Chicago Blackhawks fall to NHL-worst Vancouver Canucks 6-3 in United Center return for 13th loss in 17 games
· Yahoo Sports
The Chicago Blackhawks played their first game at the United Center in 32 days Friday night.
Fresh off of the NHL trade deadline, the Hawks faced the Vancouver Canucks as a younger, future-focused team. It was the first look at how the Hawks youth would handle things without captain Nick Foligno and alternates Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy, all of whom were dealt this week.
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The sudden loss of leadership affected the Hawks, who fell to the NHL-worst Canucks 6-3 for their fourth loss in five games since the Olympic break and 13th in their last 17.
“The locker room is going to be quieter without (Nick Foligno), he’s a loud, vocal guy,” Frank Nazar said. “(I’ll) stick to saying what I say and being me, and other guys are going to do the same, and (I) know it’s going to work out.”
Losing to a team that benefits from losing is never a good look. At 19-36-7, the Canucks’ 45 points are 10 fewer than the league’s second-worst team, the Calgary Flames.
“Tonight we weren’t good enough defensively at all,” Hawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “We can’t expect ourselves to be a team that’s going to win 5-4, so you can’t give up four.”
They gave up six, including three early in the first period in less than five minutes. Drew O’Connor (2:08), Jake DeBrusk (2:32) and Teddy Blueger (6:32) found the net to put the Hawks in a quick 3-1 hole.
It spoiled the early excitement Ryan Donato created just 68 seconds in. The center cleared the puck, recovered it on the ricochet and scored his 14th of the season for a 1-0 lead.
But it lasted only one minute.
The crowd was quiet as the Hawks were still staggering from the three-goal outburst. Without their veteran leaders, this was the first test to see who would step up.
It was Ilya Mikheyev, who remained with the Hawks after being mentioned in trade rumors all week. He collected the puck off of a pretty Oliver Moore pass to shrink the Canucks’ lead to 3-2 with eight minutes to play in the first.
General manager Kyle Davidson expressed pregame his desire to keep the right winger.
“I really like what he brings the team,” Davidson said. “I’m glad I didn’t have to make a tough decision there, because I like having (Mikheyev) as a Blackhawk.”
Frank Nazar scored just his third goal since Halloween in the second period, deflecting Alex Vlasic’s shot into the net at 19:17 to tie the game at 3.
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“It always feels good to score,” Nazar said. “It’s a rush of dopamine.”
That rush ended quickly when Canucks right winger Brock Boeser scored against the Hawks’ NHL-best penalty kill, batting in the puck at 2:40 of the third to break the tie. Max Sasson’s empty-net goal at 18:34 padded the lead, and Boeser added an empty-netter 70 seconds later to seal it.
Left winger Andrew Mangiapane played his first game with the Hawks since being traded from the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday as a part of the package for Dickinson and Colton Dach.
Mangiapane skated for only 8:52 but looked comfortable with his new team. His third-period goal was waived off due to Landon Slaggert kicking the puck before the shot.
“It’s a great group of guys here, there’s a lot of young, skilled talent,” Mangiapane, 29, said. “A lot of life and energy in this dressing room. It’s a fun team to be a part of.”
Goaltender Spencer Knight was ruled out minutes before puck drop because of an illness. Arvid Söderblom had 16 saves in Knight’s stead.