Blackhawks Postgame Musings: Speed, confidence on full display in blowout of Blues

The Rams left St. Louis many years ago, but the Blackhawks scored a touchdown tonight and then added the two-point conversion for good measure against the Blues. Lukas Reichel scored a pair of goals to go along with tallies from Ilya Mikheyev, Frank Nazar, Jason Dickinson, Ryan Donato, Teuvo Teravainen, and Ryan Greene. The eight goals tied a record for the most ever scored in St. Louis, last done on Feb. 20, 1990.

The victory was the Blackhawks’ first on the road and second in a row for their first winning streak of the season. They have points in three of the last four games. They are a young and fast team with confidence. That’s a dangerous team with a recipe for success.

Frank Nazar said in his postgame interview that this was payback for the embarrassing loss at the Winter Classic. He also said the team was playing for captain Nick Foligno, who has taken a personal leave of absence.

"We're praying for him and his family and everything that's going on,” he said. “That one was for him. It's something we as a group talked about before and after the game."

Lukas Reichel Breaks Out

There is no doubt that Reichel has the speed and skill to be an effective player in the National Hockey League. For whatever reason, he has not been able to consistently impact the games he played over the past two-plus seasons. He put it together tonight for his best game in quite some time.

Reichel scored his first goal of the season by proving the theory that there is no such thing as a bad shot on goal. Joel Hofer must have still been thinking about the gift goal he gave to Mikheyev because he failed to protect the short side, and Reichel snuck it past him.

On his second goal, he made a nice play along the boards to keep the play alive, then went right to the front of the net to tip Alex Vlasic’s shot. He finished his big night with two goals, an assist, five shots on goal, and six shot attempts.

Nobody is expecting Reichel to have three points a night, but if he continues to be this impactful, he can play himself back into the lineup and the long-term plans. His biggest problem has been stringing effective games together, so Friday night against the Vancouver Canucks will be an important outing for him.

Connor Bedard Has Changed the National Narrative

We talked all summer about the work Connor Bedard was putting in. Not only has that helped him become physically faster, but he has a new mindset this season. He’s doing the little things on the ice away from the puck, his comfort and confidence levels are at an all-time high, and he’s not taking crap from anyone.

Bedard picked up three assists on the night. The first one came by getting in on the forecheck and stopping the puck along the boards. His second two helpers were fantastic passes and products of his elite vision. He also had no problem getting in the face of the much larger Colton Parayko and sticking up for himself.

For much of last season, we heard criticism of Bedard’s body language and questions about his effort. Last February, TNT analyst Paul Bissonette said he was playing pond hockey and not winning hockey. During the second intermission and postgame show, Bissonette and his TNT pals heaped praise on Bedard for the improvement in his game. It’s taking him less than five games to flip the national script.

Nuggets & Tidbets

• Even though the second period was the best 20 minutes of hockey the Blackhawks have played all season, I was more impressed by the third period. It is very easy for a team to take its foot off the gas with a three-goal lead. Instead, the Blackhawks kept the pressure on, continued to look for goals, and stayed within their structure. That’s coaching, and it makes a huge difference.

• The third line is supposed to be the shutdown defensive line, but they have been an offensive juggernaut in the last two outings. After posting a 72.2 Corsi for percentage (CF%) and producing six high-danger scoring chances against the Utah Mammoth, they had another big offensive night in St. Louis. In 12:46 of 5-on-5 ice time, Donato, Dickinson, and Mikheyev outscored the Blues 3-1, had a 9-3 advantage in scoring chances, and had two high-danger scoring chances while allowing none. They are doing it at both ends of the ice and taking a ton of pressure off the top six.

• Before the game, I wanted the Blackhawks to shoot the puck more, given they had just 14 shots on goal against Utah. They must have read the game preview because they put up a season-high 29 shots on the combination of Hofer and Jordan Binnington.

• The faceoffs improved tonight as the Blackhawks won 55.6% of the draws (30-of-54). Dickinson had the best night, going 11-for-16. The combination of Bedard and Nazar went 10-for-21.

• Congratulations to Ryan Greene for scoring his first NHL goal.

• Nazar had quite the evening. He dropped an S-bomb on national television and also gave us this iconic shot!

• Remember when Blues head coach Jim Montgomery told Darren Pang that his team was slowly taking over the game, only to watch them get outscored 6-1? That was awesome!