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My Best Friend (Is a Nihilist): Islanders 5, Blackhawks 4

Posted on by Dave Melton
Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Blackhawks kept it close for 40 minutes and then threatened to make it really interesting late before ultimately 5-4 on the road against the New York Islanders on Thursday night.

The first goal was of the game was perhaps the most important moment of the entire night from a long-term perspective, as Connor Bedard found some open space during a first-period power play and used it to uncork this unholy wrister to put Chicago up 1-0:

Worth another look? Worth another look.

Unfortunately the next FIVE goals were scored by the Islanders. Two of them came in the second, one from Dennis Cholowski and the other by Simon Holstrom:

Noah Dobson continued the NYI onslaught with this goal at the 5:30 mark of the third period:

Bo Horvat then scored about a minute later:

Maxim Tsyplakov had the last of the bunch, with a bit of an unintentional assist from Ryan Donato:

TJ Brodie finally stemmed the tide of Islanders goals with this point shot that found its way into the NYI net near the middle of the third:

Tyler Bertuzzi scored a pair of goals exactly one minute apart in the third period to make it a one-goal game.

But that second one came with only 10 seconds remaining in regulation, which was not enough time for the Blackhawks to find an equalizer.

Notes

Let’s start with the most important point: Connor Bedard is slowly working his way back to doing Connor Bedard things again and hot damn is that a welcome sight. Sometimes it’s the simple act of being willing to try such maneuvers that offer insight into how confident a player is feeling in a particular game. The goal was incredible, but these two moments during the game aren’t to be ignored, either:

Speaking of young players, there was a moment in the Rangers game on Monday when Kevin Korchinski rather efficiently shut down a possible scoring threat from Artemi Panarin. In this game, he was in massive trouble when his stick exploded on a one-timer attempt, leaving him without a twig while trying to halt an Islanders’ counter the other way. That rush did not end with a shot on goal because Korchinski managed to coax the opponent towards the boards and pin him there until properly armed teammates could steal the puck back. Two games in, not a single reason to send Korch back to Rockford.

Is there a better summary of Tyler Bertuzzi’s tenure with Chicago thus far than him scoring two goals during garbage time, one because he sorta whiffed on a one-timer attempt on a prime scoring chance and the other because the puck ricocheted in off of his leg? No, there probably isn’t.

On that third Islanders goal, not sure the initial move from Wyatt Kaiser to try and break up the play just across the opposing blue line is a bad idea, but he lingered there a little too long after he wasn’t immediately successful, which left the wide open path for Dobson to trigger the 2-on-1. Probably a save Soderblom could’ve had given that Dobson briefly mishandled the puck, which didn’t give him the best angle and allowed Vlasic to slide over more while Kaiser recovered to take away the cross-ice pass.

The fourth Islanders goal is fairly annoying because it starts with Brodie directing traffic in his own end — which is good! — but then he doesn’t see the hard-charging Horvat, nor does he get his stick into the passing lane to prevent the connection which led to the goal — which is bad!

Not the ideal situation of course but might pay off this weekend for Drew Commesso to get his first dose of NHL action in relief during this game, considering he may get his first NHL start this weekend with the Blackhawks having a pair of games on the schedule.

Perhaps it’s because we got a glimpse of the good Bedard on multiple occasions but this defeat didn’t feel so bleak as some of the others. A couple defensive miscues and a few soft-ish goals helped the Islanders grab that massive lead, and the Blackhawks did find a way to make it a little more interesting at the end. But the 5-on-5 numbers are mostly in Chicago’s favor: 53-41 in shot attempts, 24-19 in shots on goal, 28-13 in scoring chances, 8-3 in high-danger chances, all for a 55.77 percent expected goal share. And it’s not like the Blackhawks did all that once they fell behind by four goals in the third: there was a steady, consistent offensive push from the Blackhawks in this game. They managed the neutral zone well. They had multiple instances of sustained possession in the offensive zone that resulted in shots and chances piling up throughout the game. Add all of that up with the positive glimpses from the youngsters on the ice and this feels like the kind of loss that’s a little more tolerable to stomach as this developmental arc of the franchise continues.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Simon Holmstrom (NYI) — 1 G, 2 A
  2. Connor Bedard (CHI) — 1 G, 2 A
  3. Noah Dobson (NYI) — 1 G, 1 A

What’s Next

The Blackhawks kick off a weekend back-to-back on the road on Saturday afternoon against the New Jersey Devils with the puck drop scheduled for Noon.

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