Moving away from predictability leads to another Blackhawks loss

The Chicago Blackhawks had an arena full of Stanley Cup winners, a large and energetic crowd, and a two-goal lead, but none of those things mattered in a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins. The home team built a 2-0 lead in the first period with good goaltending and by getting to the right areas of the ice to score. The visitors scored five unanswered goals over the final 40 minutes with some crisp passing, a willingness to shoot, and some poor decision-making by the Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks went 5-1-1 after the holiday break, including a four-game winning streak, by playing a simple, predictable style of hockey. Since Connor Bedard returned from injury, they have gone away from that successful recipe and have gone 1-4-0. Granted, three of those games saw some strange lineups due to a rampant stomach bug, but they have gone away from playing the way head coach Jeff Blashill wants them to.

"We were playing very predictable, and now it seems like we're trying to make one extra move or one extra play,” forward Jason Dickinson said. “Where we were getting success was crashing the net or pucks low-to-high. We're trying to continue with that, but it feels like we're one step away."

“Kid Line” Might Need a Tweak

As I wrote about after Thursday’s loss to the Calgary Flames, and talked about on the CHGO Blackhawks Postgame Show, Ryan Donato’s debut on the line with Nick Lardis and Oliver Moore was a disappointment. The line only produced two shot attempts, with none coming from Donato. The line had zero scoring chances, but on the positive side, they didn’t allow any either.

This line is a trio that needs to provide some secondary scoring, so the goals are all on the shoulders of Connor Bedard and Tyler Bertuzzi. Head coach Jeff Blashill has shown a lot of patience with his line combinations this season, so he gave this trio another look against the Bruins.

After a poor outing on Thursday, this combination was better on Saturday. They finished with a 52.94 Corsi for percentage (CF%) while holding a 6-2 advantage in scoring chances, with five high-danger scoring chances. Early in the second period, Moore set up Lardis at the side of the net, but a diving Alex Steeves got enough of his stick on the pass to disrupt the play. Lardis had a couple of chances in front of the net late in the game, but couldn’t convert.

While the line was improved, I still don’t think Donato is a good fit for it. He seems like he’s trying to do too much. There were two rushes in the zone that they didn’t get a shot off. On one, he tried to make a saucer pass over a defender. On the other play, he tried to stickhandle around a defender and lost the puck. Neither of those plays is his style. Donato had a career season by playing within himself. If Blashill wants to tinker with the lines, I’d put Tyler Bertuzzi on this line. He doesn’t try to do too much. He knows exactly what he’s capable of and does it.

Arvid Soderblom’s Numbers Take Another Hit

Saturday was Arvid Soderblom’s turn in the starter’s crease. His season has had more downs than ups, so far. He’s finished only three of his 13 starts with a save percentage (SV%) above .900. He had a good stretch in late October and early November, but it’s been a struggle since.

Soderblom started the first meeting of the season between these two teams back on Oct. 9. While he allowed four goals in an overtime loss, he came up with some impressive saves.

He’s played well against Boston in his career. In three starts, he’s 1-1-1 with a 2.66 goals-against average (GAA) and .918 SV%.

Soderblom was great to start the night, and the Blackhawks needed it. He was challenged on the very first shot and had the puck in his end of the ice almost exclusively to start the game. In the first 8:30 of the opening frame, the Bruins had an 8-0 advantage in shots on goal. The Blackhawks outshot the Bruins 6-0, and, more importantly, outscored them 2-0 over the final 11:30 of the period. They don’t have a lead at the first intermission without the stellar play of Soderblom early. He faced 10 scoring chances, seven of which were high-danger, in the opening 20 minutes and kept the Bruins off the scoreboard.

The Blackhawks didn’t exactly do Soderblom a lot of favors over the final 40 minutes. They allowed too many uncontested passes around the defensive zone and compounded that with some poor decision-making. Still, his numbers are leaving a lot to be desired. His .868 SV% is the third lowest among NHL goaltenders who have made at least 10 starts. After making strides last season, his progress has plateaued. I wonder when the team decides to give Drew Commesso a longer look at the NHL level.

Nuggets & Tidbits

• The Blackhawks did a great job celebrating the Banner Years, except for another pesky curtain that got caught on the scoreboard again. It was great to see so many players from the greatest era in franchise history, from the top stars like Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith, to the role players like Andrew Desjardins and Ben Smith; they were all welcomed back with thunderous applause.

• Before the game, Blashill said getting to the middle of the ice is key to playing winning hockey, and the Blackhawks have not done that enough of late. Ryan Greene and Wyatt Kaiser both scored from the area their coach wants them to go to. Green’s goal was his first non-empty-net goal since Nov. 30. However, when you look at the heat map, there weren’t many other shots from the middle of the ice, while the Bruins exploited that area at the other end of the ice.

• Artyom Levshunov had a rough game. While I appreciate his aggressive mindset with the puck, he still needs to learn when to pull back. The Bruins’ game-winning goal came on a play where the rookie defenseman showed poor situational awareness. He tried to beat Viktor Arvidsson one-on-one and lost the puck. With less than a minute to go in the period, he would have been better off just getting the puck in deep and living to fight another day. These are plays he will learn from. Saturday was the first game in a while where Levhsunov had more negative plays than positive ones. These nights will happen with young defensemen. It’s making these nights rare that is the tricky part.

"If he’s going to attack the game, he has to make sure he’s not giving up goals. You can’t give up easy chances while you’re doing that. I don’t think it’s one or the other. He can do both. But he’s 20 years old, and he’s trying to figure that out."

Blashill on Levshunov

• During the game, the Blackhawks released a fairly random graphic celebrating Connor Murphy moving up to 38th place in team history with 535 games played. Neither of those numbers is very significant, but when you read the fine print, he has now played more games with the Blackhawks than Hossa. That’s a crazy stat!