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Soderblom Shines as Blackhawks End Losing Streak with 4-2 Win Over Canadiens

Originally posted on On Tap Sports Net
By Steve Kwiatkowski | Last updated Jan 4, 2025 3:49 PM ET

My Friday night started with Troy Murray and John Wiedeman calling the game through my dad's car radio. Listening to the Chicago Blackhawks game on WGN brought back a lot of memories. We waited for our food in the car while the Blackhawks dropped puck against the Montreal Canadiens, sheltering from the cutting Chicago wind. Another memory was also reawakened: the cold really sucks.

I can't wait to get back to California.

What doesn't suck is the Hawks getting a win over the Canadiens. Considering one side of my family lives in Quebec, I'll gladly take this win.

Scoring Summary

Goal scorer is named first, followed by players who assisted. Numbers in parentheses are the totals for the relevant point type.

Bertuzzi (13), Teravainen (18), Bedard (24): The Blackhawks got lucky going on the two-man advantage, starting the game early with a 5-on-3 opportunity. I'm not going to break this one down too much. Some solid motion play and passing netted Tyler Bertuzzi his 13th goal of season and Connor Bedard picked up his 24th assist.

Caufield (20), Matheson (17), Suzuki (26): Nick Suzuki (MTL14) carried the puck behind the net and up the left halfwall, drawing Louis Crevier with him. Crevier stayed with Suzuki just a hair too long as Suzuki passed to Mike Matheson (MTL8) at the left point. Crevier continued to chase the puck. Matheson passed to Cole Caufield (MTL13) who filled the space left by Crevier and scored his 20th goal of the season.

This was a rookie mistake by Crevier. The big defenseman overcommitted and was much too eager to pressure the puck carrier, leaving the low slot open. In my opinion, this mistake is more egregious than the one Wyatt Kaiser made that got him sent to Rockford earlier this season.

Foligno (9), Kaiser (2), Dickinson (6): TJ Brodie broke up a play by Caufield and Pat Maroon was there to retrieve the puck. Maroon initiated the breakout with a quick-up to Jason Dickinson. Dickinson shoveled the puck along the boards and deep into the Canadiens' zone. Nick Foligno supported to assist in the ensuing puck battle. Dickinson retrieved the puck and passed diagonally to Kaiser, who was waiting in the high slot. Foligno already circled the net and was in position on the left. Kaiser aimed and shot the puck off of Foligno's stick, which deflected the puck in for a goal.

Great read by Kaiser.

Maroon (2), Donato (11), Smith (15): This goal was initiated by some solid forechecking from Maroon. He forced Alexandre Carrier (MTL45) to make a pass up the boards to Jake Evans (MTL71), who was already covered by Dickinson. The Hawks entered the zone with a 3-on-2, Dickinson (F1) passed to Ryan Donato, who stayed flat with Dickinson, and Maroon (F3) was just ahead of the play to receive a pass from Donato and score.

Heineman (10), Matheson (18), Dach (8): Emil Heineman batted the puck out of midair to score a power play goal. Not too much to look into here.

Foligno (10), Hall (13), Vlasic (15): This play was initiated by Alex Vlasic breaking up a D-zone entry. He chipped the puck for Taylor Hall to retrieve and initiated an O-zone rush. Vlasic joined as the F3 and received the puck from Hall in the slot. Vlasic snapped a beautiful wrister that rang off the post and Foligno was there to clean up.

Thoughts

Stats are from Natural Stat Trick. Click here for a glossary of terms and definitions.

Overall, this was a fun game. The Canadiens owned possession of the puck with 60% of 5v5 shot attempts going their way. Montreal also owned 58.11% of expected goals. While the Blackhawks played physical and looked much better than recent games, this game could have gone another route had it not been for a certain goaltender.

I can't believe I'm saying this. Arvid Soderblom has looked fantastic this season compared to last. Soderblom posted a .950 SV%, stopping 38 of 40 shots. Soderblom came up big in the second period when the Canadiens had 10 5v5 high-danger scoring chances. Soderblom finished the tilt stopping a total of 12 of 14 high-danger shots.

The other story of tonight was Colton Dach's debut. I thought he looked solid, despite some not-so-great fancy stat numbers. Dach participated in the physicality of this game with 5 hits. He also had 5 shots on goal, 5 shot attempts, and 3 scoring chances. His on-ice numbers weren't great (15.79 Corsi), but I'm not worried about that.

Bedard put up 4 shots on goal and 6 shot attempts. With Friday's assist, he now passes Patrick Kane at No. 2 for most points scored by a Blackhawks teenager with 95. Eddie Olczyk still has the record with 129. Great stuff considering the roster surrounding him.