Morning Chirps: These aren't last season's Blackhawks

Saturday night, the Chicago Blackhawks made stop number three on their four-game road trip to start the 2024-25 season. They were welcomed in by the reigning Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers in a matchup of two teams looking for their first win. The Blackhawks were rude house guests as they left Rogers Place with a 5-2 win.

The opening 20 minutes was wide open, nerve-racking, and fun as hell. Philipp Kurashev, who turned 25 on Saturday, got the game’s opening goal late in the first. Taylor Hall’s shot from the high slot was slowed down, and Kurashev was in front of the net to deposit the puck for his first goal of the season.

Put pucks on net with traffic in front and good things can happen#Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/mS0MoNZK6O

— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) October 13, 2024

An unfortunate bounce tied the game early in the second period. Moments after killing off a Connor Murphy penalty, the rebound from a Corey Perry shot hit T.J. Brodie’s skate and went into the Blackhawks’ net. The Blackhawks did not let the bad luck derail their efforts. Seth Jones scored the Blackhawks’ first power-play goal of the season five minutes later to restore the lead. Connor Bedard, who had the primary assist on the Jones goal, doubled the lead three minutes later with a play he started back in the defensive zone.

BEDSY WITH THE MOVES pic.twitter.com/7HnMfW1kEO

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 13, 2024

The Blackhawks got some insurance in the third period with another power-play goal. This time, Teuvo Teravainen banked a shot off Darnell Nurse’s leg. Leon Draisaitl scored a power-play goal of his own to cut the deficit to two. That was as close as the Oilers got as Tervainen added another goal on the man advantage to ice the victory. The season-opening four-game road trip concludes Tuesday night at the Calgary Flames. The Blackhawks can return home with five points in four games. Everybody would have been ecstatic about that outcome before the trip started.

These Are Not Last Season’s Blackhawks

Last season, the team would have folded if the Blackhawks had given up a goal like the one Perry was credited with in the first period. The play would have gotten into their heads, and the negative snowball would have started moving downhill. Through three games this season, this team doesn’t let it bother them when something goes wrong. They get right back to work.

This isn’t a surprise with the addition of several veterans. But the added experience also needs to buy into what Luke Richardson and his staff are instilling. That is what’s happening through three games. Jones eluted to this after Friday’s loss in Winnipeg.

“Every team has a style that they can play to win,” he said. “It’s only two games into the season, but we’ve found something in our game that we want to stick with and get better at. We have a lot of work to do, but it’s good to see that everyone’s buying into the system.”

Richardson was pleased with the effort against the Oilers. We were hoping to see more structure with an improved roster, and for eight of the nine periods, this team has played like a team, with all 18 skaters pulling in the same direction.

“We were very determined and stuck to that game plan that we’ve been doing since after that first period of the first game,” he said. “A little bit erratic at the end because we were scrambling because they were putting pressure on. We had a few icings, but we’d rather take icings than turnovers. The guys hung in there tight against a really strong, powerful offensive team.”

There has been progression with each game of the season. The lousy start cost the Blackhawks the game on opening night. They came out and played a much better game against the Jets, only to let the lead slip away late. Heading into Saturday’s game, Jones, Ryan Donato, and Richardson all said they needed to play for a full 60 minutes. Then they went out and did it.

Quick Chirps

• Another sign that his season is different is that this team isn’t getting pushed around. We saw Pat Maroon deposit Brett Kulak into the bench. Later in the game, Wyatt Kaiser took down Connor McDavid and drew a penalty on Edmonton’s superstar. Tervainen scored the Blackhawks’ fourth goal seconds later.
• Speaking of Teravainen, he was a significant factor on special teams tonight. The Blackhawks went 3-for-3 on the power play and only needed three shots to do so. They were also strong on the penalty kill again, even though they did give up the late power-play goal to Draisaitl. The penalty kill has been far more aggressive to start the season, which is another product of having more experience on the roster.
• The Oilers finished the night with 98 shot attempts. However, only 38 of those made it to the net. What happened to the other 60 attempts? The Blackhawks blocked 35 shots. Alec Martinez led the incredible team effort with seven. Twelve different players had a blocked shot, with 11 of them having at least two.
• It was great to see Kurashev and Teravainen bounce back with big games after questionable playing in overtime against the Jets.
• Congratulations to Jones, who scored his 100^th career goal while playing in 800^th career game.

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