{"id":437657,"date":"2026-01-31T06:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T06:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/437657\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T06:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T06:47:12","slug":"artyom-levshunov-benched-in-5th-straight-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/437657\/","title":{"rendered":"Artyom Levshunov benched in 5th straight loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Blackhawks saw a competitive first period turn into a horrendous second in Thursday\u2019s 6-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a>. It was looking like a same-story, different-venue situation Friday at the United Center.<\/p>\n

The Hawks and Columbus Blue Jackets were tied at 1 at the first intermission following final-minute goals from centers Charlie Coyle and Connor Bedard. Then the road team started the second 20 minutes on fire.<\/p>\n

Coyle (1:23) and right winger Mathieu Olivier (6:47) scored to give the Blue Jackets a two-goal lead. The Hawks, though, didn\u2019t want things to go sour twice in 24 hours.<\/p>\n

Frank Nazar\u2019s goal at 10:49 of the second pulled the Hawks within a goal, giving them urgent momentum entering the third. But they couldn\u2019t complete the comeback, falling 4-2 for their fifth straight loss and eighth in 10 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we look at is what we did well, what we didn\u2019t do well, (and) how we can grow and get better,\u201d Hawks coach Jeff Blashill said. \u201cWhatever we did poorly and can correct, we work on that, and whatever we did well, we emphasize that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hawks (21-25-9) have two more chances to snap their skid before the three-week Olympic break, playing host to the San Jose Sharks on Monday and at Columbus on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve gotten way better at understanding how to play in (back-to-backs),\u201d Blashill said. \u201cI thought we were the better team this second half of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hawks had multiple chances in the third to tie the game, but to no avail. They outshot the Jackets 17-12 in the last two periods.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we definitely played better, especially after the first,\u201d Bedard said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have that kind of period that we did last night, where you give up four or five, but end of the day, result\u2019s the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bedard had a chance to tie the game after the puck hit his left foot near regulation\u2019s end. He sent a floating shot over goaltender Elvis Merzlikins (22 saves) and the open net above him.<\/p>\n

Coyle made an aggravated Bedard and the Hawks pay, scoring an empty-netter with 1:03 left in regulation. His hat trick was the 31st leaguewide in January, an NHL single-month record.<\/p>\n

Hawks defenseman Artyom Levshunov was a healthy scratch Friday night. Blashill said it will be the start of a much-needed break for the 20-year-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what he needs is a chance to reset some foundational things,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very hard league and he\u2019s going to be a really good player, and he\u2019s done lots of good stuff for us, but we just felt like this was a time where you need a little bit of a break and really focus on those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2024 No. 2 pick has shown some flashes of what he could be for the Hawks. He\u2019s fifth among NHL rookies with 19 assists in addition to two goals.<\/p>\n

Those flashes haven\u2019t covered up defenseman\u2019s mistakes when he finds himself out of position, leading to moments at which the Hawks get lucky if the opponent doesn\u2019t score. In his last nine games, he has a minus-11 rating.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s showing that he\u2019s gotten better 100%, he\u2019s almost like a freak athlete in terms of how strong he is, (but) he\u2019s just got a lot to learn,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cIt\u2019s a process, and that\u2019s true of all young players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levshunov won\u2019t be assigned to the Rockford IceHogs but instead will spend some time in a \u201cprogram\u201d working on some \u201cfoundational\u201d things. Three specific parts of his game will see tweaks: shooting technique, defensive positioning and footwork and \u201cdelivering the puck in the right spot\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that him and I talked about was attacking the game offensively \u2026 and now he\u2019s given up some things defensively, now we\u2019ve got to refocus it and make sure that we\u2019re super sound defensively,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cBalance isn\u2019t easy. Balance take guys a long time, and we\u2019ll continue to work with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coach didn\u2019t disclose how long the program will be for the defenseman, but there\u2019s a chance Levshunov won\u2019t see action until after the Winter Games.<\/p>\n

Sam Rinzel was recalled from Rockford on Friday afternoon and replaced Levshunov in the lineup. The defenseman logged 22:18 of ice time with three shots on goal and four blocked shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt good, legs felt pretty decent,\u201d Rinzel said. \u201cI think my defensive game has actually grown a lot, the awareness side of it and D-zone side of it, not letting pucks get through me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old played 19 games with the IceHogs, compiling 10 points (two goals, eight assists). Blashill wanted him to find his swagger with the puck, and he feels he\u2019s doing just that.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of it is realizing that 90% of the game is 50-50 shifts, and it\u2019s about winning those 50-50 shifts,\u201d Rinzel said. \u201cNothing has to be flashy or crazy, it\u2019s learning to play with my brain and use my brain to beat guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Captain Nick Foligno did not play Friday. Blashill labeled him day to day with an undisclosed injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Blackhawks saw a competitive first period turn into a horrendous second in Thursday\u2019s 6-2 loss to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5115],"tags":[495,521,37,96,5263,230,508,800,5,3140,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-437657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-blackhawks","8":"tag-artyom-levshunov","9":"tag-blackhawks","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","12":"tag-chicagoblackhawks","13":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","14":"tag-connor-bedard","15":"tag-frank-nazar","16":"tag-hockey","17":"tag-jeff-blashill","18":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115988374871492000","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}