Blackhawks' young guns lead the way in season sweep of Mammoth

The Utah Mammoth are very happy they won’t have to play the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. With their second 3-2 overtime win over the Mammoth this week, the Blackhawks have swept the four-game season series.

The hope for the home stretch is that the Blackhawks play winning hockey and that their core players step up. We got that tonight with Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, and Spencer Knight doing the heavy lifting. This game had a little bit of everything, with some physical play, miscues, miscommunication, and high-level plays. In the end, the Blackhawks found a way to win, which is a big step for this young group. They have led in all eight games after the Olympic break, and have ground out victories in the last two.

“Probably gave up a little bit more tonight, so we just have to look at that,” head coach Jeff Blashill said. “I thought we got a little bit chaotic, at times turned too many pucks over. But with that said, we're down a goal going into the third, and we find a way to ultimately come out with a win. I know we got the lead and gave it back up, but we still came out with a win. So these are all, as we talked about earlier, really important growing moments for our players. That's a team that's fighting for a playoff spot, so they're digging in, and I thought we dug in.”

Bedard’s Eventful Night

Bedard played “high-event” hockey in Salt Lake City. Whenever something big happened, it sure felt like No. 98 was in the middle of it. The Mammoth definitely targeted the Blackhawks' young star as they ramped up the physicality against them. To his credit, it never got him off his game. In fact, he dished it right back out.

His feistiness carried over into the third period, as he stared down a Utah fan after assisting on Tyler Bertuzzi’s power-play goal.

 In overtime, he pounced on the puck after Alex Vlasic hit the post and sent the home crowd home unhappy. You hate to see it.

“I think every game we play these guys, it's pretty intense and pretty good hockey, so it feels great to beat them every time,” said Bedard. “It's a division rival, we don't like them, they don't like us, so it's a good feeling. We just got to kind of keep it rolling and just keep fighting.”

Bedard finished the night with a goal, an assist, two shots on goal, seven shot attempts, three individual scoring chances, and a hit. He played 23:28, his fifth-highest TOI of the season. I hate to nitpick, but the top line gave up too many chances, as 11 of Utah’s 29 scoring chances and six of their 13 high-danger scoring chances came at the expense of Bedard’s line.

Burakovsky’s Really Long Leash

We’ve heard a lot about accountability and playing winning hockey, but it feels like neither of those applies to Andre Burakovsky these days. It’s not just that he’s had one goal and one assist over his last 20 games; it’s the constant mistakes he makes on the ice. And yet, he’s still jumping over the boards with the top line.

Burakovsky’s night started off well as he set up Bedard for a great scoring chance, but Karel Vejmelka’s glove hand was quick to the draw.

It was his play in the second period that was inexcusable. Burakovsky tried a drop pass just inside the blue line, and seconds later, Dylan Guenter opened the scoring.

If a rookie like Ryan Greene makes a pass like that, you can live with it and hope he learns from the mistake. But when a player with over 750 NHL games commits that turnover, he needs to be stapled to the bench. That’s a play that gets you less ice time in AAA hockey, but Burakovsky never missed a shift on the top line. It’s puzzling.

Second Line, Second to None

Nazar has been the source of anxiety for many Blackhawks fans of late. His struggles through most of the season had more than a handful of faithful worried about the young forward. However, he is rounding into form and playing his best hockey of the season right now.

“I think his play is warranted, the opportunities he's getting, and I think he's skated hard; he's won more puck battles,” Blashill said of Nazar. “Big thing for him is just making sure he has the puck a lot, and when he has it, to skate with it. And how do you have the puck? You win puck battles, and then you don't give it away. And then when you have it, you've got to attack with it, and he's showing more of that burst with skating with the puck and being a weapon with his speed.”

Nazar extended his point streak to five games with the secondary assist on Bertuzzi’s third-period power-play goal. A couple of minutes later, he scored his 10th goal of the season to give him two goals and eight points during his streak. Teuvo Teravainen showed why the team plays sewer ball before each game.

Speaking of Teravainen, he’s been terrific since winning a bronze medal with Finland at the Olympics. His primary assist on Nazar’s goal gives him three goals and nine points in his last eight games. Nazar has had the best NHL production playing between Bertuzzi and Teravainen, so it’s no surprise he’s getting hot after their reunion.

Nuggets & Tidbits

• A big reason the Blackhawks swept the season series with the Mammoth has been the goaltending. All three goaltenders had great outings over the four games, and Knight was awesome tonight. He showed no effects of the illness that kept him out of the last three games. He faced 12 high-danger shots and stopped 11 of them. He bailed out the Blackhawks in overtime by coming up with some big stops following some sloppy play in front of him. The team rewarded him with the victory he deserved.

• Nick Lardis got a little more playing time tonight at 12:08. He was joined by Bedard on the fourth line as Blashill double-shifted his top player. Lardis also saw the ice in overtime and got credited with the secondary assist on the game-winning goal. He only had two shot attempts, but his starting to earn more trust from his coach is more important than a stat line.

• Both goals against came off brutal turnovers. We’ve already covered the Burakovsky play, and Vlasic was victimized for the game-tying goal late in the third period. Yes, this play came at the end of an extended shift, just moments after a successful penalty kill, but Vlasic will be the first to tell you he has to protect the puck better. Fortunately, the Blackhawks did not let these plays sink them as we’ve seen in seasons past. This is another sign that they are making progress and taking the strides Blashill wants them to.

• I look forward to the Blackhawks and Mammoth rivalry over the next few years. Both teams are up-and-coming and will play some very important games over the next decade. It should be a ton of fun!

• One last tidbit, we learned after morning skate that Blashill’s nickname for Andrew Mangiapane is Mango!