Thursday night, the Blackhawks looked to build upon their 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning with a win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Carolina would play with only 11 forwards and six defensemen as Sebastian Aho and former Blackhawk Taylor Hall were out with illnesses. Arvid Söderblom got his second-straight start for Chicago, while Pyotr Kotchetkov manned the net for Carolina.

Game Summary

The first period got off to a sleepy start. 15:00 into the period, shots were 5-0 Carolina, but the Hawks would get a power play after Colton Dach drew a tripping penalty from Shane Gostisbehere at the 15:15 mark.

Philipp Kurashev would mishandle a puck at the blue line, and the Canes were off on a two-on-one. Lukas Reichel skated hard to get back, but it wasn’t enough as Seth Jarvis made it 1-0 Carolina with his second shorthanded goal in as many games vs. Chicago.

With 1:22 left in the frame, Ilya Mikheyev would push a puck to Nick Foligno. Mikheyev used his speed to enter the neutral zone. Foligno poked it back to Mikheyev, who tied the game on a breakaway goal.

1-1 after the first period.

Frank Nazar had a wide-open look to shoot on Kotchetkov but opted to peel off to his backhand. As quickly as Darren Pang could yell, “Shoot the puck!” on the broadcast, Söderblom was fishing the puck out of the back of his net as future Blackhawk Mikko Rantanen scored his first goal with his temporary team.

Nazar has to let that puck fly, especially considering the smothering style of defense the Hurricanes play. You have to take scoring chances when they present themselves, even if they aren’t perfect looks. Interim head coach Anders Sorensen responded by switching Landon Slaggert from the third line to Nazar’s spot on the first line with Connor Bedard and Tyler Bertuzzi.

Lesson learned for Nazar.

1:07 later, it was 3-1 Carolina as Jaccob Slavin scored after Jackson Blake’s shot hit the crossbar.

With 6:23 left in the period, the Hawks would get their second power play. Again, Nazar would pass up the opportunity to shoot and force a pass. Penalty killed.

Late in the period, it was Bedard’s turn to force a pass. This time, it was a well-covered Slaggert.

Overall, the Hawks played a solid second period. Shots were 10-10, and the Hawks had a 17-14 shot attempt advantage at five-on-five. They created some great looks and got the puck behind Carolina.

The Hawks started the third period well, and with 13:31 left, Bedard took a perfect stretch pass from Seth Jones and beat Kotchetkov five-hole. 3-2 Carolina.

Both teams exchanged chances in the third, but Reichel took a tripping penalty with 4:25 to go in the third. They’d kill off the penalty and pull Söderblom.

The Hawks kept the pressure on the Canes until Bedard was pulled down with no call. Foligno was then forced to take a penalty at the other end to prevent the empty netter. The Hawks would again pull Söderblom and draw a penalty of their own with ten seconds to go, but they couldn’t score after a long faceoff tie-up, which killed off most of the remaining time.

Hawks lose 3-2.

Jay’s Final Thoughts

• I had been looking forward to seeing Hall play against the Hawks. He was one of my favorite players to cover over his time here, and I enjoyed his insights. That said…if you’ve read his comments over the last few days, I’m not sure he saw his time in Chicago like I did.
  
  “I wanted to play more,” Hall said Thursday morning. “I’m definitely a better player than the amount I was playing. But you also understand where they’re coming from. They wanted to play young guys, they wanted to play guys up in the lineup.” Sure, but had the veterans, like Hall, performed as expected earlier in the season, they wouldn’t be as tempted to play the kids.
  
  Sorensen offered his thoughts on what Hall had to say. “There’s opportunities for everybody, right? I’m not sure if we’re looking exactly what age you are. But if you’re playing well, and you’re contributing the way you’re expected to, then you’ll get your opportunities.” OH, NO HE DIDN’T!!!!!!

• I was pleased to see Söderblom get the start. He was the main reason the Hawks beat Tampa on Tuesday and has been significantly better than Petr Mrázek, especially lately. “His last game was real good, and his last three starts have been real good here,” Sorensen said before the game. “This whole season, he’s been trending the right way the whole time.” Söderblom stopped 24/27 Carolina shots in the loss.

• The lack of shooting, especially from Bedard and Nazar in this game, is extra frustrating. The Hurricanes play such a simple game. They backcheck hard, throw pucks on net, and crash the crease. This is how every contender in the NHL plays. It’s happening right in front of you.
  
  I’m not sure why the far less-talented Blackhawks refuse to simplify and insist on trying to dipsy-doo around a team full of studs. They’ll learn, but there were so many declined opportunities, you have to wonder what might have been.
  
  After the game, The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus asked Jones about Bedard deferring. “He wants to make the right play every time,” Jones said. “Sometimes, maybe more often than not, the shot is the right play, especially when we don’t create a lot. When the Jumbotron says zero shots there, maybe he should shoot the puck. When we get over the blue line, we’ve just got to start putting pucks to the net … We could probably take a page out of their book. They usually end games with 70-80 shot attempts and 40 shots on net. If you look at the analytics, I guess, that’ll lead to some wins.”

• Reichel’s penalty was another lesson for a young player. Down a goal with 4:25 left in the game, he has to be more careful. It will be interesting to see what roster decisions Sorensen makes for Saturday’s game against the Panthers. He could choose to send several messages after this loss.

• Nolan Allan was happy to return to the lineup. He was laying the wood to everyone and led the Blackhawks with four hits.

Nuggets and Timbits

• Teuvo Teräväinen returned to Carolina for the first time since signing in Chicago this summer. Teräväinen played 555 games with Carolina after his first stint with the Hawks. He scored 415 points over that time.

• With his third-period goal, Bedard now has 30 points in his last 30 games and points in 16 of his last 18 games.

• With his assist on Bedard’s goal, Jones has 10 points in his last seven games.

• Some non-Blackhawks news: The Florida Panthers waived former Blackhawk Adam Boqvist, and the Utah Hockey Club is back to the drawing board with their team name. Wasatch went over like a fart in church, as my pal Greg Boysen would say, so now “Outlaws” has joined “Mammoth” and “Hockey Club” as the final options. Put me down for Team Mammoth. They can play Widespread Panic’s ‘Big Wooley Mammoth’ as their goal song. You can vote on the Utah HC permanent name HERE.