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Over My Head: Bruins 5, Blackhawks 2

It’s yet another loss on home ice.

Posted on by L_B_R
Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Despite scoring the first two goals of the game, the Blackhawks allowed five unanswered goals to fall 5-2 to the Bruins on Saturday night, losing their fourth straight home game.

The Blackhawks struck first at 16:14 of the opening period. Just seconds after a power play expired, Andre Burakovsky found Ryan Greene alone in the slot, and Greene snapped a wrist shot past Joonas Korpisalo to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.

The Blackhawks doubled the advantage two minutes later. Wyatt Kaiser jumped in from the right point, worked his way into the slot, and fired a wrist shot past Korpisalo’s stick side, using the traffic in front effectively as a screen.

The Bruins responded 1:55 into the second period after Elias Lindholm sent a pass into the slot for Charlie McAvoy, who beat a screened Arvid Söderblom with a wrist shot and made it 2-1. The play started with the Bruins winning a puck battle in their own zone before quickly turning it into a rush the other way.

Mason Lohrei tied the game 2-2 at 14:41 of the second, taking a cross-ice feed from Hampus Lindholm and scoring from the right circle. Pavel Zacha helped create the opening by circling behind the net before finding Lindholm up top for the setup.

The Bruins grabbed a 3-2 lead with less than a minute remaining in the period. Casey Mittelstadt carried the puck into the zone and waited for support, and Viktor Arvidsson finished a give-and-go with Zacha from just off the crease.

Lohrei scored his second of the night on the power play at 9:01 of the third period. Fraser Minten moved the puck to Lohrei near the left point, and the defenseman walked in before snapping a shot through traffic to extend the Bruins’ lead to 4-2.

Marat Khusnutdinov put the game away at 11:02, finishing off a rush after David Pastrnak found him alone in front to make it 5-2.

Notes

This was another low-event game that didn’t break in the Blackhawks’ favor, largely because the Bruins did an excellent job punishing any major mistake Chicago made.

The Blackhawks were a bit flat-footed to start and spent a good chunk of the opening minutes defending in their own zone. To their credit, they did a solid job limiting shots and chances on net: Boston controlled 62.07 percent of the shot attempts and 76.93 percent of the expected goals in the first period, but managed just eight shots on goal. Chicago weathered the early storm and carried that momentum through the rest of the period, ultimately being rewarded with two goals.

After the Bruins scored early in the second, the Blackhawks generated some extended zone time over the next few minutes, though it didn’t translate into many quality looks. Boston then pushed back, and while they never fully took over the period, they capitalized on a handful of openings and mistakes to grab the lead. Many of those errors came from Chicago trying to do too much — one extra move, instead of keeping things simple. The Blackhawks finished the period with a slight edge in shot attempts (20–19) but owned just 35.95 percent of the expected goals.

The third period was, unfortunately, pretty blah. The Blackhawks struggled to establish sustained zone time or create meaningful chances. The Bruins didn’t generate much either outside of their goals, but with Chicago chasing the game, you would have hoped for more push. The Blackhawks again finished with more attempts (12-7) and chances (6-2), but Boston edged them in shots on goal (4-3). Those are extremely low totals overall, and there just wasn’t much happening at 5-on-5. Chicago did generate one of its better 6-on-5 sequences late in the game, but it wasn’t enough to close the gap.

Going to keep this one simple like the last recap and cover two positive players and two negatives.

The positives are essentially a pair: Oliver Moore and Nick Lardis, even when they’re not piling up shots, both are consistently noticeable in positive ways. Moore’s game is driven by his skating, and his ability to create pressure through the neutral zone has stood out lately. Coming into the season, there was some belief that Moore might be better suited to the wing based on his usage in other leagues, but he’s been excellent at center of late. His transition game has taken a step forward, he’s distributing the puck more effectively, and he’s handled the defensive and coverage responsibilities of a pivot very well. Moore had three attempts, three scoring chances (one high-danger), and one shot on goal at 5-on-5.

Lardis complements Moore’s skill set nicely. He has strong vision, consistently finds soft spots in coverage, and can get his shot off quickly, often in stride. He’s not as fast as Moore (few players on the Blackhawks are), but his quick first step and straight-line speed allow him to separate in transition and arrive in scoring areas ahead of defenders. While he’s not an edge-work specialist, his stride is efficient and powerful, helping him maintain speed through traffic and making his release dangerous at game pace. If not for an excellent defensive play in the clip below, Moore and Lardis likely would have combined for at least one goal. Lardis finished with three shot attempts, two scoring chances (both high-danger), and led the team in expected goals at 5-on-5 (0.59).

On the other side, this was one of those nights that highlighted how much room Artyom Levshunov still has to grow. His aggressive, high-energy style can be effective when he processes the game quickly — something he’s done well recently, particularly offensively — but there were several moments when things unraveled. Passes before looking, ill-advised pinches, and missed coverage all showed up tonight. Levshunov did have some strong moments, but this was a clear step back from his recent performances. That’s part of the learning curve for a young defenseman, and games like this are to be expected.

This one is more of a line-usage issue, but Tyler Bertuzzi needs to be moved away from Jason Dickinson and Ilya Mikheyev. As a checking unit, that trio works well enough, but the role seems to neutralize Bertuzzi in a way it doesn’t for other offense-leaning players (like Teuvo Teravainen or Ryan Donato). Bertuzzi is at his best when he’s the primary forechecker on a line and has license to create chaos around the net — responsibilities that are largely stripped away on a defense-first unit. The underlying numbers back up that his offense has been lacking: Bertuzzi’s overall shot totals were solid, but almost all of his offensive impact came away from his primary 5-on-5 linemates. With Dickinson and Mikheyev, he posted just two shot attempts and no scoring chances. Away from them, he generated four additional attempts and four scoring chances (all high-danger looks). Basically, the line of Bertuzzi, Dickinson and Mikheyev holds their own every night, but it’s limiting to Bertuzzi, and the Blackhawks could really use his offense right about now.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Mason Lohrei (BOS) — 2 goals
  2. David Pastrnak (BOS) — 2 assists
  3. Pavel Zacha (BOS) — 2 assists

What’s Next

The Blackhawks host the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night at 7:30 p.m., marking the first time Jonathan Toews plays in Chicago as an opponent.

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