More teaching moments as young Blackhawks blow late lead

It took 19 seconds for the Chicago Blackhawks to go from a 2-2-0 road trip to a rough 5-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils. Moments after ending a long power-play drought, the Devils bombarded Spencer Knight with two goals in 19 seconds to steal the win.

The loss will sting on the flight home from New Jersey. It erases big performances from Knight and Frank Nazar, who both did all they could to win. The Blackhawks had three separate one-goal leads, including one with just over nine minutes to play.

Head coach Jeff Blashill defended his team's youth after the loss. He views the result as yet another teaching moment. There will be a lot of these lessons to go over during the offseason.

"I think our oldest center was 22, and our D could be playing in the NCAA Tournament right now,” he said. “They're going to make some mistakes, and we're going to have to be patient. It's part of where we're at. We've got to keep grinding through and making sure, as we go through some of these frustrating moments where we gave up a lead late, that we're learning. There's nothing wrong with failure if you learn from it."

Mixing It Up

Blashill busted out the line blender ahead of tonight’s game, mixing things up in the top nine. The biggest move was moving Anton Frondell off of Connor Bedard’s wing and having him center the second line between Tyler Bertuzzi and Ilya Mikheyev. Nick Lardis moved up to take Frondell’s spot on the top line, while Frank Nazar slid down to the third line with Ryan Donato and Andre Burakovsky.

Before the game, Blashill said he wanted to give Frondell a look at center now, rather than wait until training camp. Getting his feet wet down the middle in the NHL is not the worst idea at this point in the season. Plus, rewarding Lardis with some time on the top line is well-deserved.

Frondell got things started early with his third assist in four games, taking advantage of Jake Allen’s mishandling of the puck behind the net. This play was similar to the way the Philadelphia Flyers scored their first goal on Thursday night.

The Frondell line had the highest Corsi for percentage (CF%) at 55.0. They were the only line that finished with a CF% over 50. Frondell’s first NHL game at center ended with two assists, three shots ong goal, five shot attempts, and he won only two of his nine faceoffs.

The best line, by far, was the third line. Nazar had his best game of the season and was dangerous all night long. After failing to cash in on two high-danger scoring chances early in the first period, he cashed in off a nice feed from Ryan Donato.

Nazar had his best game of the season, with two goals, seven shots on goal, 13 shot attempts, two hits, and went 9-for-13 at the faceoff dot. He produced five individual scoring chances, three of which were high-danger. The Blackhawks had only nine high-danger chances; four of them were created by this line.

While Lardis and Bedard on the same line sounds exciting, it wasn’t great on the ice. They were hemmed in the defensive zone for much of the night. The Devils had a 26-9 shot attempt advantage over them and outchanced them 20-6. Lardis had three shots on goal and seven shot attempts, so he’s doing what he’s supposed to do.

Young D-Pair Holds Its Own

With Artyom Levshunov’s hand injury, Kevin Korchinski was back in the Blackhawks lineup and paired with Ethan Del Mastro. This was an interesting pairing to keep an eye on, mostly because these two young blueliners will be battling each other for a roster spot next fall.

Beyond that, Korchinski has struggled in four NHL games this season. He’s been on the ice for three goals, 18 scoring chances, and 12 high-danger chances against. Del Mastro has struggled through the first three games of this road trip, being on the ice for three goals and 29 scoring chances against. Having these two inexperienced defenders together might have been a recipe for disaster, but Blashill didn’t have much of a choice.

The young duo was actually the best defensive pair of the night. They were the only ones who weren’t on the ice for a goal against. They had a 57.69% CF% and kept things close, allowing only five scoring chances. They combined for a shot on goal, six shot attempts, three hits, and two blocked shots.

Nuggets & Tidbits

• Blashill debuted a five-forward power-play unit tonight. With Levshunov out of the lineup, Bedard took on the role of being the power-play quarterback. While zone entries might be a challenge for this group, when they were in the zone, it looked dangerous. Nazar scored during a third-period 5-on-3 to give the Blackhawks a late 3-2 lead. This was his first multi-goal game in the NHL, and he has 14 points in his last 14 games. Frondell had the secondary assist for his first career multi-point game.

• Spencer Knight was terrific in this game. Usually, it’s hard to say that about a goaltender who allows four goals, but his glove hand was on point throughout the game. He made 35 total saves, including stopping all 15 high-danger shots he faced.

• It might be time to give Teuvo Teravainen some time off. His game has not been great since returning from the Olympics. His puck management has been lacking, and his engagement has been less than impressive. I know he’s been dealing with some nagging injuries this season, but he hasn’t been doing himself any favors of late.

• General manager Kyle Davidson may want to rethink going into next season with the defensive corps that he currently has. The youth and experience are too great for an 82-game season, especially if you’re looking to take the next step. This team does not have a true No. 1 defenseman, and their collective situational awareness needs improvement. They may have one within this group down the road, but a lockdown veteran might be a good idea this summer.