemen are.