Blackhawks get coal in their stockings from Flyers

The Chicago Blackhawks did not get the Christmas cheer they were hoping for. They didn’t play poorly in their 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, but they didn’t have enough offensive firepower with Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar on the shelf.

Ryan Donato snapped his 11-game goal drought with the Blackhawks’ lone goal late in the second period. He was bumped up in the lineup and took advantage of the move. He is one of the veterans who needs to help pick up the slack over the next few weeks.

The Blackhawks head into the holiday break as the losers of six games in a row and are 0-5-0 since Bedard was injured.

“In the end, we had more chances than they did,” head coach Jeff Blashill said after the game. “We didn’t score. Even on the power play near the end, we generated chances, but we’ve got to keep grinding and find a way to score.”

New Line Combination Works

Blashill knows that the void left by the Bedard and Nazar injuries is not going to be filled by one or two players. It’s going to take a group effort, with different heavy lifters contributing each night.

“I think we’re going to have to do it by committee and less of a No. 1 line and more of a 1-4 lines, and everybody’s going to have to contribute,” he said. “Again, I think the style of play’s probably the most important piece of that.”

The line that did the heavy lifting tonight was the trio of Tyler Bertuzzi, Jason Dickinson, and Ilya Mikheyev. They dominated the play at even strength. They held a 14-2 advantage in shot attempts, 4-1 in shots on goal, and produced nine scoring chances while allowing none. When they weren’t on the ice, the Flyers held a 32-23 shot attempt advantage and led 15-11 in scoring chances.

“I thought they could be a good line in the O-zone,” Blashill said of the trio. “I thought we could match them against that Zegras line. We needed to change it up a little bit. I thought that line played really good. I don’t know if we’ll do it on the road, but that was the approach we took tonight.”

Growing Pains for the Kid Line

Nick Lardis, Ryan Greene, and Oliver Moore were back together against the Flyers and were not very effective. They had no shots on goal at 5-on-5 and generated only three shot attempts. Blashill knows it’s a lot to ask for a line as young as this one to be an offensive force every night.

His postgame comments on Lardis were straightforward. The Blackhawks’ bench boss did not sugarcoat what he’s seen in his game and what needs to be improved.

“Lardis has only been here a little bit,” Blashill said. "He’s trying to figure out how to generate the same offense at this level that he did at the AHL level. He’s not really fast, and he’s not really big. He’s a good skater, but he’s not going to separate himself with his speed. I think he’s got to find the right spacing. On the power play, he tends to drift outside the dots and shoots the one-timer. That’s probably not going in, in this league, unless one of those elite shooters. So, he’s got to find the right areas of the ice where he can get that same shot form, and it can be more dangerous. It’s a big ask.”

This was not throwing the young player under the bus, but rather offering some constructive criticism. Lardis was put in a tough spot. Being called up after Bedard was hurt put a lot of pressure on him. While his first five NHL games have been far from a disaster, you are seeing a young player trying to learn at the NHL level. The Blackhawks need him up here while Bedard is on the shelf, but he definitely looks like a player who needs to go back to Rockford for more development when he returns.

Nuggets & Tidbits

• Kudos to Donato for being the best offensive player on the ice. He led the team with five shots on goal, while winning eight of his 10 faceoffs. His goal was a product of having a shoot-first mentality. He looked to shoot the second he got the puck, but lost control of it. I feel that some of the other players on the team would have looked to pass out of this spot and reset. Instead, Donato got right back on the puck and let it rip. Good things happen when you shoot!

• While Donato played well, the same can’t be said of his linemate, Andre Burakovsky. The veteran wing has been playing well of late, with points in back-to-back games, and two goals and five points in the last six games. He finished his night against the Flyers with only one shot attempt and two giveaways. He needs to be better than this.

• The Blackhawks had a very good night at the faceoff dot, with Donato being a big part of that. After winning only three of 10 faceoffs in the first period, they finished at 63% (32 for 51). Michael Pecca has to be happy about that.

• Back to Lardis for a second. I liked seeing him mix it up. After getting into a post-whistle scrum late in the second period, he got his first NHL unsportsmanlike conduct early in the third period. He and Matvei Michkov got into it before a faceoff, and he did a job in standing up for himself.

• Blashill took full responsibility for the miscommunication that led to Spencer Knight heading to the bench too early and the Flyers’ empty-net goal. Not a banner night for the bench, which was called for too many men earlier in the game.