The first period was all Blackhawks — except for the finishing part. The Hawks had four absolute Grade A+ chances that were either whiffed or stopped by Joey Daccord. The Blackhawks were moving their feet and the puck well but had to settle for a couple zeroes on the board after 20 minutes. Chicago had a 10-5 shot advantage at the end of one.
In the middle of the second period the Blackhawks got on the board with their third line picking up where they left off on Tuesday night. Teuvo Teräväinen found Ilya Mikheyev with a pretty pass and Chicago grabbed the lead. The final couple minutes of the second were completely off the rails. The Blackhawks got a power play, which was killed in seven seconds because Frank Nazar went off for tripping. In the middle of the 4-on-4, Connor Murphy got mixed up with Chandler Stephenson and dropped the gloves. When Stephenson turtled and ran away, Vince Dunn jumped Murphy and they both wound up with four minutes to think about their sins. After all of that, the Hawks took a 1-0 lead to the room after 40 minutes.
The score was within one goal entering the third period for the 31st time in 33 Blackhawks games this season. It took six minutes into the third period for the next goal to be scored — and it came from the same two for Chicago. Unfortunately, Seattle got on the board at 11:24 to cut the lead back to just one. But a rookie defenseman extended the lead with his first career NHL goal!
Star 1: Ilya Mikheyev
#Blackhawks take the lead
🚨 Ilya Mikheyev
🍎 Teuvo Teravainen
pic.twitter.com/eSnevga2W0
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) December 20, 2024
Star 2: Teuvo Teräväinen
This dynamic duo has been ridiculous lately for the Blackhawks. Two goals for Mikheyev on two assists from Teräväinen. Because why not, right? Teräväinen now has eight assists over his last three games. Mikheyev now has four goals over his last three games. Helluva heater, boys!
Do it again! #Blackhawks lead 2-0
🚨 Ilya Mikheyev
🍎 Teuvo Teravainen, Tyler Bertuzzi
pic.twitter.com/LoOM3o0ok9
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) December 20, 2024
Star 3: Nolan Allan
This kid continues to impress with his really smart play on the defensive end of the rink. And, on Thursday night, he scored his first career NHL goal. Congrats!
FIRST GOAL IN THE NHL ALERT
🚨 NOLAN ALLAN
🍎 Ryan Donato, Connor Murphy #Blackhawks
pic.twitter.com/d5z6mf2pmL— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) December 20, 2024
Key Takeaways
Arvid Söderblom was marvelous once again. It’s a damn shame he didn’t get his first career shutout.
Jason Dickinson took 9 of the 19 total faceoffs in the first period; he won two. The Blackhawks won 7 of 19 as a team in the opening 20 minutes. Dickinson took 16 of 41 total faceoffs thru two periods; he won eight.
In the middle of the second period, Eeli Tolvanen and Dickinson crashed into each other hard and both went down in a heap. Dickinson went straight to the room after taking a moment to get up. He took a few hard hits before that; the collision with Tolvanen was just two guys looking at the puck going the wrong directions in the same place.
Nick Foligno led the Blackhawks with four shots on goal thru two periods. He also won four of nine faceoffs in the first two periods.
The Blackhawks had a 12-6 advantage in High Danger Chances For thru two periods (according to Natural Stat Trick).
The man of the night was Jeremy Roenick, who was celebrated for finally getting into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Standing ovation for @Jeremy_Roenick from the #Blackhawks faithful 👏
(@CHSN_Blackhawks) pic.twitter.com/C3EXraTk9C
— Chicago Sports Network (@CHSN__) December 20, 2024