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Beez in the Trap: Blackhawks 4, Flames 0

Another Connor Bedard show on a Spencer Knight.

Posted on by L_B_R
Credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images

A four-point night from Connor Bedard and a 33-save shutout from Spencer Knight powered the Chicago Blackhawks to a 4–0 win over the Calgary Flames on Friday.

Yes, you read that right: a shutout.

The Blackhawks got the scoring started 12:32 into the first period. Connor Bedard fired a shot from the circle that deflected off Tyler Bertuzzi’s shin and into the net for a power-play goal, putting the Blackhawks up 1-0.

Bertuzzi scored again to make it 2-0 Blackhawks just over a minute into the third period. Bedard flew into the zone with speed and threaded a perfect cross-ice pass to Bertuzzi, who roofed it for his second of the game.

The Blackhawks went up 3–0 at 7:56 of the third on yet another goal setup from Bedard, this time on a 3-on-1 rush to Andre Burakovsky, who finished the play off with a quick wrister from the slot to extend the lead.

Then Bedard decided to put an exclamation point on the night: he picked Morgan Frost’s pocket, glided in on goal, threw a filthy deke, and tucked the puck behind Dustin Wolf — making it 4–0 with 1:59 left.

Notes

The Blackhawks had a solid — albeit back-and-forth — first period. It was one of their better opening frames in terms of shot-based possession, owning 51.72 percent of the 5-on-5 shot attempts. They probably had the puck even more than that number suggests, but had some difficulty setting up clean shooting opportunities that kept their totals — and especially their scoring chances — down (they had zero high-danger looks in the period). Still, when the Flames pushed back, the Blackhawks handled it well and capitalized on their lone power-play chance. Overall, a good start.

Second periods have been a disaster for the Blackhawks this season, and while this one wasn’t great, it also wasn’t the flaming wreckage we’ve see on occasion. The Blackhawks actually kept the shot attempts (15-12) and shots on goal (10-6) fairly close — progress! — and even managed to generate some legitimate scoring chances. They finished the period with 54.6 percent of the expected goal share, which for this team’s usual second-period standards might as well be a parade-worthy achievement. And for the Flames chances that did get through, Spencer Knight was a wall, bailing them out when things got wobbly.

The third period is when things got interesting. The Blackhawks scored on a beautiful play to go up by two, and while the Flames had the puck more after that — hello, score effects — it never really felt like Chicago was under siege. The Blackhawks did an admirable job keeping Calgary from establishing consistent zone time by forcing frequent regroups and generally disrupting their flow. Chicago didn’t have as many chances (just 32 percent of the expected goals), but they made their limited opportunities count, striking when the Flames made mistakes. That kind of strategy won’t always work — and probably wouldn’t against a better team — but it was enough for the win tonight, and that’s what matters.

Now let’s touch on to the most concerning thing from tonight’s game: Frank Nazar left the game less than 10 minutes in with an apparent injury, though what exactly was wrong is unknown. The in-game commentary mentioned it looked like a leg or knee injury, but coach Jeff Blashill did not elaborate post-game. He did, however, said that Nazar is just day-to-day so hopefully whatever the injury is is minor.

Here is the clip of when the injury occurred:

This game got scrappy pretty quickly. The Flames seemed to be targeting the Blackhawks’ young forwards — especially Bedard, Nazar, Ryan Greene, and Oliver Moore. That’s just the nature of hockey, but this year’s Blackhawks team isn’t going to take that kind of thing. I know some people think I dislike fighting, but I don’t — I just think there’s a time and place for it. And in this game, all those moments felt like the right time to drop the gloves.

First, Colton Dach fought Joel Farabee in the first period after Farabee played a role in Nazar’s injury:

Then Alex Vlasic dropped the gloves with MacKenzie Weegar after a hit on Oliver Moore:

After all the targeting of the Blackhawks’ young players, Nick Foligno returned the favor, lining up Zayne Parekh (who left the game after the hit) and Connor Zary with big hits, which led to a fight with Joel Hanley.

With Nazar’s injury, the Blackhawks had an even shorter forward bench than usual — one of the built-in headaches of running an 11F/7D setup. It’s not the first time this season the Hawks have lost a forward mid-game and had to scramble, but this one was especially chaotic: according to Natural Stat Trick, there were twelve different line combinations that played at least a minute together. Normally, a minute wouldn’t even clear the bar to count as a proper line, but when you’re mixing and matching this much, the bar moves. Because of that, it’s not really worth breaking down how each trio performed, but here’s at least how the minutes and shot attempt shares shook out:

Now, on to the fun part: Connor Bedard put on a show. He racked up four points — three primary assists and a highlight-reel, unassisted goal — because of course he did. With that, Bedard now sits second in the league behind Macklin Celebrini with 22 points. The two were actually tied when the Hawks wrapped up, but Celebrini tacked on an assist later in the Sharks’ game. As for Bedard’s night, he finished strong with four shot attempts, three scoring chances, and three shots on goal at 5-on-5, plus another three, two, and one, respectively, in all situations. He and Burakovsky tied for the team lead with seven attempts, and those two — along with Matt Grzelcyk (!!) — each had four shots on goal. His playmaking was just as ridiculous as his finish, showing off elite level patience and precision on all three assists. The kid’s clearly finding another gear offensively.

Postgame, Bedard downplayed his climb up the scoring leaderboard, saying it’s still early and he’s more focused on improving his overall game. Sure, he’ll take the points, but it’s clear he’s thinking bigger picture — not bad for someone who can’t even legally buy a beer in the U.S. yet.

And Bedard keeps making history:

Not going to go into individual evaluations, but a quick nod to Artyom Levshunov, who quietly had one of his most composed offensive games of the season. Most of his points so far have felt unremarkable or secondary to the actual goals, and yes, he’s still getting some of the most sheltered minutes in the league — so production should come. But his in-zone passing looked more deliberate and thoughtful this time around. He didn’t register a shot attempt, but he set up his teammates well and moved the puck with confidence.

The only other player I’ll touch on is Knight because, frankly, he deserves a mention in every game at this point. His 33-save shutout was the sixth shutout of his career and the first by a Blackhawks goalie since Nov. 12, 2023. It was also the first road shutout since Dec. 9, 2021. According to MoneyPuck, Knight saved 2.64 goals above expected, putting him back atop the NHL leaderboard at 10.7 on the season — just ahead of Logan Thompson (10.5) and Connor Hellebuyck (10.1).

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Connor Bedard (CHI) — 1 goals, 3 assist
  2. Spencer Knight (CHI) — 33-save shutout
  3. Tyler Bertuzzi (CHI) — 2 goals

What’s Next

The Blackhawks wrap up their six-game road trip with a stop in Detroit Sunday to take on the Red Wings in an early afternoon game at 12 p.m.

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