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It started so well for the Chicago Blackhawks.
Connor Bedard scored the opening goal on the power play, and Tyler Bertuzzi padded the Hawks’ first-period lead with his first goal since Jan. 20 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
But if you’ve been following along all season, you know an early 2-0 lead is meaningless to the Hawks.
After all, they entered the game 14-16-5 when scoring first, the worst record in the league.
Sure enough, Adam Larsson answered Bertuzzi’s 30 seconds later, and it was the first snowball of the avalanche.
The Kraken rattled off six goals to send the Hawks to a 6-2 loss at the United Center — Chicago’s second-straight 6-2 loss and fifth consecutive loss overall.
“It fell apart there,” Hawks interim coach Anders Sorensen said. “Once they got that second one, then the disallowed goal there (for the Hawks in the second period). I don’t know if we got caught off guard, and then all of a sudden it’s 3-2.
“The biggest thing was turnovers. That’s what hurt us.”
Photos: Seattle Kraken 6, Chicago Blackhawks 2 at the United Center on Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Jason Dickinson agreed.
“Few too many turnovers, soft on pucks, which is kind of tied into turnovers, and then we didn’t protect the slot at all. There were just too many high-danger scoring chances. You can’t give up that many and expect a goalie to make every save.”
Spencer Knight joined Arvid Söderblom in giving up six goals in back-to-back games for the Hawks.
The Kraken had their way in the Hawks zone and ripped apart their defense with one-timers and lateral plays.
Hawks defenders tried to direct each other on the fly as they struggled to sort.
“There’s a read that has to be made among the forwards on whose responsibility is whose, once the puck starts to rotate,” Dickinson said. “I guess we just weren’t reading it well together.”
Meanwhile, Bedard’s goal made him the second Blackhawks skater in history to reach 40 career goals before age 20, joining Eddie Olczyk (49).
Here are four takeaways.
Dickinson appeared somewhere between perturbed and seething.
Alex Vlasic just looked despondent.
It’s one thing to lose, something the Hawks should be used to be now, and it’s another to get slapped around for 6-2 losses in two straight games — the cherries on top of a five-game losing streak
Morale is “probably the worst it’s been all year, to be honest with you,” Vlasic said. “We’re trying to take steps as a group almost at Game 70. It feels like we’re taking one step forward, one step back.
“We’re not really making any progress as a team,” he said.
Somewhere Seth Jones’ ears are burning.
With the Hawks down in the dumps, they have to break the slump — with a win.
“A gritty one,” Dickinson said. “We are not a high-skill team. We are not a team that can play with a shootout mentality. We’re not going to take it to 8-6, 8-7 — those are not games that we want to play.”
Sorensen said he felt things were in a good place not too long ago.
“When things don’t go your way, it starts snowballing,” he said. “Back-to-back tough losses on the scoreboard, and that’s a recipe for low morale.
“But we’re going to get back at it here. We have a lot of young guys and let’s bring the energy tomorrow, talk about it and move on.”
Connor Bedard likes to say he can take a hit, but can he take a hug?
After Bedard scored the opening goal on a power play, Artyom Levshunov rushed in a celebratory embrace and the big rookie defenseman pawed at his bucket like a bear swatting a honeycomb.
Bedard had to adjust his visor afterward.
The goal itself was just as awkward.
Bedard tripped over his feet while trying to maneuver through defenders, and his scoring strike ricocheted off Larsson’s skate, Bedard’s first goal after a four-game drought.
Bedard last had a power-play goal on Feb. 7 against the Nashville Predators, 14 games ago.
Meanwhile, entering the matchup, the Hawks had gone 0 for 12 over the last five games while opponents had made good on 3 of 13 power play opportunities.
“We had a shooting mentality,” Sorensen said. “We shot it right off the face-off, tip, almost went in, recovered the puck and went at it again. So that’s positive.”
The veteran forward was in no mood after a 6-2 pummeling to entertain silver-lining questions about the power play, swallowing question after question about the Hawks’ shortcomings.
“It’s great for them that they got a goal, but we lose a game 6-2, what does it matter if we score on the power play?
“Let’s get our cookies on the power play, but let’s go win a freaking game.”
Admittedly, I’m being nitpicky about Knight’s night, but goalies have to make difficult stops.
From a layman’s view, it seemed like Knight overplayed primary threats (or where he perceived primary threats were coming from) and got beat elsewhere.
Knight was tucked into his left side corner of the net, giving Adam Larsson an open far-side angle
On the Eberle goal, Knight was tucked to his glove side again and gave up a soft angle.
Yes, Bedard turned over the puck before the Jared McCann goal, but it was a stick-side angle shot Knight should’ve had.
On Matty Beniers’ goal, it looked like he recognized the one-timer pass a second too late.
But Sorensen firmly stood behind Knight.
“I don’t think anything is on him here,” he said. “It was the group in front of him. We didn’t do a good enough job of helping him out.”
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Connor Bedard scored the opening goal on the power play, and Tyler Bertuzzi padded the Hawks’ first-period lead with his first goal since Jan. 20 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
But if you’ve been following along all season, you know an early 2-0 lead is meaningless to the Hawks.
After all, they entered the game 14-16-5 when scoring first, the worst record in the league.
Sure enough, Adam Larsson answered Bertuzzi’s 30 seconds later, and it was the first snowball of the avalanche.
The Kraken rattled off six goals to send the Hawks to a 6-2 loss at the United Center — Chicago’s second-straight 6-2 loss and fifth consecutive loss overall.
“It fell apart there,” Hawks interim coach Anders Sorensen said. “Once they got that second one, then the disallowed goal there (for the Hawks in the second period). I don’t know if we got caught off guard, and then all of a sudden it’s 3-2.
“The biggest thing was turnovers. That’s what hurt us.”
Photos: Seattle Kraken 6, Chicago Blackhawks 2 at the United Center on Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Jason Dickinson agreed.
“Few too many turnovers, soft on pucks, which is kind of tied into turnovers, and then we didn’t protect the slot at all. There were just too many high-danger scoring chances. You can’t give up that many and expect a goalie to make every save.”
Spencer Knight joined Arvid Söderblom in giving up six goals in back-to-back games for the Hawks.
The Kraken had their way in the Hawks zone and ripped apart their defense with one-timers and lateral plays.
Hawks defenders tried to direct each other on the fly as they struggled to sort.
“There’s a read that has to be made among the forwards on whose responsibility is whose, once the puck starts to rotate,” Dickinson said. “I guess we just weren’t reading it well together.”
Meanwhile, Bedard’s goal made him the second Blackhawks skater in history to reach 40 career goals before age 20, joining Eddie Olczyk (49).
Here are four takeaways.
1. The Hawks’ morale has reached a low point.
Dickinson appeared somewhere between perturbed and seething.
Alex Vlasic just looked despondent.
It’s one thing to lose, something the Hawks should be used to be now, and it’s another to get slapped around for 6-2 losses in two straight games — the cherries on top of a five-game losing streak
Morale is “probably the worst it’s been all year, to be honest with you,” Vlasic said. “We’re trying to take steps as a group almost at Game 70. It feels like we’re taking one step forward, one step back.
“We’re not really making any progress as a team,” he said.
Somewhere Seth Jones’ ears are burning.
With the Hawks down in the dumps, they have to break the slump — with a win.
“A gritty one,” Dickinson said. “We are not a high-skill team. We are not a team that can play with a shootout mentality. We’re not going to take it to 8-6, 8-7 — those are not games that we want to play.”
Sorensen said he felt things were in a good place not too long ago.
“When things don’t go your way, it starts snowballing,” he said. “Back-to-back tough losses on the scoreboard, and that’s a recipe for low morale.
“But we’re going to get back at it here. We have a lot of young guys and let’s bring the energy tomorrow, talk about it and move on.”
2. Who needed that power-play goal more, Connor Bedard or the Hawks?
Connor Bedard likes to say he can take a hit, but can he take a hug?
After Bedard scored the opening goal on a power play, Artyom Levshunov rushed in a celebratory embrace and the big rookie defenseman pawed at his bucket like a bear swatting a honeycomb.
Bedard had to adjust his visor afterward.
The goal itself was just as awkward.
Bedard tripped over his feet while trying to maneuver through defenders, and his scoring strike ricocheted off Larsson’s skate, Bedard’s first goal after a four-game drought.
Bedard last had a power-play goal on Feb. 7 against the Nashville Predators, 14 games ago.
Meanwhile, entering the matchup, the Hawks had gone 0 for 12 over the last five games while opponents had made good on 3 of 13 power play opportunities.
“We had a shooting mentality,” Sorensen said. “We shot it right off the face-off, tip, almost went in, recovered the puck and went at it again. So that’s positive.”
3. He said it: Quote of the night goes to Jason Dickinson.
The veteran forward was in no mood after a 6-2 pummeling to entertain silver-lining questions about the power play, swallowing question after question about the Hawks’ shortcomings.
“It’s great for them that they got a goal, but we lose a game 6-2, what does it matter if we score on the power play?
“Let’s get our cookies on the power play, but let’s go win a freaking game.”
4. Despite the defensive breakdowns, Spencer Knight struggled.
Admittedly, I’m being nitpicky about Knight’s night, but goalies have to make difficult stops.
From a layman’s view, it seemed like Knight overplayed primary threats (or where he perceived primary threats were coming from) and got beat elsewhere.
Knight was tucked into his left side corner of the net, giving Adam Larsson an open far-side angle
On the Eberle goal, Knight was tucked to his glove side again and gave up a soft angle.
Yes, Bedard turned over the puck before the Jared McCann goal, but it was a stick-side angle shot Knight should’ve had.
On Matty Beniers’ goal, it looked like he recognized the one-timer pass a second too late.
But Sorensen firmly stood behind Knight.
“I don’t think anything is on him here,” he said. “It was the group in front of him. We didn’t do a good enough job of helping him out.”
Continue reading...
