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Wake Up and Smile: Blackhawks 7, Senators 3

Bedard’s first hat trick. Many more to come.

Posted on by Dave Melton
Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images

Connor Bedard scored the first hat trick of his NHL career as the Blackhawks built a 4-0 lead, nearly threw it away, but then finished off a grumpy Ottawa Senators squad by the score of 7-3 on Tuesday night at the United Center.

Colton Dach put the Hawks up 1-0 when he pounced on this rebound of a Louis Crevier shot for his first goal of the season:

Crevier added his second point of the period with this seeing-eye wrister from the boards that ended up in the Ottawa net:

With about two minutes left in the first, Connor Bedard put the Hawks up 3-0 with this power-play snipe after an excellent pass from Andre Burakovsky:

The Blackhawks went up 4-0 in the second period on Bedard’s second goal of the night, which was an absolute beauty:

And then the game went completely sideways for a bit. This goal from Jake Sanderson was a solid way to send it off the rails, as his slap shot bounced off the end boards and then the back of Spencer Knight before ending up in the Blackhawks goal:

Michael Amadio scored a few minutes later to make it a 4-2 game:

Then Tim Stutzle capped the stretch of three goals in 3:33 (someone tell Pat Foley) with this wrister at the end of an odd-man rush:

Chicago managed to survive the second period without allowing a tying goal and then, in the third period, Bedard struck again for the hat trick:

Bedard wasn’t done with the offense, either. He didn’t score on this play later in the third period, but he picked up a primary assist with a drive to the net that set up Ryan Donato for a goal that made it a 6-3 Chicago lead:

Frank Nazar booted the extra point with this empty-netter for the final tally of the evening:

Notes

Let’s bask in the glory of that Bedard hat trick a little longer, with a s/t to @BlackhawksFocus on Twitter for the clips:

Bedard has flashed an improved one-timer this season but with the power play scuffling lately, he was moved back to his traditional spot at the right faceoff circle on Chicago’s PP1 during Monday’s practice and it immediately paid off with his first-period goal. He was asked about that flip back to the right side postgame:

I just think it gives you a different kind of vision of the ice. You’re going downhill at guys. I think I like both sides but, in some ways, I think there’s benefits to it. Obviously it worked tonight. We only got the one shot and it was in, so obviously it looks good. But I’m excited to get some more powers and work on that side and see how it goes.

Regardless of what side of the ice Bedard is on, having Burakovsky feed him the puck in those prime scoring areas is going to ensure there are plenty of quality scoring chances in the future. It seems like there’s a blossoming on-ice chemistry developing between those two players which is going to benefit both of them.

That second-period goal? Pretty much a carbon copy of how he tormented the WHL for a few seasons as a teenager: speed through the neutral zone while navigating around opponents to gain zone entry, a quick toe drag and then a snipe for a goal. It’s not something he’ll be able to do as frequently at the NHL level because of how much better the goalies are, but seeing that specific type of goal again suggests it’s still in the arsenal, even in the pros.

Don’t think Ryan Greene is going to be a long-term option on Bedard’s wing but give him credit for the faceoff win in the offensive zone that led to Bedard’s hat trick tally.

A few quick notes on the opposite end of things. First, Sam Rinzel absolutely cannot take that retaliatory penalty he took in the first period and hopefully that’s something he works out of his system ASAP. He can play with edge but it can’t come at the detriment of his team, especially against the team that entered this game with the best power play in the league. Second, that Amadio goal seems easily preventable if there’s any level of communication between Kaiser and Levshunov at the net. It seems like that goal is probably more the fault of Levshunov given that Kaiser was already involved in the play and Levshunov was the late arrival who coasted across the net and out of any position which could be considered useful, giving Amadio acres to pick a corner. Those are the little moments from Levshunov which have been driving certain members of the SCH staff (mostly Zack) crazy during this opening month of the season, and that moment is likely indicative of why that duo was down at the bottom of the scorecard below from this game.

There’s been some chatter during game threads regarding the Hawks struggles in the second period. Blashill was asked about it postgame:

We just talked about it and, as a staff, we have to do a deep dive and see why we struggle in the second. It seems like we get hemmed in more in our end than we do in the first and the third. If I had the answer, we’d have it fixed (laughs). for whatever reason, we don’t seem to break the puck out as well out of D-zone coverage specifically and then we just get hemmed in for way too long. It’s something we’ve gotta look at and get an answer for.

Combine this win with Rockford’s 6-1 throttling of the Rosemont Wolves this afternoon and it was a mighty fine day all around for the Blackhawks organization.

We had some starring moments from Nazar several times in the early portions of the season and now Bedard has grabbed the spotlight himself with a four-point game and the initial hat trick of his career. These are the kinds of games that offer a much more tangible feeling of what this can all look like down the road. Here’s to more of them.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Connor Bedard (CHI) — Hat trick, assist
  2. Louis Crevier (CHI) — 1 goal, 1 assist
  3. Andre Burakovsky (CHI) — 2 assists

What’s Next

The Blackhawks kick off a six-game road trip with a visit to Manitoba on Thursday night where Jonathan Toews and the Winnipeg Jets await for a 7 p.m. puck drop.

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