Another familiar script started the game tonight. The Blackhawks came out of the gates well, carried the play for about seven minutes and then an unfortunate penalty (Ilya Mikheyev putting a puck into the seats) opened the door. Nashville scored 12 seconds into their power play. Right off the following faceoff Pat Maroon dropped the gloves with Michael McCarron (legit heavyweights).
Overall, even with a one-goal deficit, the first period was good for the Blackhawks. They out-shot the Preds 9-5 despite Nashville having a 3-0 power play advantage. It was a physical period, too; there were 22 credited hits in the opening 20 minutes.
Having a good period without the result on the scoreboard has been disheartening at times for this year’s Blackhawks. To their credit, that wasn’t the case tonight. They kept playing the same physical game and it started to pay off. The new-look top line of Frank Nazar, Connor Bedard and Tyler Bertuzzi was buzzing and created two goals in 87 seconds to flip the score.
Nashville was overwhelming the Blackhawks for most of the second and third periods but couldn’t get a puck in the net until a bad line change left Filip Forsberg all alone with three minutes left in the third and the game was tied.
Star 1: Arvid Söderblom
I can’t not mention Söderblom. After the Blackhawks were short-handed for six minutes in the first period and still held the Preds to only five shots on net, Nashville threw everything they could on the net. The Predators out-shot the Hawks 16-7 in the second period and continued to throw rubber at the net in the third. But Söderblom was really good. He could have used a little help from his skaters to flip the ice for a few shifts but he kept working. He made a couple big saves in the final 20 seconds of regulation to get the game to overtime. Söderblom made some tremendous saves in overtime while the Preds pretty much owned the puck early. He stopped 39 of 41 (.951 save percentage) in 65 minutes of hockey.
Star 2: Connor Bedard
He got the Blackhawks on the board and was dangerous. Thru two periods, Bedard was on the ice for 12:41 and had two shots on net with his 13th goal of the season. He also won four of seven faceoffs in the opening two frames. Bedard skated 21:21 and won 5 of 11 faceoffs in regulation.
#Blackhawks tie the game at one
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 17, 2025
🚨 Connor Bedard
🍎 Tyler Bertuzzi
pic.twitter.com/NUGmqOMann
Star 3: Tyler Bertuzzi
Bertuzzi was clearly enjoying being on the Bedard and Nazar line. He made a sweet pass to set up Bedard for the first goal of the night. And then he won the offensive zone faceoff that started the second goal, picking up a second assist in the period. Bertuzzi had a team-high three shots on net thru 40 minutes. At the end of regulation, Bertuzzi was had a team-leading five shots on net and had three Grade A scoring chances in the third period.
#Blackhawks take a 2-1 lead
🚨 Alec Martinez
🍎 Seth Jones, Tyler Bertuzzi
Two assists for Bertuzzi in the period
pic.twitter.com/Zr1zMwkbgi— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 17, 2025
Key Takeaways
- Frank Nazar was easily the Blackhawks’ best skater in the first period and kept the hard work up in the second period. He had two shots on net and one hit thru two periods. He had a great look short-handed in the first period and was physical in the corners. The top line of Nazar, Bedard and Bertuzzi combined for seven of the Blackhawks’ 17 shots on net thru two periods. Nazar was tied with Bertuzzi for the team lead with five shots on net at the end of regulation; they had 12 of the Blackhawks’ 23 total shots on goal as a line.
- The Blackhawks started 3-on-3 overtime with Bedard, Nazar and Alex Vlasic on the ice.
- Seth Jones skated 8:11 in the first period — 50 seconds more than any other Blackhawks skater. And he spent two minutes in the penalty box in that period as well. Jones was up to 16:41 with one assist, one shot on net and was plus-two after two periods. He also had two hits, one blocked shots and one takeaway thru two periods. For as empty as his box score was against Calgary, he filled his line tonight. He skated 24:23 in regulation.
- It looked like Nick Foligno might have tied the game almost 15 minutes into the first period but the call on the ice was no goal because of goaltender interference. The Blackhawks challenged the play but the call was confirmed. Here’s the video:
- The Blackhawks’ two top forwards in ice time in the first period had very different paths to their TOI. Jason Dickinson skated 6:15 in the first period — 3:00 of which was on the penalty kill. Bedard skated 6:11 in the first, all at even strength.
- Strong box score from the young defensemen tonight. Nolan Allan (13:52 TOI) finished tied with Alec Martinez (23:14) for the team lead with four blocked shots. Louis Crevier and Vlasic were credited with five hits each, which tied Colton Dach for the team high. All six defensemen were credited with at least one hit and one blocked shots in the game.
- Here’s the Maroon-McCarron fight from the first period: