WINNIPEG, Manitoba — A little more offense, especially from the front line, could have carried the Blackhawks to victory on Friday.
However, the Jets silenced Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen and defeated the Hawks 2-1 in overtime with two goals from Mark Scheifele. One goal tied the game with 1:04 left in regulation time, and the other goal ended the game 37 seconds into overtime. session.
Ryan Donato scored the Hawks’ only points late in the second period, and it turned out to be just about enough, but not quite, as the Hawks were playing a very structured defensive game.
“At this point, we’re tired of winning moral victories,” Seth Jones said. “We need to win hockey games. I thought we played a great game. We didn’t have any turnovers in the neutral zone for the most part. Everyone played the way we needed to play. … We hung in there for 59 minutes and then we lost coverage in OT.”
Nick Foligno will play as a first-line left winger, giving him the latest opportunity to rotate into a position that has also seen Tyler Bertuzzi, Ilya Mikheyev and Taylor Hall spend time playing.
Meanwhile, Bedard and Teravainen have been locked in as the other two forwards on that line since the start of training camp. They scored the Hawks’ first team goal against Utah on Tuesday, and Friday wasn’t bad either. In 5-on-5 play, they created seven scoring chances while allowing five chances. But he couldn’t really test Conner, the Jets’ world-class goaltender. Hellebuyck.
Both players only had one shot on goal each, but Teravainen’s shot gave the Jets extra-time possession and ultimately allowed a point for the weaker list, but it was a shot he “wants to get back.” said coach Luke Richardson.
“We put the puck behind them and tried to make them make mistakes, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the second point,” Richardson added. “They kept pressing, kept pressing… and got the second tying goal, which was a little discouraging. We have to finish the game.”
The Hawks hope Teravainen can complement Bedard this season, not only with his playmaking ability but also with his defensive acumen. After all, Bedard ranked 367th out of 375 forwards leaguewide in scoring chances allowed last season, while Teravainen ranked 26th.
Teravainen is a relatively slow skater by NHL standards, but he reads the game well and knows how to be in the right spot at the right time. This is a skill that contributes to success in any field.
In the defensive zone, you can dive in front of the opponent’s pass, smoothly intercept it, hold the ball and get out of the zone quickly. He demonstrated that in the first period on Friday, for example, when he anticipated Nikolaj Ehlers’ dropped pass and made it look like Ehlers was going to pass it to him.
Conversely, in the offensive zone, he becomes an effective passer himself. He executes seam passes when the lane is open, but he also rates as one of the league leaders in low-to-high passes that lead to shots from the point in each of all three zones.
However, one concern is that Teravainen’s performance dropped slightly last season. He remained solid, as evidenced by his 53 points in 76 games, but his analysis wasn’t as impressive as it was in 2022-23. That’s why the salary-cap-constrained Hurricanes decided not to match his offer on a new contract (before the Hawks gave him $5.4 million a year for three years as a free agent).
Hawks backup goaltender Arvid Soderblom showed a bright spot Friday despite being sick late and missing a golden chance to get his first career shutout.
Still, he finished with 33 saves on 35 shots, demonstrating significant improvements in rebound control, positioning and lateral movement compared to last year.
