Analyzing the First 2 Games of the Blackhawks’ Blashill Era

Nazar had a plethora of breakaway chances last season that he wasn’t able to convert on. So much so, when he spoke with the media over the summer after signing his lucrative seven-year contract extension, it was one of the first things he brought up. When asked what he learned last season that he wants to bring into this campaign, he said, “Probably score on more breakaways. Just execute on the chances I get.”

Well, he’s already off to a good start.

Nazar’s line accounted for both of the goals in this 3-2 loss, with Teravainen scoring the other tally and all three players earning two points. Only Nazar cracked the scoresheet against the Bruins, and that was on a different line combination. Nazar also came away with four shots on goal (not to mention almost winning the game in OT) and Bertuzzi had two shots. It’s safe to say this line is an early success, with some momentum moving forward.

First Line Adjustments

While the second line has been on a roll, the first line of Ryan Donato, Connor Bedard and Andre Burakovsky hasn’t seemed to gel as much. Donato and Bedard played together for a good part of the last two seasons, and found some success. Burakovsky is a veteran pro and two-time Stanley Cup champion. Blashill described his strength as being able to transport the puck up the ice.

Late in the second period and all through the end of the Panthers game, Blashill had Ilya Mikheyev playing on the top line with Bedard and Burakovsky. His reasoning behind this was that Mikheyev can go in and win more pucks, giving that line the puck a little bit more.

But alas, for the Bruins contest young power forward Colton Dach was deployed with Bedard and Burakovsky. Dach has been a standout in training camp, registering a goal, 20 hits, seven shots on goal and four blocked shots. Blashill said of Dach’s promotion,

We haven’t force-fed him opportunity. He’s continued to demand more opportunity, and that’s the way you want it. He’s been physical, he’s been a big power winger, but he also has soft hands and can make plays. So he’s somebody who eventually could find his way up in the lineup and hopefully do a good job for us up there.

The trio of Dach, Bedard and Burakovsky all earned their first point of the season with the Blackhawks’ first goal against the Bruins.

Dach took the hit to make the play, Burakovsky sent a beautiful cross-ice pass to Bedard, who found the back of the net with a wicked shot. This game was a little bit more jumbled because the Blackhawks decided to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. That seventh defenseman, Louis Crevier, earned his first goal of the season in the second period. Bedard provided the feed for a primary assist.

Finally, Burakovsky tallied the third goal of the night, assisted by Artyom Levshunov and Nazar. Blashill gave him kudos after the game.

I thought he (Burakovsky) was really going tonight. He provided a spark a number of times. He’s definitely got a lot of ability. So when Connor (Bedard) and him are playing together, there’s a lot of ability out there. He (Burakovsky) knows how to play with really good players. He’s done it before. He knows how to get the puck to them in the right spots. So I think that’s a real positive.

Burakovsky didn’t really stand out one way or the other during preseason and the first game of the season. So this is good to see him coming out of his shell a little bit, and building some chemistry with Bedard.

Regarding Dach on that line, it might be too soon to tell. As mentioned above, the Blackhawks only went with 11 forwards for this contest, so the line combinations were a little more convoluted. But Blashill did praise Dach for his contributions.

We’ll see how this works out moving forward. But for now, it’s good to see contributions from both Bedard and Burakovsky on the top line.

Defensive Struggles for the Blackhawks

In the contest against the Panthers, the Blackhawks’ defense struggled immensely. Ethan Del Mastro struggled, Levshunov struggled, even Sam Rinzel didn’t control play like we’ve already gotten used to. He played 25:18 minutes, almost seven minutes more than Connor Murphy, who had the second highest ice time among defensemen, at 18:33 minutes. Said Blashill on Rinzel,

That’s too many minutes for him, to be honest with you. That’s kind of on us as a staff. … That’s too much weight to carry over a period of time. So, we’ll dial that back.

Obviously the Blackhawks were between a rock and a hard place when it came to defending the Stanley Cup champs. It’s a credit to Rinzel that the coaching staff gave him so many minutes.

For that first game, the Blackhawks were without their mainstay, shutdown defenseman Alex Vlasic (skate cut to his leg). It’s a little surprising the 24-year-old blueliner has moved up in the ranks so quickly, but it can’t be denied. Said Blashill,

He’s (Vlasic) a key guy for us back there. He had a great camp…I thought he was really good on breakouts. He’s just a really, really good player, and we sort of miss him. I know he’s not old, but in our D-core he plays a very mature game. There’s not a lot of peaks and valleys in his game. That is definitely a steady presence, and we’ll welcome him back.  

With Vlasic back versus the Bruins, Rinzel’s ice time was indeed cut back to a more manageable 19:03 minutes. Vlasic, for his part, skated 19:10 minutes and contributed a hit, two takeaways and two blocked shots. Having Crevier in the lineup (8:22 minutes and a goal!) helped balance things out as well.

We knew even before the season started that 19-year-old Levshunov would be a work in progress this season. He’s had a lot of ups and downs through the first two contests; a highlight being this assist on the Burakovsky goal, and a lowlight being four giveaways and two costly penalties against the Panthers. But his defensive partner Wyatt Kaiser is always there to be a calming presence and to help create plays for the more offensively-minded Levshunov. Here’s a perfect example.  

Kaiser was a last-minute signing headed into training camp, but he’s looked solid all through the preseason and the first two regular season games. A player like that is someone that can help put the pieces together for this developing defensive corps.

Goaltending Goodness

Not surprisingly, the Blackhawks got both their goaltenders into the action right away. Spencer Knight suited up against the Panthers and Arvid Soderblom was in the crease for the Bruins contest.

Knight was stellar against his former team, stopping 34-of-37 shots (including 12 high-danger shots) for a .919 save percentage. The Panthers started things out fast and furious, leaving the Blackhawks scrambling right from the start. But Knight held his own, keeping the Blackhawks in the game and even giving them a chance to win when the game came down to the wire at the end.

Soderblom stats weren’t as impressive. He stopped 29-of-33 shots for a .879 SV%. But one goal was allowed on a power play and the other in overtime. For all intents and purposes, he did his job in the crease. Here’s an example of some of Soderblom’s handiwork.

Even with just a small two-game sample size, the Blackhawks have to be feeling good about their goaltending situation.

Other Blackhawks News & Notes

Here’s a few other notes on the state of the Blackhawks through these first two contests.

• Veteran forward Jason Dickinson left the Bruins game on Thursday in the second period and didn’t return. Blashill did not know the extent of the injury after the game. Dickinson is a staple at center for the Blackhawks’ shutdown line, so losing him for any extended time would be troublesome.

• When one man is down another must step up. 21-year-old Ryan Greene has done just that. Greene was originally assigned to the Rockford IceHogs, but was called up in the wake of a lower body injury to Landon Slaggert. Greene has held his own through two games, especially with taking on more responsibility with Dickinson out.

• Blashill indicated his reasoning for going with 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the Bruins game was to give Bedard and some of the others different looks with line combinations, as well as get all the players involved in games without having to sit out too much. That means we could see forward Lukas Reichel make his season debut in short order.

• On Friday (Oct. 10) defenseman Ethan Del Mastro was re-assigned to the IceHogs. This comes as no surprise with Alex Vlasic back from injury. Del Mastro struggled in the preseason and could benefit from a reset in Rockford. He joins fellow D-men Kevin Korchinski & Nolan Allan.

Final Thoughts on the Blackhawks’ First 2 Games

The Blackhawks came out on the losing end of their first two contests of the season, albeit earning a point for the overtime loss. Let’s also remember these were two tough road games to start the season, with it being the opposing team’s home-openers. The Blackhawks furthermore played a better overall game versus the Bruins than they did against the Panthers, which is good to see. Said Blashill,

I thought we definitely took steps forward in a lot of (areas, like) winning plays, winning habits, stopping on pucks. A lot of the stuff we showed yesterday (at Wednesday’s practice), there’s zero doubt we were better at that in a lot of areas.

Now the challenge will be coming out on the winning end of these close games. It’s definitely a work in progress, but there are positive signs. The top two forward lines have already found some success and the depth players are making contributions. On defense, the young blueliners are working hard to find their way and continue to improve. And both goaltenders enjoyed good first outings.  

The Blackhawks now head home to host the Montreal Canadiens in their home-opener on Saturday (Oct. 11) and then the Utah Mammoth on Monday (Oct. 13). Let’s see if they can continue to take positive strides, especially in the form of winning a game or two! There’s plenty more hockey and learning and growing to go, but the Blackhawks seem to be off to a good start.