CHICAGO - The trade deadline came and went in the National Hockey League. The Chicago Blackhawks had a Friday night game that followed at United Center against the Utah Hockey Club.
Just :56 into the first period, former Blackhawk Nick Schmaltz scored. Outside of some pushing, shoving, and a Ryan Donato vs Michael Carcone tilt, the rest of the opening frame was uneventful. Utah took that 1-0 lead to the first intermission.
Donato, who was notably not traded, wanted to remind everyone of that fact. Besides his fight, he looked motivated to make an impact right out of the gate.
About halfway through the second period, Connor Bedard hit the post with a shot. The United Center crowd jumped to their feet in celebration but play continued. Before they could even realize that the goal didn’t count, Wyatt Kaiser found himself with the puck in the slot and he scored with a beautiful shot.
Connor Bedard has been in a little bit of a scoring slump lately so collecting an assist on Wyatt Kaiser's goal had to feel good for him. We know what he's capable of offensively so it's all about getting that confidence back. This assist was a good start.
Just a couple of minutes later, Ilya Mikheyev scored a beautiful goal of his own to put the Blackhawks in front. After a somewhat lackluster first period, the Hawks were starting to find their groove.
At 14:30 of the same middle period, Frank Nazar was awarded a penalty shot as Mikhail Sergachev held him on a breakaway. He put a beautiful move on Karel Vejmelka and the Hawks had a 3-1 lead going into the second intermission. Nazar's goal made it three goals in five minutes.
In the third period, the Utah Hockey Club made it interesting when John Marino's first of the season cut the lead to one with plenty of time left.
Later on in the final frame, Connor Bedard took a penalty to put Utah on the power play. Clayton Keller took advantage with a perfectly placed one-timer shot top shelf. Mikhael Sergachev did a wonderful job of creating the room to send a pass to Keller who didn't miss.
No more goals were scored in regulation and overtime was required. That makes it two straight games with overtime at the United Center.
In the extra period, after exchanging chances for a few minutes, Connor Bedard scored the game-winner to give Chicago their third win in four games. His 17th goal of the season was much needed as his drought is now completely over.
Bedard should be proud of the way he played in this game. He was making great passes, creating chances for himself and his teammates, and scored the game-winner in addition to his assist.
Bedard needs to have a strong finish to the season. He is more than capable of putting up points in bunches and this game was proof of that. Confidence is key and he looked confident against Utah.
Spencer Knight made his second start in a Blackhawks uniform. Just like his first start, he gave his team a chance to win throughout the game until they scored the goals they needed.
Knight's 36 saves on 39 shots isn't the shiny "First Star of the Game" performance that he had last week but it is more than enough. With the game on the line in overtime, he came up large on two Utah shots before Bedard ended it.
Chicago will now hit the road for four straight games. It starts with a trip to Tennessee to play the Nashville Predators on Saturday night. It's the second half of a back-to-back so they need a better start in that one. With the young legs they have in the lineup, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
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