Blackhawks Play Their Best Game Of The Season, But Fall 5-4 To Bruins In Overtime

The Chicago Blackhawks closed out their two-game road trip with a visit to TD Garden, home of the Boston Bruins. Two opposite-conference teams off to very different starts met up for the first time this season. 

The Blackhawks came in looking to avenge their horrific performance on Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings. Based on the situation with Detroit off the ice, an argument can be made that it was Chicago's worst performance of the season. 

In the first period, the Blackhawks got off to another good start. They went up 1-0, which they do often, thanks to a power-play goal scored by Anton Frondell. Jeff Blashill finally put Frondell and his wicked one-timer on the top unit, and it paid off right away. 

On the goal, Patrick Kane collected his 900th career NHL assist. He became just the 21st player in league history to reach that milestone. Sidney Crosby is the only other active player to have reached that milestone. 

Later in the first period, Pavel Zacha made a brilliant read to spring David Pastrnak, who did not miss with his very nice breakaway move. With the goal, Pastrnak passed Patrice Bergeron for the third most in Bruins history. 

The Blackhawks doubled the Bruins in first-period shots, 14-7. However, they were unable to escape the opening period with the lead, as the 1-1 score held. 

The second period had all sorts of fireworks. For one, Anton Frondell scored his second goal of the game at 3:21 of the middle frame. Tyler Bertuzzi wisely threw one on net, and it went in off Frondell, who had an incredible game overall. 

Eventually, a rush by James Hagens and Casey Mittelstadt off a turnover in the neutral zone allowed the latter to eventually snipe one home. The Blackhawks, once again, came out of a period that they mostly dominated (12-6 in shots) tied. Sometimes, that is expected when a team with less overall talent is playing better. When you're a young squad like the Blackhawks, you have to work even harder to collect wins. 

Although each team scored in the second period, the story was the big brawl. Casey Mittelstadt and Alex Vlasic started it in the middle of the ice behind the play before both teams came together for a yard sale. The kicker, however, is that Nikita Zadorov earned himself a 10-minute misconduct when he took a cheap shot punch at Alex Vlasic's face as the brawl ended. Only time will tell if he hears from the league. 

In the third period, someone had to be a hero for either team. At 9:38, after a series of saves by goaltender Arvid Soderblom on Charlie McAvoy, Ryan Greene took the puck up the ice and scored his second of the season. The Blackhawks have had trouble holding 3rd period leads, especially against playoff-caliber teams, but this was another chance to try. 

Connor Bedard gave the Blackhawks some breathing room with a goal of his own. He won a puck battle to give himself a breakaway, and he made a wonderful move of his own to give his team a two-goal lead. 

Less than a minute later, the Bruins got themselves back within one. JJ Peterka made a brilliant feed to Mason Lohrei, who beat Soderblom to make it 4-3. It's never easy in the NHL. 

It turned into a nightmare finish on Halloween for the Blackhawks as Morgan Geekie tied the game with 10 seconds remaining. The Blackhawks, in such a short amount of time, went from a team looking like a winner to a team on their heels. 

In overtime, the Blackhawks gave themselves a chance to win more than once, but they were unable to solve Michael DiPietro one more time. Before not, Elias Lindholm scored on Arvid Soderblom to give the Bruins a 5-4 win. 

Despite being the better team for most of the game, the Blackhawks were unable to secure a solid victory over a good team. Being unable to hold late leads has been the spooky reality for the Blackhawks over the last two years, and it showed on Saturday. 

People will look at the box score and see that Soderblom gave up 5 goals and criticize him for it. However, he made multiple grade-A saves and gave the team a chance to win. It might be time to start using him a bit more so that he can stay sharp and give Spencer Knight a break now and again. 

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What’s Next For The Blackhawks?

The Chicago Blackhawks will return home for a one-off Monday night game against the Colorado Avalanche. That is a huge test against an elite team before heading out for three on the road against Eastern Conference Cup contenders: the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Carolina Hurricanes. 

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