Blackhawks' Andrew Mangiapane making the most of his ice time in last two games

When a player finds himself getting sporadic playing time, the hope is that they are able to make the most of whenever they are in the lineup.

Andrew Mangiapane has been able to do that for the Chicago Blackhawks in three games.

How Mangiapane produced against the Panthers...

To recap, Mangiapane made the Blackhawks' opening-night roster and was on a line with Tyler Bertuzzi and Anton Frondell in their matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights. However, Mangiapane suffered a lower-body injury and was placed on injured reserve.

He was activated from injured reserve on Oct. 23, but head coach Jeff Blashill mentioned that there would be a roster competition with him back in the lineup.

He made it back in the lineup against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 25 after Oliver Moore was made a healthy scratch.

Head coach Jeff Blashill said on what he was hoping to see from him, "Mangiapane brings good energy. Really good energy. He's a guy who's super competitive. So hopefully he can come in and give us that competitiveness. Obviously, against a team that plays really hard in Florida, you know, competitive is at a premium, for sure.”

I spoke with Mangiapane on Oct. 24 about what he was expecting facing Florida, "Yeah, just kind of go in there and play my game. I'm [a] tenacious, hardworking type player. That's what I pride myself kind of on, and just kind of going in there and doing that, and just playing my game that way. Obviously, Florida's a good team, right? So everyone's gotta be ready to play, and yeah, it's gonna be a good game tomorrow."

Even though the Blackhawks lost 3-2, it was a solid effort. Mangiapane played on the fourth line with Ryan Greene and Cole Smith, and Mangiapane got an assist on Greene's opening goal.

He had a good shift on that play by knocking a Panthers' player off the puck and getting to the net, where he was able to get the puck from a shot from Kevin Korchinski to Greene up front.

Patrick Kane mentioned Mangiapane after their win against the LA Kings on Oct. 27: "I thought Mango was great last game. I think we got to acknowledge that, for sure. He was probably one of our best forwards, if not our best forward..."

...And again against the Bruins

Moore returned to the lineup, and Magiapane sat the next two games. But he returned to the lineup on Oct. 31 against the Boston Bruins. Teuvo Teräväinen was the healthy scratch.

He played on the second line with Bertuzzi and Frondell, and added another point with an assist on Greene's goal, giving the Blackhawks a 3-2 lead in the third period.

That line had the highest Corsi percentage on the team at 71.43 percent according to Natural Stat Trick. They were 11-3 in shots for and against, had a goal for and against, and a Corsi for and against of 15-6.

Mangiapane said postgame on his line with Frondell and Bertuzzi, "I think for me just coming in, I wanted to kind of keep it simple. I know Bert and Frondy are two really smart players, right? So I think we just wanted to keep it simple, get on the forecheck, and then kind of make plays from there. So I think we did a good job of that, and again, we need to have that mindset and identity. You know, low to high, get pucks on net, and really do a job of getting to the net and making it hard for the goalie."

With that, Mangiapane has two points in his last two games. He is averaging nine minutes of ice time, but against the Bruins, he had 12:50 minutes of ice time (his highest of the season).

The 30 year old veteran does have smarts to him, where he is able to get the puck to the right spots and can play with edge.

He might not be getting the biggest role, but it's good for the Blackhawks to get that contribution from him.

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