NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Chicago Blackhawks weren’t perfect by any means in their first game out of the Olympic break Thursday.
To start with, the Nashville Predators were nearly handing them the game by taking two penalties, including a double minor, in the game’s first 10 minutes. But the Blackhawks squandered six minutes of power-play time, and it was the Predators who scored the first goal. With that first goal and for much of the first 20-plus minutes, the Blackhawks were sloppy and showed rust from the time off.
The opening goal came when Artyom Levshunov was pressured into a turnover, providing Filip Forsberg the puck all alone in the left circle. There was the play where Ilya Mikheyev made a backward pass in the defensive zone that was sent directly to the Predators in the slot for a scoring chance. There were plenty of other errors to go along with those.
“I thought the first half of the game we kind of hurt ourselves with our puck play,” Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “I just thought there wasn’t probably enough poise, not enough support.”
But the Blackhawks corrected that over time and got back into a game flow. Connor Bedard, who was flying all night, tied the score in the second period, and Tyler Bertuzzi capitalized on another power-play chance in the third period to put the Blackhawks ahead 2-1 with 16:44 remaining in the third period.
That’s where the Blackhawks’ frustration will lie after Thursday’s game. Despite their rough start, they were in a position to win the game, and they didn’t. Nick Foligno took an interference penalty, and the Predators scored on a power play less than four minutes after the Blackhawks took the lead. While the Blackhawks had their share of chances down the stretch, including another power play on which Frank Nazar had a golden chance in the slot, it was the Predators who came through when it mattered. Roman Josi found Ryan O’Reilly in front of the net and O’Reilly found the back of the net with 3:16 left. The Predators added an empty-net goal. The final 15 minutes of the 4-2 Predators win was the difference between a veteran team and one still learning.
“We got to find a way to win the game,” Blashill said. “That’s part of this process of growing is you’re on the road, you get the lead, so you end up killing a penalty, you got to find a way to kill the penalty. It’s 2-2, and then we kind of let the third one in there. Got to find a way to win that game.”
It’s difficult to put too much emphasis on one game, but it was a game that could have created a ton of positivity for the Blackhawks as they embarked on the final stretch. They’re looking for something to grasp to get them going again. Also, whether you believe it or not, the Blackhawks still feel they have a shot at the playoffs. The Blackhawks don’t have many losses they can give down the stretch if that has any chance to be true.
“That’s the team we’re probably closest to in our division to catch, I think,” Bedard said. “To lose to them, obviously it’s a four-point game, and that’s tough.”
The biggest positive out of the night for the Blackhawks has to be Bedard’s play. As his teammates appeared as if they were fighting off the cobwebs early, Bedard was in peak form from the start, creating chance after chance. He had five shots on goal, and nearly all of them could have scored.
The one he did put into the net came when Ryan Greene, off the wall, slid the puck between defenders and connected with Bedard near the left circle. Bedard had space and took advantage. He got the puck, turned, let the puck go from the left circle and put it into the top right corner for his 24th goal of the season.
“He was doing his usual stuff, being really good with the puck, making some good plays. Great goal he had there also, which is good,” Blackhawks forward Teuvo Teräväinen said. “So he for sure has the confidence.”
Bedard praised his linemates, Greene and André Burakovsky, and regretted not being able to score more.
“I think they set me up for five or six Grade-A’s,” Bedard said. “That’s on me to put one more of those in and maybe it’s a different game. They made the game really easy for me tonight. We had some chances, and we can build on that.”
Bedard was also back to taking faceoffs after being restricted from them following his Dec. 12 shoulder injury. He won eight of 16 faceoffs.
“Created a lot of chances, had a lot of chances, had good jump,” Blashill said of Bedard. “That’s the Connor we’ve seen lots of. Good to get him back at center at a full-time basis, took a lot of faceoffs. Good to have him in that spot. As a team, again, we got to come out and build on positive things and find a way to correct some of the negatives.”
Levshunov played in his first game since being on the ice for five goals against on Jan. 29 and being a healthy scratch in the Blackhawks’ final three games before the break.
Levshunov got off to a tough start, like his teammates. On the Predators’ first goal, Levshunov retrieved the puck off Spencer Knight’s stick near the left corner of the defensive zone and was immediately met by a forechecker. Levshunov tried to move the puck as he squeezed off, but he had no outlets, and the Predators jumped on the turnover.
“The guy’s all over him; he probably needs to eat it, but he probably needs better support,” Blashill said. “We took off up the ice like there was no pressure, but there was actually tons of pressure. He probably needs to eat it, though, if there’s no play to have there.”
Levshunov got better as the game went along and seemed more comfortable with and without the puck over the final two periods. He had a 48.57 expected goal percentage in 14:13 of five-on-five ice time, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Blackhawks play-by-play radio broadcaster John Wiedeman missed Thursday’s game due to illness. It was just the sixth game he missed since being hired by the Blackhawks in 2006.
As Wiedeman said back in 2019, “You know what? I don’t like to miss work. I never really have. Even when I was young, I didn’t like to miss work because I always felt a sense of obligation. Like someone hired you to do this job, so you need to give them back at least a day’s work, if not more. That’s somebody putting their faith in you. That’s not somebody just filling a chair.”
Wiedeman was replaced by Dana Grey, who is the Rockford IceHogs broadcaster. Wiedeman is expected to return to the radio booth after the Blackhawks’ road trip.