Well, that certainly wasn’t how the Chicago Blackhawks wanted to return from the Olympic break. The Blackhawks (22-27-9) surrendered three unanswered goals in the third period, blowing a 2-1 lead en route to a 4-2 loss to the Nashville Predators (27-24-7) at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday. Dating back to Jan. 12, the Blackhawks have now lost 10 of their last 13 games.
With Teuvo Teravainen as the lone Olympic participant on the NHL roster, nearly the entire squad has been together for the past nine days during practice, with six sessions to prepare for the final stretch of the regular season. There was plenty of time to make adjustments and have a proper reset, but the Blackhawks looked about the same as they did going into the break on Thursday.
Errant passes, dreadful giveaways, and the inability to create legitimate scoring chances were common themes in their game once again, and that was often the case to close out the pre-Olympic portion of the schedule. Outside of Connor Bedard, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Ryan Greene, far too many skaters looked beyond rusty in Nashville.
Bedard did everything in his power to earn the Blackhawks two points and was the most dangerous player for either side. He scored the team’s first goal out of the break and recorded a team-high six shot attempts, five shots on goal, and five individual scoring chances. When Bedard was on the ice, good things happened. But when he wasn’t… not so much.
It could have been an even more productive night for Bedard had it not been for Predators’ goaltender Justus Annunen, who got the start over Juuse Saros. Annunen robbed the former No. 1 overall pick on several occasions to help Nashville win for the eighth time in their last 14 outings. The 25-year-old stopped 21 of 23 shots faced and moved to 4-0-0 with a .961 save percentage in his career against the Blackhawks.
Ultimately, the one-man army method didn’t end well for the Blackhawks, and the lack of support for Bedard led to another lowly offensive output. It’s hard to win in this league when you can’t score more than two goals.
Here are the highlights from the Blackhawks’ 4-2 loss in Nashville, dropping their record to 22-27-9 through 58 games this season. Only 24 games to go.
FIRST PERIOD
The Predators were doing their best to gift the Blackhawks with the game’s opening goal, as Nick Perbix and Erik Haula each committed high-sticking infractions in the first six minutes. Haula’s penalty was called a double-minor, as Ryan Donato was cut on the bridge of his nose. That gave the Blackhawks six minutes of power-play time to work with, but they couldn’t capitalize and didn’t even create any dangerous chances.
One of the best looks for Chicago in the period came moments after Haula’s penalty expired, as Bedard slipped a pass to Sam Rinzel, who jumped into the play and got behind a Predators defender for a shot from in tight. Annunen got just enough of the puck to steer it wide and keep the game scoreless.
Nashville came back the other way in the following sequence and kicked off the scoring, with Artyom Levshunov committing a horrendous giveaway to set it up. Levshunov was pressured into a turnover, and the puck found Filip Forsberg all alone in the slot. Forsberg ripped a shot over Knight’s glove at 13:50 to give the Predators a 1-0 lead.
The score remained 1-0 in favor of the home squad through 20 minutes, although the Blackhawks led 9-8 in shots on goal.
SECOND PERIOD
Bedard was buzzing early and made something happen seemingly every time he hit the ice. Finally, he and the top line broke through to score the Blackhawks’ first goal out of the Olympic break, tying the game 1-1. Greene made a savvy play along the boards to set up Bedard in the slot, and he snapped a shot off the post and in for his 24th goal of the season at 4:13. That’s now a career-high in goals for the 20-year-old.
Just two shifts later, Bedard had a golden opportunity for his second goal of the game, as he received a stretch pass from Connor Murphy for a breakaway. Bedard tried to beat Annunen between his legs with a wrist shot, but the Preds’ netminder squeezed his pads together and kept the puck from crossing the goal line. Still 1-1.
Bedard had yet another tremendous look to give the Blackhawks their first lead with just over seven minutes remaining in the period. Andre Burakovsky made a nifty extra pass to find Bedard for a one-timer from down low, but once again, Annunen came up with a remarkable stop to keep the game tied.
The score remained 1-1 going into the second intermission, mostly thanks to Bedard and Knight. Nashville led 20-14 in shots on goal and was the better team through two periods, but the Blackhawks’ stars were keeping the game in balance.
THIRD PERIOD
During an early third-period power play for the Blackhawks, Bedard raced into the offensive zone and split a trio of Predators penalty killers for yet another high-danger chance. In fact, it was his FIFTH high-danger chance of the game. Unfortunately, he was in too tight and couldn’t elevate his shot, and Annunen was in perfect position to make the save.
In the final seconds of the man advantage, Bertuzzi gave the Blackhawks just their second power-play goal over their last 13 games. Teravainen deflected Rinzel’s shot from the point, and then Bertuzzi cleaned up the rebound for his 26th goal of the season at 3:16. 2-1, Chicago.
The Blackhawks’ lead didn’t last too long, however, as captain Nick Foligno took a costly penalty at 5:17, sending Nashville to its first power play of the game. With just five seconds remaining, Matthew Wood rifled a shot past Knight’s blocker to tie the game 2-2 at 7:12. Alex Vlasic might have provided a slight screen out in front.
With just over three minutes remaining, the Predators scored a second unanswered goal to regain the lead. Roman Josi drove wide to enter the offensive zone and then shipped the puck into the crease. Rinzel was unable to tie up Ryan O’Reilly’s stick, and “Factor” deflected the pass through Knight’s wickets to put Nashville ahead 3-2 at 16:44. That proved to be a back-breaker for the Blackhawks.
Knight couldn’t get off the ice for the extra attacker until there were only 90 seconds to go, and Nashville quickly hit the empty net to seal the win. Steven Stamkos was handed one of the easiest goals of his career, as Frank Nazar made a bone-headed mistake to cough up the puck in his own end. 4-2, Nashville.
The final horn sounded at Bridgestone Arena, sending the Blackhawks to a frustrating defeat in their first game out of the Olympic break. They’ll head to Colorado and continue their four-game road trip against the Avalanche on Saturday night.
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