Blackhawks respond to adversity with their best game of the season, shutout Rangers

The Chicago Blackhawks followed up their worst game of the season with their best 60 minutes of the year. After getting trounced 7-1 by the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday, they beat the New York Rangers 3-0 at the United Center on Wednesday.

The Rangers have been one of the best road teams in the NHL this season. They had won three straight games away from Madison Square Garden, and their 58 road goals led the league. The Blackhawks got a great shorthanded breakaway goal by Louis Crevier in the second period to open up the scoring.

Connor Bedard scored his 19th goal of the year later in the frame, before Tyler Bertuzzi iced the game in the third period. The second period has been a nightmare for the Blackhawks this season, but they lit the lamp twice on a Rangers team that had allowed an NHL-low 18 goals in the middle frame.

Head coach Jeff Blashill preached fundamentals during Tuesday's practice, and responded with the best structural hockey we’ve seen in quite some time. Defensively, they had sticks in passing lanes, were positionally sound, and had clean zone exits. When there were a few defensive breakdowns, Spencer Knight was there to make a big save.

“I thought we played some pretty good games, but it was certainly a complete game,” Blashill said. “I thought we did a really good job through the 60 minutes. I would say the first was really good. The second was fine. I thought the third, outside of the penalties, we did a really good job. Came out in the third and kind of play the way you have to play to grind away wins. It was the type of hockey that leads to success, so we’ll just keep building off it.”

Six Defensemen Do Their Job

You can count on one hand the number of times the Blackhawks have dressed six defensemen for a game. Blashill has essentially dressed 11 forwards and seven blueliners every night, with a couple of exceptions. With Sam Rinzel down with the Rockford IceHogs, he only had six blueliners at his disposal tonight.

“From the D perspective, it gives certainty to those guys on the right, they’re going to get more minutes than what they’ve had,” he said. “Hopefully that’s a positive because they’re playing good. It gives them a chance to get some continuity with a partner, and maybe a little more of a rhythm going just by playing a little more regularly.”

Blashill mixed up his pairing after a disastrous weekend in Southern California. Artyom Levshunov was no longer paired up with Wyatt Kaiser. Instead, he skated with veteran Matt Grzelcyk, while Kaiser and Connor Murphy formed the third pair. The “Twin Towers” of Alex Vlasic and Louis Crevier were reunited.  

Vlasic and Crevier had the best Corsi for percentage (CF%) at 61.90. Kaiser and Murphy had the best defensive night by allowing only two scoring chances and one high-danger scoring chance.

“It’s a little bit of an adjustment,” Grzelcyk said. “A good thing is we’ve all played with each other, and all have a little bit of chemistry, being out there in different situations. Within a game, maybe sometimes it can be a little bit better, just reading off each other and having a little bit more communication when coming to the bench, things like that. As a D corps, it was probably one of our better games, using our feet to our advantage and gapping up. It was fun to see.”

 Offensive Depth Produced Chances

Much of the Blackhawks’ early-season success can be attributed to the stellar play of Knight and Bedard. But, as of late, it feels that they can’t win unless Knight stands on his head or Bedard puts up four points. The depth scoring has been lacking for some time now. Entering the game, Frank Nazar hadn’t scored a goal since Oct. 28, Ryan Donato had two goals and five points in his last 19 games, and Tyler Bertuzzi had only three 5-on-5 goals in his last 12 outings.

“It’s hard to expect one line to score every night and win,” Blashill said. “The teams that have the depth scoring in the league are the ones that remain consistent over time because the best players, even if they have their best game, aren’t going to score every night. How do we get there? Ultimately, we need to do two things more. We need to have a little more of an attack mentality from a shooting perspective, and we need better net presence.”

The Blackhawks had 52 shot attempts on the night, far better than their 41.8 average on the season. The Bedard line led the team with 10 shot attempts and eight scoring chances. The third line with Teuvo Teravainen, Jason Dickinson, and Ilya Mikheyev also had 10 shot attempts and produced four scoring chances despite being relied on for tough defensive assignments.

Even though Bedard had two points and Knight got a shutout, they didn’t have to do it all by themselves. Bertuzzi got a 5-on-5 goal, and Donato should have been credited with a goal.

Goals Will Come For Nazar

Nazar probably had a bunch of text messages waiting for him after his buddies saw him whiff on a shorthanded breakaway.

He’s going to take a beating online for that play, but overall, he had a very good night. Nazar has been playing much better of late. Yes, the goals aren’t coming, but the assists and scoring chances are. He had three shots on goal and produced two individual scoring chances.

“I thought he was excellent tonight,” Blashill said. "“Is it frustrating when you’re not scoring? Yes. Our job as a coaching staff is to keep him focused on the process, because points come and go. I’ve seen it all the time. He’ll get his points if he plays like that on a consistent basis.”

Enough of the Hand Passes

Donato appeared to give his team a 2-0 lead in the second period, but the Rangers were quick to challenge the play for a “missed stoppage of play.” After a quick look, the officials took the goal off the board because of Colton Dach’s “hand pass.’

Rule 79.1 in the NHL rule book states: "A player shall be permitted to stop or 'bat' a puck in the air with his open hand, or push it along the ice with his hand, and the play shall not be stopped unless, in the opinion of the on-ice officials, he has directed the puck to a teammate, or has allowed his team to gain an advantage, and subsequently possession and control of the puck is obtained by a player of the offending team, either directly or deflected off any player or official. If, in the opinion of the on-ice officials, the puck has deflected off a player’s hand, and no advantage has been gained by the team, it will not constitute a violation for the purpose of this rule."

The hand pass has suddenly become the new goaltender interference, with nobody sure what it is anymore. Dach did not intentionally direct the puck towards Mikheyev. He tried to touch the puck with his stick, but missed. Had he made contact with his stick, the play would have been deemed legal. Replay continues to muck up the game.

Dach’s contact with his hand was not intentional and did not give the Blackhawks a direct advantage. Plays like this are not the spirit of replay. Video review should not be used for these minor judgment calls. It should only be used to determine if pucks cross the line or not. The league needs to address the rash of hand pass reviews we’ve seen over the past few days and how they should be handled.