CHICAGO – The Chicago Blackhawks love taking 1-0 leads. They did that on Saturday night when Teuvo Teravainen gave it to them at 4:45 of the opening frame. Jason Dickinson and Nick Foligno made a good play for Teravainen to get the shot off from a high-danger area.
At 15:01 of the same period, Nick Foligno took advantage of a lucky bounce to score. On the goal, both Foligno and Teravainen earned their second point of the game as Teravainen was the one who helped create the lucky bounce for Foligno to pounce on. Chicago took that 2-0 into the second intermission.
A lot of the time, instead of extending the lead, the Hawks let the opponent tie it up at one so the chance to keep momentum going in their favor was there.
It only took 22 seconds of the second period, however, for Edmonton to get on the board. Leon Draisaitl led a great rush that the Hawks weren’t able to defend and he found Victor Arvidson who made a great pass for Vasily Podkolzin to put into the net.
Things started to sway in favor of the Oilers a little bit but Ryan Donato restored the two-goal lead at 10:03 of the middle period. At that point, you thought that the Hawks might not just roll over in this one as they have in a few other games that they led early.
That theory would have been wrong though as the Oilers showed their stuff from that point on. Adam Henrique made it a one-goal game at 15:49 of the second and then just over two minutes later (17:03), Corey Perry scored in his return to the United Center to tie the game. With the game knotted, it became anyone’s game.
One thing that is hard to overcome is Edmonton’s power play. With all of the superstars that they have on their team, they can create looks that no other team in the league can come up with.
In the third period, the Hawks took a penalty and the Oilers took full advantage. Although the Blackhawks were doing a good job of making it hard for the Oilers to create whatever play they were looking for, Leon Draisaitl decided to just throw it on the net.
There, the puck was rebounded by Zach Hyman who scored his 14th of the season. Hyman is one of the best net-mouth guys in the NHL right now and he showed why on this goal.
The Hawks were unable to overcome this 4-3 Oilers lead and it stood as the final. They lost the hockey game after blowing a multi-goal lead more than once.
Connor Bedard did not collect a point in the loss so his point streak will expire at nine games. It was an incredible run for the young teenager who is going to put up a lot of points. His next will be the 100th in his NHL career.
Chicago will host a different team from Alberta in their next game. The Calgary Flames will invade the United Center looking to stay close in the Western Conference playoff race. The Hawks will continue to work on their development in these games that they are now segmenting to learn from them and achieve goals.
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