Young Blackhawks Follow Rewritten Script in Loss to Avalanche

The Chicago Blackhawks followed a script for most of this season that didn’t tell a good story. With the recent influx of young talent, the script has been rewritten. It hasn’t yielded better results for the Blackhawks, but it tells a more compelling story. It’s a story where members of a new core learn what it takes to compete and win at the NHL level. That script was followed against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday, as the young Blackhawks took a 2-0 lead into the third period and lost 3-2 in a shootout.

Avalanche defenseman Sam Malinksi thought he gave his team an early 1-0 lead, but the play was challenged and eventually deemed offside. Moments later, Spencer Knight had to make a pair of big saves after he turned the puck over behind his net.

Later in the frame, with Nick Foligno in the penalty box, Ilya Mikheyev used his speed, then went backhand-forehand for his 18^th goal of the season. The Blackhawks have scored three shorthanded goals this season, and all of them have been from Mikheyev.

Connor Murphy doubled the lead midway through the second period. Connor Bedard set Murphy up at the top of the right circle with a backhand pass from below the goal line, and he blasted home a one-timer.

Cale Makar cut the lead in half midway through the third period. The superstar defenseman found a soft spot on the ice, then looked like he was going to shoot towards the far post only to beat Knight to the short side. Martin Necas set the game to overtime by scoring off a redirection with 11 seconds left in regulation.

The game headed to a shootout after a scoreless overtime period, during which each team registered only two shots on goal. Teuvo Teravainen improved to 4-for-4 in the shootout this season, but it wasn’t enough, as Nathan MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen beat Knight.

Young Third Line Struggles

There was some excitement after Tuesday’s practice when interim head coach Anders Sorensen put the trio of Landon Slaggert, Oliver Moore, and Lukas Reichel together. The combination of youth and speed could make this line a lot of fun over the last few games of the season. Unfortunately, their debut was underwhelming.

In 6:04 of 5v5 ice time, the third line allowed 11 shot attempts while producing only two, giving them a 15.3 Corsi for percentage (CF%). They had only one shot on goal, no scoring chances, and were on the ice when Makar scored. The elite defender took advantage of an inexperienced trio of forwards to create the time and space he needed to get Colorado on the scoreboard.

“Young guys, when they come in for the first few games, they have that adrenaline, energy, and excitement,” Murphy said after the game. “That’s nice to have. It rubs off on the group. But you want to learn how to play the right way for extended amounts of time in the game — enough to win. That’s where, as an organization, we need to get to.”

Odds & Ends

• Knight had his best game in a while for the Blackhawks. After giving up that disallowed goal to Malinski in the first period, he settled in nicely. He still needs to do a better job at protecting the top of the net, but he has an entire offseason with Jimmy Waite to work on that.
• The penalty kill was excellent, going a perfect 4-for-4 against the Avalanche’s power play with a 40% success rate during March. Mikheyev scored the shorthanded goal in the first period, and Foligno nearly scored a second one on a second-period breakaway. At least half of the special teams equation has their act together.
• Having Bedard take the faceoff before the Avalanche tied the game at 6v5 was a questionable decision by Sorensen. Even though he’s been better of late at faceoffs, he struggled all night. This was a situation where the Blackhawks really missed Jason Dickinson. I understand you eventually have to trust Bedard in those situations, but scoring two points against the Avalanche would have been a significant step for this team.
• During his morning media scrum, Sorensen provided a quick update on forward Colton Dach, who has been out since March 20 with an elbow injury. Dach has skated the last two days but has not done any work with the puck. Sorensen would not confirm that he was out for the rest of the season.