TORONTO — Artyom Levshunov didn’t mean to be late for the Blackhawks’ practice on Monday, but he was, and he had to accept the consequences, becoming a healthy scratch against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
“It’s tough, move forward,” Levshunov said after the Blackhawks’ morning skate on Tuesday. “It’s life, not every day’s perfect. But it’s also important. … I always take responsibility.”
Levshunov and Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill discussed Levshunov’s tardiness and why it was unacceptable. Blashill has been firm but understanding as he’s worked with the 20-year-old Levshunov, who is in his second pro season.
“One of the things that, as a young player, you have to do is learn how important preparation is,” Blashill said. “So we’ve had conversations about what he needs to do to make sure he prepares himself to get ready for practice and to get ready for games. It’s just a learning process for him, and it’s not something that hasn’t happened a lot to other guys over different periods of time. But our goal ultimately with Arty is to help him become the best person, the best player he can and ultimately, sometimes these types of things happen.”
Levshunov was disappointed to be sitting, but he also understood the decision and planned to learn from it.
“It’s part of life,” Levshunov said. “It’s part of the process.”
It wasn’t the first time Levshunov was made a healthy scratch for being late. He also scratched last season with the Rockford IceHogs when he came to a team meeting late.
“Same thing here, it wasn’t like I on purpose came a little bit late,” Levshunov said.
That said, Levshunov said he didn’t plan on being late again.
“I will not, for sure,” he said.
The Blackhawks will find things they could have done better against the Leafs in their 3-2 loss, but it might just be nitpicking. They played well enough to win and probably should have won.
Which is why Tuesday’s loss will sting. The Blackhawks led 2-0 heading into the third period and allowed three goals in the final 10:01 of the period, including the game-tying and game-winning goals within eight seconds.
The list of what Blashill liked from his team was much longer than what he didn’t. The Blackhawks aren’t going to win games exactly like they did with Connor Bedard and Tuesday’s game was a map to future success.
“I thought we did a really good job of limiting chances,” he said. “I thought we did a good job of forecheck. I thought we did a good job in the O-zone. We’ve talked about the way we’re going to have to win in Connor’s absence and it’s going to be shooting, it’s going to be dirty chances. We scored a goal with net presence tonight. We scored a short-handed goal. We checked well. Our intensity was great. I thought we did a lot of good things.”
What the game ultimately came down to was quick plays. Dominic Toninato took a penalty at 16:21 of the third period and put the Blackhawks on the penalty kill while ahead by a goal. After a faceoff on the power play, the puck traveled behind the Blackhawks’ net and reached defenseman Wyatt Kaiser. He attempted a pass to Ilya Mikheyev and the Leafs’ William Nylander deflected it. The puck found Auston Matthews at the front of the net and he beat goalie Spencer Knight.
On the ensuing faceoff, Troy Stecher put a puck on the Blackhawks’ net from the neutral zone and created a rebound off Knight. The Leafs’ Dakota Joshua beat defenseman Louis Crevier to the puck and scored at the net.
Like that, the Blackhawks saw their lead and the game vanish.
“It happens quick,” Kaiser said. “It was bang, bang. You kind of feel like you have control most of the game and then quick turns.”
As Blackhawks center Jason Dickinson was being asked questions after the game, you could tell he was wrestling with how the Blackhawks played and the final result.
“That one sucks,” said Dickinson, who scored a short-handed goal. “I felt like we played a really good road game for about 90 percent of it. That penalty sucks; the timing of it really doesn’t leave much to gain momentum back. We would obviously not like to give that goal up. And then the third one is just unfortunate. Maybe momentum is going their way and a guy got to a loose puck and puts it in the net. It really was a matter of those three chances that it felt like they burned us.”
Kaiser’s game has found a different level as of late. He’s become more impactful offensively, scoring all three of his goals this season in the past seven games, but also cleaning up the major mistakes.
Blashill has been showing him more and more trust, too. Kaiser led all the Blackhawks with 22:39 of ice time. It was his second-highest total this season.
“For me, certainly the goals are great,” Blashill said. “We want our D to score and be active and involved in the offense. But I also think he’s doing a good job of making decisions and limiting the big mistakes. The biggest thing on him that him and I have talked about is eliminate the big errors. If he does that, he’s a really good player. I think he’s done that on a more consistent basis.”
Goalie Laurent Brossoit cleared waivers on Tuesday and was reassigned to the Rockford IceHogs. It’s unclear what the plan is for him now.
Brossoit and the Blackhawks were probably hoping a team would show interest in him, but his $3.3 million cap hit is likely too high for anyone to take a chance on him. The Blackhawks may give him some games in Rockford, but they’re going to prioritize their prospects.
Bedard made the trip to Toronto with the Blackhawks. Blashill said he had previously planned meetings. Bedard and Frank Nazar were on the “32 Thoughts” podcast while in Toronto.