Blackhawks Postgame Musings: Bedard's career night overcomes another rough second period

The Chicago Blackhawks are back in the win column, and they possibly exorcised some demons in the process. Why not? It’s spooky season. The story of the night was Connor Bedard scoring his first career hat trick and adding assists for a career-high four points. The Blackhawks also got goals from Colton Dach, Louis Crevier, Ryan Donato, and Frank Nazar.

“He’s a guy who likes to score, no, loves to score goals,” captain Nick Foligno said. “You could see it on his way how pumped he was. If we get that kind of Connor Bedard every night, it’s going to be fun.”

The other big storyline was how the Blackhawks nearly had another second-period collapse, giving up three straight goals to cut a 4-0 lead down to just a single goal. However, they rebounded in the third period for three more tallies and brought home a big 7-3 victory as they head out on a season-long six-game road trip.

Blackhawks Have Another Nightmare Second Period

Usually, when you host a team that played the night before and traveled late to get here, you have the advantage. That has not been the case for the Blackhawks early in the season. They have lost both games in that scenario, to the Vancouver Canucks and the Los Angeles Kings. To make matters worse, they dominated the first periods in both games, only to get thoroughly outplayed in the middle frame.

The Senators rolled into the United Center after beating the Boston Bruins last night, so of course, those previous failings were on everyone’s mind.

“It’s an advantage to the point where it depends on what they let it be and what we let it be,” head coach Jeff Blashill said. “If they come out and play great hockey, then it’s not an advantage. That’s up to them, that’s not up to us. If we come out and play great hockey, we can make it harder on them.

“One thing we’ve done in both of these scenarios is play really well early and then, for different reasons, maybe let our foot off the gas. We have to keep building our game and make sure we keep building a 60-minute game, and that’s what we have to focus the most on.”

The Blackhawks got the start they wanted, with three goals on their first six shots of the game. They dominated the opening frame at 5-on-5 with a 25-11 shot attempt advantage and an 8-3 lead in scoring chances.

Ottawa got momentum right off the bat in the second period, as Sam Rinzel was called for tripping just 24 seconds in. It was his second penalty of the night. Fortunately, the penalty-kill unit was up to the task. Moments after the successful kill, Bedard stuck with this beauty to put the Blackhawks up by four.

But, to the Senators' credit, they got back into the game after getting a goal off a lucky bounce off the end boards. They took control after the first goal and scored two more quickly after that. They were able to escape the frame with a one-goal lead.

Bedard was the hero with his hat-trick goal in the third period to restore the two-goal lead. The Senators began to look like a team playing its second game in 24 hours as the final stanza wore on, and the Blackhawks took advantage of it.

Power Player Here for a Good Time, Not a Long Time

After scoring a power-play goal in three straight games, the Blackhawks' power play has gone 1-for-13 over the last three contests. It was especially bad on Sunday against the Kings, when even gaining the zone was a chore.

“It changes the outcome of the last game,” Foligno said. “Your special teams have to be good. The PK has been really good, and we need our power play to score, especially with the skill we have on it. Regardless of who’s missing or how the lines shake out, there’s enough talent to at least create momentum. I understand you’re not going to score on every power play. It’s just creating momentum. Tonight, we need it to be a difference maker if we get the chance.”

The Blackhawks only got one power-play chance tonight and needed just 16 seconds to cash in. Andre Burakovsky, who was added to the top unit, set up Bedard’s second goal of the night. Winning that initial faceoff was the key to a successful chance.

Ryan Greene Gets A Look Up Top

When the season started, we all hoped Blashill would find some consistent linemates for Connor Bedard. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case through the first 10 games. Ryan Greene was the latest to join the top line, making the sixth different trio that Bedard has centered this season. That’s not counting the extra shifts he’s been taking on the fourth line with only 11 forwards playing on a nightly basis.

“I think Greener’s like a lot of our young players: there’s good and bad,” Blashill said of Greene this morning. “You just want to keep making those bad moments less and less severe and the good moments a little more frequent. What he’s done well is that he's been pretty smart and can make skilled plays. That allows him to play up your lineup in those power-play situations. He is getting a good opportunity, and like any other player, when you get the opportunity, you have to grab it.”

Greene picked up an assist on Bedard’s hat-trick goal by winning the offensive zone faceoff. He was 3-for-6 at the dot on the night. In 11:04 of 5-on-5, the top line had a 52.94 Corsi for percentage (CF%) and was outchanced, but outscored the Senators 2-1.

Nuggets & Tidbits

• There is no way we can’t give Crevier some praise after another solid game. He was directly responsible for the Blackhawks' first two goals. Dach scored the opening goal off a rebound from Crevier’s shot, then he scored the second one himself by catching Linus Ullmark off guard with a quick shot from the right dasher. He continues to excel in the role he has been given, as Blashill continues to put his players in position to succeed.

• Bedard’s second goal made him the seventh player in franchise history to score 50 goals before his 21st birthday. Eddie Olczyk holds the record with 65, but it’s only a matter of time before that mark is eclipsed. He’ll pass Patrick Kane (53), Denis Savard (54), Bobby Hull (55), Jonathan Toews (58), and Jeremy Roenick (58) on his way to catching Olczyk.

• Congratulations to Foligno for picking up his 600th career point with the secondary assist on the game’s opening goal. He added point 601 with the assist on Nazar’s empty-net goal in the third period.

• Ryan Donato’s third-period goal gave him 100 points in a Blackhawks uniform.

• It was great to see Niklas Hjalmarsson back at the United Center, as the three-time Stanley Cup winner sounded the goal horn before the opening puck drop.