All of the “Luke Richardson isn’t a good coach” people were up in arms after the opening period in Utah on Tuesday night. The Blackhawks turned things around significantly in the second and third periods, but they dug themselves a multi-goal hole they simply couldn’t erase. They needed to get off the bus on time on Friday night, and did precisely that.
The opening 20 minutes in Winnipeg were the polar opposite of the first period in Utah. The Blackhawks were out-shot 7-6 but had the only penalty kill of the period and the closing four minutes favored the visitors. And Arvid Söderblom looked like a different goalie — not just because of the gorgeous new mask design and pads, but he was calm in the net and held up his end of the bargain.
Pat Maroon had a gorgeous pass to set up Andreas Athanasiou for a scoring chance in the first period that Double-A couldn’t finish. In the second, he hit Ryan Donato on the fly and he was able to make the deposit, giving the Blackhawks their first lead of the new season. The Blackhawks had a stronger second period than they did in the first.
The Blackhawks played really good defensive hockey throughout the third period. Unfortunately, the veteran skill of the Jets finally broke thru late and tied the game and we got some free hockey on a Friday night. And then Scheifele won it in overtime, beating Philipp Kurashev off a screen right down broadway for an easy shot.
Star 1: Arvid Söderblom
This guy has heard it all about how bad he is, the organization going out to get Laurent Brossoit and then name Drew Commesso the starter in Rockford… it felt like he was in professional limbo when training camp neared. But then Brossoit got hurt training and opened the door for him to get at least a little run to start the season. All he had to do was show he belonged if/when he got the call. And dammit he did that and then some tonight! He was fabulous. He stopped the first 32 shots he faced before Mark Scheifele tied the game at one with 64 seconds left in regulation. Söderblom deserved a win tonight, but the offense only got him the one goal.
Star 2: Ryan Donato
His first goal of the season gave the Blackhawks their first lead of the season. He had a really good effort in Utah on Tuesday night and backed that up with a good performance again tonight. For a guy who started camp looking like he might be outside the rotation, his play has forced him into the conversation and I don’t think he’s going anywhere.
1-0 #Blackhawks
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) October 12, 2024
🚨 Ryan Donato
🍎 Big Rig
pic.twitter.com/9zkm27Hr7v
Star 3: Pat Maroon
Maroon was just really good all night. Is he going to win a race? Maybe against Paul Konerko? But he made smart passes, played physically and created the Blackhawks’ only goal of the night. He finished with three hits, two shots on net and one assist.
Key Takeaways
- The Blackhawks turned in a clinical penalty kill in the middle of the first period. Nick Foligno had a good scoring chance and Jason Dickinson was an eraser. Fabulous effort defensively early.
- The Blackhawks went back to the same top defensive pairs they opened with in Utah (Alec Martinez — Seth Jones, Alex Vlasic — TJ Brodie). The Jets were credited with 7 shots on net in the first period to Chicago’s 6. At even strength, Martinez-Jones was on the ice for 5 of the Blackhawks’ shots to 3 of Winnipeg’s. Vlasic-Brodie were on the ice for zero (0) for the Hawks and 3 for the Jets. Brodie still looked slow, but by gawd by the end of regulation the best Corsi For percentage of any Blackhawks defensive pair was… Vlasic-Brodie.
- Athanasiou didn’t exactly force us to take notice of his play early. Thru the first two periods, he had a team-low 5:31 of even-strength ice time and the worst Corsi For on the roster (2-7, 22.22%) according to Natural Stat Trick. But he started to do a better job in a fourth-line role in the third period and got another good scoring chance.
- Wyatt Kaiser led the team with four blocked shots in his season debut. For a young player who didn’t play in a preseason game because of an illness, he didn’t appear out of place. The confident Kaiser we saw when he came back from Rockford last year was on the ice, and that’s a great thing.
- Foligno led the team in shots on goal (4), hits (5) and was the best Blackhawks skater in the faceoff circle (won 6 of 9).
- Let’s not do this again, okay?