The Hawks went into Sin City just hoping to keep things close as they wrap up this brutal four-game stretch of facing the league leaders in the standings. This one looked like it was going to get out of hand and ugly fast, as the Knights came out strong, picking up two goals within the first four minutes of the game. Luckily, the Hawks were able to settle things down a bit, and then at the 13:20 mark, Ryan Donato picked up his second goal of the season with a nice play from Corey Perry to pick up the rebound and find Donato breaking into the slot. The Hawks wouldn’t have to wait long for another opportunity to get some offense going as Bedard picks up his third of the season just a 1:19 after Donato's goal. The biggest thing about this goal was the amazing effort by Nick Foligno to get that puck over to Bedard.
This was easily Foligno’s best game as a Blackhawk, and it's great to see that extra step in the veterans step out there. This new top line of Bedard, Foligno, and Kurashev looked pretty good together. They created a few good scoring opportunities, and they were credited with 10 scoring chances as a line at even strength.
After a scoreless 2nd period, the Hawks got off to a hot start as Taylor Raddysh gave the Hawks their first lead of the game just 1:11 into the 3rd period. After this, the Hawks went into defensive mode and were doing well until about midway through the period, when the Knights just put too much pressure on them and Shea Theodore would be able to tie things up at three. It got a little tense as the period came to a close. Seth Jones was called for tripping with 2:26 seconds to go. Personally, I think it was a little bit of a week call. Chandler Stephenson seemed to go down fairly easily; however, it wouldn’t matter as the Hawks would kill off the penalty and send this one to overtime. The overtime period was controlled by the Hawks; they would get their first powerplay opportunity of the game as Bedard was tripped skating into the Knights zone. After a few good looks, Kurashev was able to get it past Hill and hand the Knights their first loss of the season.
Overall, I felt this team played a lot better than they had in the last two games. One big stat that stands out was giveaways. The first time these teams met last weekend, the Hawks recorded 18 giveaways, and tonight they only had 4 registered giveaways. This team focused on protecting the puck better after Coach Richardsons called out a few days ago, and it looked like it was already sinking in.
Alex Vlasic would leave this one midway through the 2nd period, as he was on the receiving end of a high hit. No penalty was called on the play, which didn’t make Coach Richardson happy because, from the replay, it looked like a blindsided hit. This isn’t the first time this season Brett Howden has given a bad hit. He was suspended after the season opener for his hit on Seattle’s Brandon Tanev, who is still out of action. Let's hope Vlasic sitting out the rest of this one was precautionary and the impressive rookie will be good to go Monday.
There's no head contact, but Alex Vlasic took a high hit and was shaken up on the play. He went to the locker room. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/qBsly1oK6j
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 27, 2023
This was a great way to end this brutal stretch of games, and they now head to Arizona State to take on the Arizona Coyotes on Monday. After that, the schedule doesn’t get any easier for them, as the next five games will be two against Tampa Bay, two against Florida, and one against the Devils. That’s going to be it for me. I will be back Monday with a preview for the game against the Coyotes. Enjoy your weekend, everyone!
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