Blackhawks Postgame Musings: Too many penalties, but a lot of spirit

The Chicago Blackhawks hosted a terrific night to celebrate the first home game of their Centennial season. From the red carpet event to having Pat Foley and dozens of alumni on the ice to raising a 100-year banner, it was a great night.

The game itself was packed with excitement, keeping the sold-out crowd buzzing throughout the night. In the end, they dropped a 3-2 decision to the Montreal Canadiens with Sam Rinzel and Connor Bedard scoring. The Canadiens killed the buzz with a goal in the final seconds of regulation.

This Blackhawks team might only have one point in three games, but they are already more fun to watch than they have been in the past few years. They are scrappy, fast, and have been in every game. They will learn how to close out some of these games and then turn the corner.

Too Many Penalties

The Blackhawks took 14 penalties for 39 minutes, giving the Canadiens 10 power plays in regulation. I don’t have to tell you that’s too many. It was a miracle that Montreal only had three goals and 28 shots on goal.

Head coach Jeff Blashill was not thrilled with all the penalties, even though not all of them were warranted.

‘‘We have to make sure we control what we can control — where our stick position is, those types of things,’’ Blashill said. ‘‘But we’ll never be a team that goes down light. I thought it was a night where it paid to be a little bit light. I thought there were probably some plays that, had we gone down light, maybe we attract attention and get the call. But that’s not what this team is going to be about.’’

I really like that last part. Not only does it throw a little shade at the Canadiens, but it also sets the culture. He loves to talk about winning habits, and one of those is not cheating the game. Hopefully, the discipline improves, because that’s a big winning habit, too.

With all the shorthanded time, the 5-on-5 game was way out of whack. Connor Bedard had less than 10 minutes of ice time heading into the third period. Ilya Mikheyev, who was an absolute beast on the penalty kill, got less than six minutes at 5-on-5 time. The Blackhawks need this game to be an outlier because, if it’s not, the success will be stunted.

Artyom Levshunov Gets Scratched

Artyom Levshunov took the ice with the Blackhawks this morning. He took his regular line rushes with Wyatt Kaiser and quarterbacked the second power-play unit. Then, he stayed on the ice after the morning skate was over, which is usually what the healthy scratches do.

The young defenseman was indeed a scratch. Blashill was not thrilled with his four penalties in two games and wanted to send a message of accountability.

‘‘I don’t think development is you just play and magically get better,’’ Blashill said after the game. ‘‘Certainly, playing is part of it, but you have to have confidence. Learning how to do things a certain way is part of it, too. We feel the best place for him to be is with us right now. He’s going to play plenty of games, and there are going to be some games he doesn’t play.’’

I have no issues with this move early in the season. Let Levshunov know what is unacceptable before he develops bad habits. I’d imagine he’d be back in the lineup on Monday night, but we’ll have to wait until that morning to find out.

Nuggets & Tidbits

• Bedard scored the Artem Anisimov special on the power play by getting to the front of the net and letting the puck hit him. But, once again, we are seeing a more comfortable and confident version of Bedard. He’s not waiting for guys to come stick up for him; he’s doing it himself. He only had four shot attempts, partly due to erratic ice time resulting from all the penalties.

• Frank Nazar picked up two more assists. He’s factored in five of the Blackhawks’ seven goals this season. We are watching him become an NHL star, and he’s certainly making an early case to play at the Olympics in February.

• I love the response this team has shown to start the season. They rebounded nicely after an awful first period in Florida. They had quick responses following goals against in the last two games. They are not folding like we’ve seen them do in the past. They are buying into Blashill’s philosophy of being hard to play against and building some serious momentum. Now, they have to figure out how to turn these close losses into victories.

• There is no way Louis Crevier is coming out of the lineup soon. After scoring a goal in Boston, he was the hero of the night by standing up for Nazar.

• Lukas Reichel had no impact on the game. He had no shot attempts and two giveaways. However, this wasn’t a great game to evaluate him, as he only got 6:41 of total ice time because he doesn’t play special teams.

• Sam Lafferty got even less playing time. But he still managed to rack up two penalties in his 4:43 of ice time. When Landon Slaggert and Jason Dickinson are healthy, it’s going to be very difficult for him to crack the lineup.

• Speaking of not having an impact, Ivan Demidov was invisible for most of the night. The only time I noticed him was when Wyatt Kaiser took some liberties with him, and when he threw punches at Kaiser when he was already down on the ice.