Donato’s Hat Trick Tops a Night of Positives in Loss to Golden Knights

The Chicago Blackhawks went toe-to-toe with the Vegas Golden Knights, took a lead into the third period, but ultimately lost 5-3 to a superior team. Much like Wednesday’s loss to the New Jersey Devils, you can’t blame the defeat on a lack of effort but rather the massive talent gap between the two teams.

Ryan Donato scored the only goal of the first period. Ethan Del Mastro made a terrific stretch pass to spring Donato behind the Vegas defense. Adin Hill stopped the first shot, but he couldn’t keep out the second shot off the rebound.

The Golden Knights turned up the pressure in the second period. Moments after Ilya Mikheyev was stopped on a breakaway, Mark Stone tied the game by snapping a wrist shot between the legs of Spencer Knight. Less than a minute later, Victor Olofsson gave Vegas a 2-1 lead by finishing off a 2-on-1 rush.

Donato responded with two goals 25 seconds apart to complete his first career hat trick. The first goal came during a delayed penalty call when Joe Veleno found Donato at the bottom of the right circle, where he beat Hill. On the ensuing shift, Connor Bedard drew in the defense and quickly passed to Ilya Mikheyev, who set up Donat for a one-timer at the right dot.

Unfortunately, the Golden Knights scored three unanswered goals in the third period. Early in the frame, Olofsson beat Knight from the high slot. Late in the period, Stone drew a questionable hooking penalty on Teuvo Teravainen. The league’s top power-play unit did its thing, with Pavel Dorofeyev finding open ice at the right dot and blasting home his 31^st goal of the season and 13^th on the man advantage. Brett Howden iced the game with an empty-net goal in the final minute.

Connor Bedard Back in the Middle

After six games of playing on the wing with Nazar, Bedard was back at center on Friday night. Mikheyev and Donato joined him in what was essentially a new line combination. This trio had one 22-second shift together earlier in the season. Interim head coach Anders Sorensen hoped getting Bedard in the middle of the ice would help get “in motion” more.

“Hopefully, it will loosen him up and get him some more speed,” he said. “We’ve had a hard time as a group getting the puck up the ice. When the wingers are getting stuck along the wall, it eliminates that part of it. We’re hoping for more pace up the middle and supporting his game that way.”

While I was disappointed that Bedard and Nazar were split up, this combination made a lot of sense. Donato leads the team in goals, overall, and at 5v5, and he will do all the dirty work. Mikheyev has been on a hot streak lately, scoring seven goals and adding 10 points in his last 14 games. His speed is hard to defend, and according to Sorensen, it leads to “a lot of positive entries.”

The trio was highly effective and worked well together throughout the night. In their 13:18 of 5v5 ice time, they outshot the Golden Knights 8-3 and outscored them 2-1. As much as Sorensen loves to change his lines, this one should stay together for the foreseeable future. Bedard only had one shot attempt but went 6-for-13 at the faceoff dot.

Kevin Korchinski Looks Confident in NHL Return

Korchinski was in the lineup tonight after being a surprise call-up on Thursday. This was the 20-year-old blueliner’s second stint in the NHL this season after spending all last season in Chicago. He had no points during his nine-game run with the Blackhawks in December. In 54 AHL games, he leads all Rockford IceHogs’ defensemen with 24 assists and 27 points.

Sorensen credited Korchinski after today’s morning skate, saying that he’s shown a lot of growth in his game on both sides of the puck. The young defender has been trying to utilize all of his professional experience thus far to reach his full potential.

“Obviously, you’ve got to defend hard and work your gaps; gap up, and you’ve got to be stifling,” he said on Thursday. “But overall, you’ve got to play your game. And whether that’s creating offense and creating off the rush or helping in transition, you’ve got to implement that into your game.”

Korchinski had a decent effort against the Golden Knights. He got caught up at the blue on Olofsson’s first goal but made up for it with a great breakout pass from behind the Blackhawks net that led to Donato’s third goal. The Blackhawks had a 15-13 shot attempt advantage in Korchinski’s 18:52 of 5v5 ice time. He was on the ice for two goals against, but also two goals for to finish even on the night.

Odds & Ends

• Donato was offered a three-year, $12 million contract extension following the trade deadline but has yet to sign it. He and his agent made the right decision not to jump at the first deal that came their way. Donato is two goals shy of 30, which is a powerful negotiation tool. It will be interesting to see what the veteran forward fetches, either from the Blackhawks or on the open market.
• In October, we heard a lot about “moral victories” no longer being accepted. Those should not be a thing when a team has veterans like Taylor Hall, Seth Jones, Jason Dickinson, and Nick Foligno leading the way. But now that the youth movement has taken over, it’s ok to have “moral victories” again. This young core must learn how to finish games and beat better teams. They are taking positive steps in that direction.
• Sorensen matched up the second line of Nazar, Teravainen, and Tyler Bertuzzi against Vegas’ top line of Ivan Barbashev, Jacke Eichel, and Stone. Nazar had a fantastic night with four individual scoring chances, two of which were considered high danger. He also won four of his six faceoffs against Eichel.  
• The Pat Maroon Retirement Tour has been full of surprises. He nearly pulled off a tremendous move for a goal in the first period. It’s fun watching him play some carefree hockey and enjoy his last handful of games in the NHL.