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Bandages: Blackhawks 5, Canucks 2

Bertuzzi and Knight help the Hawks snap a three-game skid.

Posted on by Dave Melton
Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images

A three-game skid ended on Wednesday night in Vancouver as a Tyler Bertuzzi hat trick helped propel the Hawks to a 5-2 win over the Canucks.

Vancouver thought they had a 1-0 lead in the second period when Conor Garland scored, but a successful challenge from the Blackhawks confirmed that Garland pretty clearly cross-checked Spencer Knight prior to the goal, which was disallowed.

The first two periods were scoreless. Then the Tyler Bertuzzi Show started in the third period.

He opened the game’s scoring about three minutes into the third:

Four minutes later, he struck again:

Ilya Mikheyev briefly interrupted the proceedings when a lengthy period of sustained time in the O-zone ended with a goal by him:

Bertuzzi completed the hat-trick with this goal that came from roughly 10 feet away from the Vancouver net, which is probably a career-high:

Aatu Raty and Evander Kane scored 71 seconds apart later on in the third to spoil Spencer Knight’s shutout bid and briefly make things a little nervy before Knight’s long lob up the ice sprung Connor Bedard for an empty-net goal after Bedard poked the puck past Quinn Hughes:

Notes

Anyone else realize the Hawks had lost 11 straight to Vancouver, dating back to November 2021? Had no idea!

For a couple of weeks now I’ve been trying to decide if the primary way in which Tyler Bertuzzi scores goals is something that he is uniquely good at or if it’s something that any hockey player brave enough to go to the dirty areas can replicate. It does require some hockey sense, because Bertuzzi could just stand near the net, but he usually is clever enough to sneak towards the back door where he is typically looking at an open net. And there’s certainly some skill in ensuring the puck hits a stick or a skate or shin pad and ends up in the net instead of the end boards. Guess the conclusion is more towards the former than the latter, eh? It’ll require teammates who can find him when he’s open near the net and fortunately No. 98 happens to be one of those guys. No. 91 and No. 86 as well, and those final two guys are his current running mates.

For all of the (well-earned!) criticism of Bertuzzi’s play from last season, including his penchant for scoring goals when games were already well out of reach, he’s been a solid piece of Chicago’s second line from the beginning of this season and that’s a perfectly acceptable place for him to reside in this lineup.

The primary assist was cool but Knight definitely deserved the shutout with how well he played in the first 40 minutes, damn near singlehandedly keeping the Hawks in this game with a ridiculous number of saves. Would’ve been an easy choice for the No. 1 star were it not for Bertuzzi’s hat trick.

Speaking of Bedard, he was a menace in this game, one of the few players from the Hawks who was consistently creating scoring chances in the first 40 minutes while Vancouver owned the puck for longer durations of gametime. That’s now six straight games with a point for a season total of 18 (7 G, 11 A) in 14 games. That’s about 105 points over a full 82-game schedule, ya know. Just sayin’ …

Adding Oliver Moore to the line with Ryan Donato and Ilya Mikheyev made for a trio that was well above Chicago’s largely terrible possession numbers in this game. In 7:31 of 5-on-5 ice time together, they had a 12-7 advantage in shot attempts, 6-2 in scoring chances and 5-1 in high-danger chances as part of a 76.15 percent expected goal share. They also scored a goal without allowing one. They also posted a 71.61 expected goal share in 8:37 against Seattle on Monday night. We can keep them together for a little while.

There’s something about a Vancouver crowd sitting in stunned silence after a flurry of Blackhawks goals that’s always going to be comforting.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Tyler Bertuzzi (CHI) — Hat trick
  2. Spencer Knight (CHI) — 43 saves on 45 shots
  3. Connor Bedard (CHI) — 1 goal, 1 assist

What’s Next

The Blackhawks head a little bit east for an 8 p.m. puck drop on Friday night against the Calgary Flames.

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