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And Learn to Fly Again: Blackhawks 5, Red Wings 1

The Blackhawks capped off their six-game road trip by picking up their third win.

Posted on by Eric Gegenheimer
Credit: Brian Bradshaw Sevald-Imagn Images

The Blackhawks finished up their six game road trip with a 5-1 victory over Detroit on Sunday afternoon.

The Hawks got the scoring started on the power play a minute into the game when Connor Bedard picked his corner and lasered a wrister past John Gibson:

The Red Wings tied the game at one just four minutes later when Dylan Larkin outmuscled Artyom Levshunov to pounce on a rebound in the crease:

The Blackhawks regained the lead just over three minutes into the second period when Teuvo Teravainen blasted a one-timer for their second power-play goal of the game:

Five minutes into the third, the Blackhawks struck on the power play yet again when Tyler Bertuzzi made a nifty drag move then shoveled it through Gibson for a 3-1 Chicago lead:

The Red Wings pulled Gibson with just under four minutes left, and Andre Burakovsky scored an empty-netter to make it 4-1:

Then Oliver Moore added the exclamation point when he scored his first NHL goal with just 15 seconds left to make the final score 5-1:

Notes

Every single metric favored Detroit heavily this game, but flush them all down the toilet. A win is a win, and the Blackhawks can head home high not only off their matinée victory today, but also off the accomplishment of capping off their six game road trip with a 3-2-1 record.

This felt more like a Blackhawks win of recent vintage, wherein their goaltending and special teams stole a game for them. Not only was Soderblom exceptional (more on him in a minute), but the Blackhawks also went 3-for-3 on the power play, while holding the Wings scoreless (0-for-5) on theirs. Also worth noting that the Hawks are now 8-1-0 when they don’t surrender a power play goal.

There were two key moments that felt like they changed the trajectory of the game. The first was this ENORMOUS toe save by Soderblom on Larkin:

And the second came when the Hawks successfully killed off a double-minor at the end of the second period/beginning of the third after Bertuzzi was whistled for a soft-as-baby-shit roughing call (there were scrums like this all game), then took exception on his way to the box:

Bertuzzi made up for it later with his power-play tally, and has now scored six goals in his last seven periods.

Bedard set the tone early with his own (filthy) power-play goal, then added a pair of assists in the third. This was his third straight multi-point game, it extended his personal point streak to nine games overall, and bumped his point total up to an NHL-leading 25 (9 G, 16 A). The milestones for 98 are coming fast and furious at the moment, and we should all take a second not only to appreciate them, but also to remember how lucky we are that he’s just getting started, and we’re here to witness his coronation:

Soderblom started the game off looking rough but, thanks to a few posts, escaped the first period by only giving up the lone goal to Larkin. He got stronger as the game went on, and not only set a new career-high for himself with 45 saves, but also earned an insane 3.83 goals saved above expected in the process (which bumped his season total up from plus-0.3 to plus-4.1). And again:

Something to pay attention to, which Kevin Weekes mentioned multiple times during the national broadcast, is the playing time split between Soderblom and Spencer Knight going forward. Knight has been leaned on a lot so far this season, and is still incredibly young in his professional career — having only started 106 games total over the parts of his first seven seasons so far. He’s probably going to hit a wall at some point, so it would be great to see Blashill use Soderblom a bit more often now in an attempt to stave that off for as long as possible, especially as these early-season games continue to feel like they’ll matter down the road. And if Soderblom keeps playing like he did today (with Drew Commesso also looking strong in Rockford), the Hawks may have a very interesting problem on their hands in the not-too-distant future.

Levshunov was solid on PP1, and it’s hard to see him surrendering that role anytime soon:

It was great to see Moore get rewarded with his first NHL goal after having his best game as a pro. He stepped up with Frank Nazar out, was noticeable on just about every shift, and created the second most expected goals on the team besides Bertuzzi. He was also robbed earlier in the game on a great save by Gibson:

And as someone incredibly cool and smart previously mentioned in the game preview, both of these teams entered today’s game in a playoff position, but one of them certainly feels a bit more real after the outcome. I spent the first ten games this season waiting for the bottom to drop out, but it’s getting a lot harder to ignore that Blashill has made a significant difference already. In fact, it might be time to start buying in more, as it certainly feels like his team already has.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Arvid Soderblom (CHI) — Career-high 45 saves
  2. NHL scoring leader Connor Bedard (CHI) — 1 goals, 2 assists
  3. Tyler Bertuzzi (CHI) — 1 goal, 1 assist

What’s Next

The Blackhawks return home to face off against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday with an 8:30 p.m. (gross) puck drop.

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