The Chicago Blackhawks had a tall hill to climb with their first game of the season being against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. That would be a tough start for a team full of seasoned veterans, let alone a young squad like the Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks found a way to keep this one close, though, as the Panthers walked away with a 3-2 victory. They won the game thanks to a third-period goal by Jesper Boqvist.
After the first period, the Blackhawks were down in shot attempts (35-10), shots on goal (17-3), and scoring chances (19-4), but they were only down 2-1 on the scoreboard. They took a 1-0 lead on Frank Nazar’s breakaway goal, but then allowed goals to AJ Greer and Carter Verhaeghe.
With a bit over 3 minutes remaining in the opening period, captain Nick Foligno tried to spark the team with a fight. He took on one of Florida’s goal scorers, AJ Greer, and the fight can be summed up as a draw.
There did seem to be a spark for Chicago in the second period, as the Blackhawks did play much better than they did in the first. That included a game-tying goal. Tyler Bertuzzi won a board battle to find Frank Nazar, who once again made a great play to feed Teuvo Teravainen for the goal.
The aforementioned 3rd period goal by Boqvist ended up being the difference in the hockey game, but the Blackhawks stayed in a game that they were mostly outplayed.
Frank Nazar was as good as expected during the game. He played a huge role in each of the two Chicago goals and was hard to play against for Florida in all three zones. His offensive prowess, special teams work, and tenacity on pucks make him worth his contract alone. It will be a bargain in short order.
Like Nazar, Spencer Knight also gave the Blackhawks a chance to win the hockey game, despite the losing result. Knight made 34 saves on 37 shots against the team that traded him away.
A year ago at this time, there were question marks in net for the Blackhawks, but Knight looks like a guy who can be a legit number one. He was sharp against a really good team with an unfavorable amount of help in front of him.
Connor Bedard looked as fast and dynamic as he did in the preseason. This is a result of the hard work that he put in over the summer. He created a ton of chances for himself, Bobrovsky was just up to the task on every one, except for the one that rang off the pipe. A star-level breakout is on the horizon for Bedard.
Nazar showed well with Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi, but Bedard didn’t get much from Ryan Donato or Andre Burakovsky. The latter specifically looked out of place playing on the top line with Bedard. If he doesn’t get better quickly, Jeff Blashill will be making a change.
Next up for the Blackhawks is a trip to the East Coast to take on the Boston Bruins. Boston, although they have talented players at every position, is not Florida.
The compete level of the Blackhawks in this game will be a lot more telling. They only lost to Florida by one goal, which is something to build on, but they were outplayed in a lot of ways. More games will end in losses than wins if they play like they did in game one. A better effort is to be expected in game two against the Bruins.
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