Blackhawks Postgame Musings: Lack of execution, missed shots spell doom in Seattle

The Climate Pledge Arena continues to be a house of horrors for the Chicago Blackhawks. After tonight's 3-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken, they are 0-5-1 since winning their first game played there. Andre Burakovsky had the lone goal in his first game against his former team. While the Blackhawks held the advantage in play for much of the evening, a lack of execution and poor puck management ultimately cost them the game. Going 0-for-3 on the power play didn’t help much either.

Arvid Soderblom was solid in the net. None of the three Seattle goals could be pinned on him. The first was through heavy traffic and a screen by Matt Grzelcyk. The second came off a power-play faceoff where Wyatt Kaiser got himself out of position and left Matty Berniers alone in a prime scoring area. The third goal came off a 2-on-1 rush after Frank Nazar fumbled the puck in the neutral zone.

Head coach Jeff Blashill mentioned Nazar after the game, while also criticizing the overall team effort.

"There's a lot of burden on his shoulders for a guy that hasn't played a lot,” he said of Nazar. “For us to expect him to be on top of his game every single night is probably not realistic. It's the same with a lot of our guys: there's going to be ups and downs. We've just got to collectively make sure we have more ups than downs. I thought tonight, it was too spread throughout the team; we didn't have enough guys who had their A-game."

Oliver Moore Impresses in Season Debut

Oliver Moore made his season debut tonight after a long day of traveling on Sunday. First, he took the bus trip from Rockford to Grand Rapids before learning he needed to get on an airplane to Seattle. He admitted that he didn’t get a ton of sleep last night, but he showed no signs of being tired.

Moore earned his way back by leading all American Hockey League rookies with six goals. Once Jason Dickinson needed to head to injured reserve, it was the perfect time to bring the speedy young forward back to the NHL.

‘‘One of the positives when you get sent down is you have an opportunity to really gain confidence,’’ head coach Jeff Blashill said. “He has gone down there and played well, so I think he comes back at a point where his confidence is really high. That’s good. Hopefully he can add to our forward depth and make an impact with his tenacity, his speed, and his overall compete.’’

Blashill put Moore on a line with Ryan Donato and Ilya Mikheyev. This was a logical move, as you gave him two responsible veterans who also have the speed to keep up with his speed. He was noticeable early, getting to the net early, and being a tough player to defend.

Moore finished his night with three shots on goal on five attempts, but was on the ice for two goals against. In his 15:33 of 5-on-5 time, the Blackhawks were outshot 8-6, but held advantages in scoring chances (6-5) and high-danger scoring chances (4-2).

Connor Bedard & Andre Burakovsky Continue Streaks

The first half of the third period looked exactly like the second half of the game against the Los Angeles Kings earlier in the season. The Kraken came out with a two-goal lead, leading them to sit back and neutralize the Blackhawks’ speed from the neutral zone.

Then, just past the midway point of the frame, Connor Bedard and Burakovsky changed the momentum. Bedard made a great play in the neutral zone by chipping the puck ahead and winning a footrace. He then found Burakovsky in the slot, where he beat Joey Daccord through the five-hole.

Burakovsky now has goals in three straight games and six points in his four-game point streak. Bedard extended his point streak to five games, during which he has scored four goals and nine points.

Nuggets & Tidbits

• Speaking of streaks, defenseman Artyom Levshunov had his three-game assist streak snapped. Despite getting kept off the scoresheet, he quietly had another solid game. Despite having three giveaways, he was not on the ice for any of the three Kraken goals. The Blackhawks dominated the offensive play during Levshunov’s 15:45 of ice time, the second-most among defensemen. They held a significant 21-7 shot attempt advantage, while leading 12-7 in shots on goal, 16-5 in scoring chances, and 7-3 in high-danger scoring chances. They did everything except score a goal.

• Poor execution with the puck was a major problem for the Blackhawks. Sure, they had 30 shots on goal, but they had 19 attempts blocked and missed the net 16 times. They still created 28 scoring chances, with half of them being high danger, but were only able to convert one of them into a goal.

• Sam Rinzel had one of his best games of the season in the offensive zone. He had three shots on goal with eight total shot attempts. He also dished out two hits and blocked a shot. His best shift with the puck came moments before the third Seattle goal, where he got caught trying to cheat up the ice.

• Congratulations to defenseman Connor Murphy, who became the 44th player to play 500 games for the Blackhawks. He played a season-low 8:30 in his milestone game. He had only 12 shifts all night, with three in the third period.

• Tonight’s magic number was 500, as Tyler Bertuzzi played in his 500th career NHL game.