You know how beautiful and glorious and all of the fun words the 4 Nations Face-Off was? The first period of this game was the polar opposite. The Blackhawks won 2 of 17 faceoffs. They out-shot the Blue Jackets 9-6. They trailed 1-0 after 20 minutes.
Faceoffs remained a problem. Columbus started the second period on the power play and were able to make it count. Kent Johnson scored his second goal of the night 72 seconds into the middle frame. The Blackhawks were able to get on the board, but the Blue Jackets pushed the lead back to two before the end of the second.
Nick Foligno got mixed up in the faceoff circle and appeared to get stepped on/ankle rolled and went straight down the tunnel. Thankfully he was okay and returned quickly. Unfortunately, Foligno and his teammates looked like they were skating in quicksand and the Blue Jackets took advantage. The home side scored twice in 53 seconds at which point the Hawks probably started fueling the jet to get home.
Star 1: Craig Smith
Talk about the motivated to be trade veteran stat line of the night! Team-leader in shots on goal (five), scored the first goal of the night and he was active the entire game.
#Blackhawks power play goal! ? Craig Smith ? Alex Vlasic, Frank Nazar pic.twitter.com/hfy2oH6HeI
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) February 23, 2025Star 2: Frank Nazar
He had an assist on the Smith goal and was the Blackhawks’ best faceoff guy on the night (won 6 of 9). It was a pretty low bar to cross to make the three stars tonight because there was nothing coming from the white jerseys.
Star 3: Blue Jackets Fans
There was very little to take away from this performance for the Blackhawks, but this one got me in the feels. Good on the fans and organization in Columbus.
Join us in wishing a very special boy a very special 1st birthday!Happy birthday, Baby Johnny ❤️ pic.twitter.com/nKYaKq94V1
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) February 23, 2025Key Takeaways
The Blackhawks had what would have been a game-tying goal taken off the board immediately because of contact with the goaltender in the first period (would have been Connor Bedard‘s 17th of the year). The Blackhawks chose not to challenge the call. I wish they would have because it was a soft, quick whistle. Kevin Dean said they couldn’t get a good answer for whether it was interference or a kick in from the officials during his second intermission interview. Hopefully that isn’t the standard we’re setting for being aggressive behind the bench the rest of the way this year. Seth Jones, in his first game after acknowledging he wants out of Chicago, was a non-factor. Solid three giveaways and a minus-one for the night. The Blackhawks were credited with 28 shots on net in the game, with a team-leading five from Bedard and Smith. Every Blackhawks skater was credited with at least one shot on net except Landon Slaggert. Bedard led all Blackhawks in ice time, skating 23:12 in the game. He won half of his six faceoffs. Here’s Foligno feeding Joseph LaBate his lunch late in the first period.Nick Foligno drops the gloves with Joseph LaBate ? pic.twitter.com/JnR6TgGYaC
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 23, 2025 Read More Details
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