The Hawks flipped the script on their recent struggles by scoring twice in the third period on their way to defeating the New York Islanders 5-3 on Sunday afternoon.
With 9:08 gone in the first, Teuvo Teravinen found Ilya Mikheyev two separate times in the span of a few seconds, and Mikheyev buried his second opportunity for the opening goal:
With just 1:17 left in the first, a Philip Kurashev broken stick led to an odd-man rush for the Islanders. Arvid Soderblom made the initial save, but the puck found its way back to Ryan Pulock, and his blast from the point beat Soderblom to tie the game at one:
Just 57 seconds later, a Teravainen fake froze the Islanders defense before he fed the puck to Taylor Hall for a sharp angled one-timer that gave the Hawks back the lead:
At 2:25 into the second period, a Pierre Engvall feed through the slot deflected in off Simon Holmstrom’s skate to tie the game at two:
With just under five minutes left, an Alex Romanov delay of game penalty gave the Hawks 46 seconds of 5-on-3 time. After a Ryan Donato faceoff win, Connor Bedard circled with the puck, looked off the Islanders defense, then found Teravainen for a one-timer that gave the Hawks back the lead:
Just 45 seconds into the third period, Noah Dobson walked the slot and slipped the puck under Soderblom to tie the game at three. Soderblom was incensed as he felt like his stick was interfered with by Maxim Tsyplakov, and Anders Sorensen actually challenged the call, but ultimately the goal was upheld, and the Hawks were forced to kill off a penalty as a result:
With just 54 seconds left, Donato drove the net for a wraparound attempt, his rebound went to Bedard, and Bedard fired a wrister into traffic that squeaked through Sorokin (and was ultimately pushed in by his own stick) to give the Hawks back a one goal lead:
With 11 seconds left, the Blackhawks FINALLY got an empty-net goal of their own this season as Connor Murphy fired a 190-footer to seal the win:
Notes
The weird stat that everyone seemed to be touting before (and during) the game is that the Blackhawks have now scored first in six straight games, and 20 times in their 31 games overall — which is first in the entire league. Obviously that’s had little correlation in regard to wins so far, but as we’re looking for positive improvements to point to this season, that’s certainly significant (especially remembering some of the beat downs they received last season from other bottom-level teams like the Coyotes (RIP) and Blue Jackets).
Special teams was the difference today, and I’ll give most of that credit specifically to the penalty kill. The Blackhawks have now successfully killed their last 25 penalties in a row. They’ve also killed a penalty in nine games straight — which is their longest streak since 2014. And while their PK entered today fifth overall, since Nov. 1st there is nobody in the league that’s been better. They killed a huge chance late as the Islanders’ were given a power play with just over three minutes left after Donato got sent off for tripping.
This was Anders Sorensen’s fifth game since he took over for Luke Richardson and, not to dance on Richardson’s grave too much, both Teravainen and Hall look like completely different players since. Hall has been effusive in both his praise of Sorensen (and the forecheck he runs), and Teravainen had one of the most effective games we’ve seen from him in quite some time. His passes on both Mikheyev’s and Hall’s goals put them in primary positions to score, and should serve as key examples why he’s the second most important offensive player on the roster besides Bedard right now (though Nazar will be in that conversation soon). Teuvo’s line with Mikheyev and Jason Dickinson ended up in the positive in just about all the fancy stats, but there’s zero reason why he shouldn’t be playing with Bedard from here on out. I think I’m done with Kurashev in the top six at this point, too. At least Donato is winning face offs and making plays.
Nice rebound start from Soderblom today after getting the hook on Thursday night. He stopped 30 of 33 this afternoon, and this was his first career win against the Islanders, after going 0-3 with a 3.68 GAA and .888 save percentage in his three previous appearances.
Alex Vlasic’s two assists today give him 16 points (2 G, 14 A) in 31 games, which ties his exact output from all of last season — but in 35 fewer games. Yes, some of that is a product of Seth Jones being out and Vlasic being deployed in ways he isn’t normally used, but it’s also worth it to take a moment to appreciate his continued development on the offensive side of the puck as well. The kid is awesome to watch.
Speaking of the kids, that’s two goals and five assists for Bedard in his last five games (and he didn’t look nearly as dangerous today as he did against Jersey yesterday).
Why exactly did Nolan Allan let Noah Dobson take a leisurely stroll right up to Soderblom on the Isles’ third goal (while picking Murphy in the process)? Kaiser certainly deserved to sit today after his last few games, and with Jones and Alec Martinez coming back at some point in the not too distant future, there are a few tough decisions that are going to have to be made. There were a couple of cycles that died on the end of Allan’s stick today as well. Meanwhile, Kevin Korchinski continues to using his skating to push the play and create space. Just sayin’.
The Blackhawks are now 2-3 to start the Sorensen era and outside of his initial game against Winnipeg, they’ve been so much more enjoyable to watch. While I don’t necessarily think there’s another level for this team to get to this season, if they can keep playing at this pace (and especially once Nazar settles in more), I will absolutely take it.
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Blackhawks Penalty Kill
- Teuvo Teravainen – 1 goal, 2 assists
- Connor Bedard – 1 goal, 1 assist
What’s Next
The Blackhawks are back in action at the United Center on Tuesday night as they’ll take on the surging Washington Capitals for the first time this season at 7:30 p.m.