Anders Sorensen - Dec. 11 Chicago Blackhawks Media Availability The Chicago Blackhawks took on the New York Islanders Thursday night at UBS Arena. They were looking to start a winning streak following a huge win over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. Once again, Chicago started well. For the 18th time in 29 games, the Hawks scored the first goal. For being amongst the worst teams in the NHL, this is an impressive stat. These fast starts would come in handy once they are ready to start winning. It is one of the few traits that they would like to keep. The even better news is that this tally was a power play goal scored by Connor Bedard. He's been looking much better lately and this goal was as nice as they come. He made a nice little toe-drag with the puck to create a shooting late and he didn't miss with his snipe. These are the plays that Bedard is capable of making but he needs to make them with more consistency. In Anders Sorensen's up-tempo system, Bedard should be able to make these sorts of plays regularly. On the replay of this goal, you see exactly why Bedard was a generational prospect with so much hype. After this, the Hawks did what the Hawks do regularly. Not only did the Islanders tie it, but they also scored a total of five unanswered goals. It is easy to lie down when you're down 5-1 but Sorensen's team didn't do that. Instead, they made things very interesting. At 11:04 of the third, the Blackhawks started their climb back into the game. TJ Brodie scored his first goal as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks. On the goal, Bedard collected his 17th assist of the season which is a great number for a 19-year-old. In the extremely late stages of the game, things got crazy on the island. Tyler Bertuzzi scored two goals in exactly one minute of regulation time. The problem is that the second one was at 19:50 so they only had 10 seconds to look for the equalizer. Of course, they were unable to complete the comeback and lost 5-4. Bedard, Taylor Hall, and Alex Vlasic each had an assist on one of the Bertuzzi goals which is a great sign as those guys all need to produce for this team to have a chance. Speaking of Bertuzzi, no player on the Chicago Blackhawks has benefited from the coaching change more. He looks like an entirely different player since Sorensen took over. The Blackhawks wanted Bertuzzi to come in so he could play on Bedard's right side but it hasn't worked out well until now. If he can keep playing like this, the new coach will glue him to Bedard's line. With the comeback falling short, Chicago falls to 9-18-2 for 20 standings points which are both the worst marks in the league. One of the worst parts of the game was Chicago's goaltending. Arvid Soderblom, who has been wonderful this season, was lousy for the first time this year. He allowed five goals on 19 shots. After the fifth goal against, Soderblom was pulled. With Petr Mrazek injured, Drew Commesso was backing up so he got to make his NHL debut in relief. Commesso made two saves on two shots during his third-period play. We'll see when he gets back in there for his first career start. There is a back-to-back this weekend with travel, so he will surely get one of those games. Despite the loss, the coaching staff has to love that they didn't stop skating at the end of the game. There are no moral victories in the NHL but having a game like that after the great win at MSG isn't the worst possible outcome. Bedard had a great game, and some of the other important players on the team contributed offensively. They ended up not being blown out despite giving up five unanswered. It is a stretch of hockey that they can build on going forward. Their last game of the Metropolitan trip is in Newark as the Hawks will take on the New Jersey Devils. This is going to be a great test for them as New Jersey skates as fast as any team in the NHL. The Devils' lineup has a lot of skill, and Chicago will have to shut it down if they want to beat them. It won't be easy. Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/] team site to stay updated on the latest news [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/latest-newshttps://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/latest-news], game-day [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/game-dayhttps://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/game-day] coverage, player features [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/playershttps://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/players], and more.
