If I didn’t know better I would have thought someone told the Blackhawks and Sabres there was free glögg waiting for them postgame because they wasted very little time. In fact, there were only two faceoffs and two shots on goal recorded in the first eight minutes of the game.
At 9:51 the Sabres took a 1-0 lead off a nice redirect by Zach Benson.
At 12:23 the Sabres took a 2-0 lead as a shot got thru Petr Mrázek.
At 12: 38 the Sabres took a 3-0 lead and I began questioning my life choices.
And the Blackhawks were still without a shot on net. In fact, the Blackhawks didn’t have a shot on net for more than 17 minutes in this game. Mrázek wasn’t good but the team in front of him was awful. The Sabres added a fourth goal with 42 seconds left in the period.
Arvid Söderblom took over in net to start the second period for the Blackhawks. And the coaches threw the blue line in the ol’ blender as well. The Sabres understandably were able to play an aggressive form of keep away for most of the second period but the Blackhawks started to chip away a little bit and eventually got on the board.
Three minutes into the third period the Blackhawks cut the lead to two. Unfortunately, just seconds after a decent power play ended that could have pulled the Hawks within one, Alex Tuch got a puck thru Söderblom to push the lead back to three. A bad goal at the absolute worst possible time. Tuch finished off the hat trick with just under five minutes left in regulation.
Star 1: Connor Bedard
Bedard didn’t score the first goal of the game for the Blackhawks — he didn’t even have the primary assist — but he was the most noticeable offensive threat for Chicago in the game. He was also very good at the dot. Bedard skated four minutes more than any other forward on the Blackhawks’ roster and led the team in shots on net and attempts as well.
#Blackhawks finally score!? Tyler Bertuzzi? Taylor Hall, Connor Bedard pic.twitter.com/WkKRt2wNHN
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) December 28, 2024Star 2: The Third Line
Three Blackhawks forwards — Jason Dickinson, Teuvo Teräväinen and Ilya Mikheyev — were able to make it thru the first period without a goal scored against them. In fact, they were on the ice for only one shot attempt against. They were the Blackhawks’ best line by a country mile still in the second period; the Sabres didn’t register a shot on net while they were on the ice in the middle period, either. Dickinson had just come on the ice when the ugly third goal was scored, otherwise this would have been a good night by a line in the midst of a complete dumpster fire performance. They were in the ice for the sixth goal against together, at which point the Blackhawks were taking big chances trying to find a goal.
Star 3: Pat Maroon
The Big Rig was motoring all night. He’s made so many pretty passes like this throughout the season that haven’t been finished (and Seth Jones almost whiffed on this one) that he deserves to get some recognition when he finally gets the assist.
#Blackhawks within two…? Seth Jones ? Pat Maroon, Lukas Reichel pic.twitter.com/AleQNdUi95
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) December 28, 2024Key Takeaways
Nolan Allan was the only Blackhawks defenseman to not have a goal scored against while he was on the ice in the first period. Philipp Kurashev returned to the lineup. He got hit hard early in the first period and took some time to get to the bench. Both Kurashev and Taylor Hall went to the room for some extra attention in the opening eight minutes of action. Kurashev put the first shot on goal for the Blackhawks in the first period but his ice time became more sporadic as the game went on.1st intermission: Sabres 4, Blackhawks 0One of the worst periods I've ever seen, and I've seen lots of bad ones.Shot attempts: 7-23 BUFShots on goal: 1-13 BUFScoring chances: 4-11 BUF
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) December 28, 2024 Nick Foligno tied to get his team to wake up in the second period with this big hit.Nick Foligno trying to spark his team by laying a big hit on Jiri Kulich. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/eCZhVzBQ2P
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) December 28, 2024 The Blackhawks won 15 of 28 faceoffs in the first two periods. And they were led by Frank Nazar (4 of 5) and Bedard (4 of 6). It’s unfortunate that Söderblom gave up the terrible goal in the third because, to that point, he had played pretty well in relief. He stopped 22 of 24 in the game. I just don’t know how the Blackhawks can continue dressing TJ Brodie at this point. It certainly looks like the coaches trust Allan and Kevin Korchinski enough at this point to leave them on the left side with Alex Vlasic. Why not give Louis Crevier some run on the right side until Alec Martinez is ready to come back? The absolute worst thing that could happen is Crevier plays poorly and they send him back to Rockford when Martinez returns (which is likely to happen even if he performed well). Read More Details
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