Blackhawks’ Mistakes Maginifed in 10th Straight Loss to Canucks

The Chicago Blackhawks allowed a season-low 15 shots on goal tonight. So, they won easily, right? Nope. They lost 6-2 to the Vancouver Canucks, who extended their winning streak against the Blackhawks to 10 games.

The first period was moving fast, with both teams playing well defensively, until disaster struck for the Blackhawks. For whatever reason, Tyler Bertuzzi decided not to stay with Quinn Hughes while the puck was along the boards. Hughes eventually got the puck above the right circle and beat Arvid Soderblom to the glove hand. Tyler Myers beat Soderblom from nearly the same spot on the ice with the same shot 35 seconds later to double the lead. The Blackhawks allowed only four shots on goal in the opening frame, but Soderblom’s glove hand couldn’t stop the last two.

Conor Garland made it 3-0 midway through the second period by splitting Alec Martinez and Louis Crevier and beating Soderblom to the stick side. The Canucks scored three goals on nine shots, and one could argue that all three of them could have been kept out.

Alex Vlasic gave the Blackhawks some life late in the middle frame with his fourth goal of the season. Vlasic jumped off the bench, took a pass from Ryan Donato, walked the blue line, and fired a shot through an Ilya Mikheyev screen.

Vancouver increased their lead to 4-1 early in the third period. Elias Pettersson seemingly hit the post, but Nils Hoglander put the puck in the net seconds later. After a quick review, it was clear that Pettersson’s shot had crossed the line, and he got credit for the goal.

Just over a minute later, with the teams skated 4v4, Wyatt Kaiser scored his third goal in the last eight games by beating Arturs Silovs to the stick side. Artyom Levshunov picked up his first NHL point with the primary assist.

Whatever momentum the Blackhawks gained from the Kaiser goal was quickly erased as Nils Aman and Pius Suter scored eight seconds apart to give the home team a 6-2 lead.

Artyom Levshunov, Top-Pair Defenseman

Levshunov has come a long way from the stage in Las Vegas as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. He had a foot injury that caused him to miss all of training camp, and then his professional career got off to a slow start in the American Hockey League. Things started to click for him after the Christmas break, which got him on a path to the NHL. Then, it only took him two games to get promoted to the top pairing and the first power-play unit.

“Just trust your instincts and play the game the way you know how to play it,” interim head coach Anders Sorensen said was the advice he gave him. “He had another good game, the last game. His gaps are good. He’s had good retrievals, so keep building off of that.”

The young defenseman is impressive. Levshunov read plays well all night and used his stick and body to remove players off the puck. Offensively, he moves well for his size but has room for improvement on skating. His vision and reaction are good, as seen by the quick little pass to set up Kaiser’s goal.

Levshunov led all Blackhawks in time on ice with 22:39. His night included an assist, two shots on goal, six shot attempts, and four blocked shots. In his 20:18 of even-strength ice time, the Blackhawks led the Canucks 24-18 in shot attempts, 9-2 in shots on goal, and were even in high-danger scoring chances at two apiece. Unfortunately, the Canucks outscored the Blackhawks 2-0 with Levshunov on the ice.

“I felt good,” Levshunov said after the loss. “I tried to play hard and be smart – play my game. I do what I need to do.”

Nazar at Center, Bedard on Wing

When the Blackhawks took line rushes during the pregame warmups, the top line was slightly tweaked. Frank Nazar moved to the center, with Connor Bedard moving out to the right wing. Playing the wing isn’t new for Bedard. He spent a couple of games earlier this season on the wing with Jason Dickinson and Joey Anderson.

The line was effective at 5v5, creating eight scoring chances while only allowing four. Bedard had two shots on goal on five attempts but racked up more penalty minutes. After taking two hooking minors, he was given a 10-misconduct for the second straight game for being involved in an extended post-whistle scrum with about two minutes to play. Nazar, Filip Hronek, and Garland also got misconducts and early showers.

Bedard has not been very good since the return from the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Moving him to the wing is a good idea. It should take some pressure off him and allow him to play more instinctively. Nothing is worse than a dynamic hockey player thinking too much on the ice. Whatever happens over the last 15 games of the season, Bedard and Nazar should be attached at the hip. Let these two develop some chemistry and confidence heading into the offseason.

Odds & Ends

• The Blackhawks’ power play has let them down lately. They were 0-for-3 tonight, albeit one of those chances lasted all of six seconds. They have failed to score on their last 12 power-play opportunities. For a team that generates as little as the Blackhawks do at 5v5, they cannot afford to have their power-play go cold for a long stretch of time.
• The Blackhawks are not good at shot suppression. They surrender the most shots on goal per game in the NHL. However, they’ve been better at preventing shots on goal in the last three games. They allowed only 21 to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday and 25 to the Sharks on Thursday. The problem is that the Blackhawks lost all those games.
• You should never lose 6-2 on a night when you only allowed 15 shots on goal. Never. While the team didn’t play great in front of him, Soderblom needs to be better. His save percentage is now at .901 when it was .905 at puck drop. While he’s been the most improved player of the year, he has a .863 SV% and one win in his last starts. Don’t start writing off Drew Commesso just yet.
• With his assist on Vlasic’s second-period goal, Teuvo Teravainen tied Bedard for the team lead in scoring with 52 points. Donato is just one behind them with 51.
• Has anyone seen Tyler Bertuzzi lately?