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The Chicago Blackhawks came into Thursday night’s game looking to win their third in a row. With the Seattle Kraken in town, they had to like their chances with the way they’ve been playing lately.
Before the game got started, Chicago honored legendary Blackhawks Jeremy Roenick for making it to the Hockey Hall of Fame. He spoke in the atrium earlier in the day, sounded the horn before puck drop, and had a video tribute played for him during the first TV timeout.
The Blackhawks know how to honor a legend and Roenick is certainly that. To say that he had a wonderful emotional night would be an understatement.
In the first period, neither team scored but it’s the best 20-minute stretch that the Hawks have had this season. Multiple high-danger chances just wouldn’t go for them. Most periods with that level of play will usually lead to multiple goals.
In the second period, the Hawks finally broke through. At 10:54 of the middle frame, Ilya Mikheyev scored in his third straight game. Once again, Teuvo Teravainen pulled away with an assist as these two continued to build chemistry.
Being up going into the third is always how you want things to be. However, blowing the game in the final frame has been a problem for the Blackhawks this season so they were looking to overcome that issue once again.
Remarkably, Teuvo Teravainen found Ilya Mikheyev again for his second goal of the game at 6:06 of the final frame. This one was a beautiful snipe that deserves to be on the highlight reels.
Seattle didn’t give in there though. At 11:26 of the final period, Ryker Evans scored to get the Kraken on the board. Fortunately, that would be it for the Seattle goal-scoring.
Nolan Allan added his first career NHL goal at 15:11 and the Hawks hung on for the 3-1 victory. This is the first time that the Hawks won three in a row during the Connor Bedard era.
The last time they did that was in the final three games of Patrick Kane’s Blackhawks career (February 2023). This is a feel-good moment for a team that was starving for some positivity a couple of weeks ago.
This is also the first time that Connor Bedard got to be a part of a three-game winning streak in the NHL. He needs to experience winning so this is good for his development.
“It should be a good building block for the group”. Interim head coach Anders Sorensen said when asked about winning three in a row. “They should feel good tonight and then let’s back at it tomorrow, right? But it was a big step for the young group and we all feel very good about it right now and then back to work tomorrow.”
Anders Sorensen knows that this is a big milestone for this young team but that can’t be where it ends. Whether they win or lose their next game isn’t as important as developing and implementing a winning process.
“This is the first one since I’ve been here, it’s a good feeling”. Captain Nick Foligno said on winning three in a row. “It’s a credit to the guys and believing in what we’re trying to do here and knowing that there is more to give and expecting more of ourselves. I think we’re excited about the direction we’re going with Anders here.”
Foligno has been in some wonderful winning situations during his NHL career but that hasn’t been the case much with the Hawks. Following this win over the Kraken, it is clear that he is excited about winning three in a row.
The Blackhawks have now completed the “pre-Christmas” portion of their schedule. There are still two more games to go, however, before the break officially comes for the Hawks. They have road tilts against the Calgary Flames (Saturday) and Minnesota Wild (Monday) before a few days completely off.
There are different vibes under coach Sorensen but the high-energy system is also helping them. This winning streak may be a sign of things to come as this team continues to develop.
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