Bedard, Knight continue elite seasons in win over the Flames

The Chicago Blackhawks entered tonight’s game as the better team on paper, and showed that they were the better team on ice with their 4-0 shutout of the Calgary Flames. The back-to-back wins give them five points on the six-game road trip with one game remaining.

Connor Bedard continues to be scoring hot with another four points, a goal, and three assists. Tyler Bertuzzi scored another pair of goals to bring his total up to five over the last two games. Andre Burakovsky added a goal and an assist to give him eight points in his last six games. Finally, Spencer Knight made 33 saves for his sixth career shutout and first with the Blackhawks.

“It’s good – two back-to-back wins on the road,” Bertuzzi said after the game. “These are hard games to win, especially on the back of a long road trip. This was a really good team with the three fights. We’re standing up for each other, big blocks, and great goaltending. It was a great 60 by our team.”

Fight Night in Calgary

There isn’t much of a rivalry between the Blackhawks and Flames, but when you see the penalty minutes, you might think tonight was the latest chapter of the Battle of Alberta. There were three fights in the first half of the game, as both teams stuck up for each other.

The nastiness started when Joel Farabee ended Frank Nazar’s night with this bush league and blatant cross-check to the leg.

Colton Dach took exception to the play and fought Farabee before the first period ended, even though the broadcast had no idea why they were fighting.

Early in the second period, Flames defensemen took a run at Oliver Moore in the neutral zone, and he immediately had to answer to Alex Vlasic. Captain Nick Foligno saw what was going on and started taking runs on some of the young Calgary players like Zayne Parekh and Connor Zary. Unfortunately, Parekh was injured on the play and missed the rest of the game. Flames defenseman Joel Hanley stood up for his teammates by dropping the gloves with Foligno.

Head coach Jeff Blashill gave a positive update on Nazar after the game, saying he is day-to-day and didn’t rule him out for Sunday’s matinee at the Detroit Red Wings.

Connor Bedard is Elite

All summer, Blackhawks fans were hoping that this would be the season where Bedard made the jump into superstardom. Folks, he has made that jump, and he’s now part of the upper echelon of NHL players.

“Even early in the year when he wasn’t getting the points I thought he could have, there were a lot of plays he was making that didn’t result in points, for whatever reason,” Blashill said. “What he’s done all season long is play a complete game. That’s where his growth has been awesome. I’ve asked all our guys to play winning-type hockey, and he’s led the way in that.”

Bedard is taking over games. All three of his helpers were primary assists. After setting up Bertuzzi twice, he deferred to Burakovsky to finish off this 3-on-1 rush. It was poetic justice that Farabee stepped up to throw an elbow and missed, thus leading to the rush in the other direction.

However, it was his goal that will be shown on highlight reels for a long time. He stole the puck off Morgan Frost’s stick, then deked Dustin Wolf before depositing it into the net. This is a superstar play.

Bedard’s fourth point of the net made him the youngest player in Blackhawks franchise history to score 150 points. It also momentarily tied him with Macklin Celebrini for the NHL lead in scoring. Celebrini recorded an assist about an hour later to regain the lead. The fact that these two young stars are atop the NHL’s scoring list shows how healthy the league is right now.

Nuggets & Tidbits

• Bertuzzi is on quite a heater with five goals in his last two games. We’ve seen him score in bunches before, but this season is different because he’s bringing maximum engagement every single night. This team has a different attitude this season, and he’s a big factor in that shift. He showed on his second goal that he can do more than score from the front of the net. This was a heck of a shot off a great pass by Bedard.

• Knight picked up his first shutout of the season, but he could easily have at least three at this point. He has exceeded all expectations and has been one of the best goaltenders in the league. His +10.5 goals saved above average leads the NHL. Of course, he downplayed the doughnut after the game.

• The Blackhawks flipped the script a bit tonight. There have been multiple games this season where they have been the better team at 5-on-5 but came up short on the scoreboard. Tonight, the Flames were the better 5-on-5 team, but the Blackhawks took advantage of a few mistakes, scored on the power play, and got fantastic goaltending to walk out of the Saddledome with two points.

• The Blackhawks head into Sunday’s game in Detroit with five points in their pocket. I think most fans would have been satisfied with coming home from the six-game road trip with five points. Picking up a win against the Red Wings and returning with seven points on the trip would be a massive victory. We’re getting to the point of the season where this isn’t just a good start for the Blackhawks. They might actually be a good team!