A Fool in Love: Blues 6, Blackhawks 5 (OT)
In a wild back-and-forth game, the Chicago Blackhawks ultimately fell 6-5 after a 10-round shootout with the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.
The Blackhawks got on the board first about five minutes into the game. Patrick Maroon sent a cross-slot pass to Craig Smith on a slow 2-on-1, and the the latter fired a wrist shot past Jordan Binnington from the circle, making it 1-0.
Chicago goal!Scored by Craig Smith with 14:56 remaining in the 1st period.Assisted by Patrick Maroon and Alec Martinez.St. Louis: 0Chicago: 1#CHIvsSTL #stlblues #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/3Hk90bzKX3— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 9, 2025
Ryan Donato extended the Blackhawks lead to 2-0 less than 40 seconds later when he picked off Colton Parayko’s clearing attempt, had a give-and-go with Connor Bedard, then scored with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.
Chicago goal!Scored by Ryan Donato with 14:18 remaining in the 1st period.Assisted by Connor Bedard.St. Louis: 0Chicago: 2#CHIvsSTL #stlblues #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/QVRP89sdmW— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 9, 2025
The Blues cut the deficit to 2-1 less than two minutes into the second period. Mathieu Joseph passed off the boards from low to high, setting up a slap shot by Philip Broberg that hit the inside of Arvid Soderblom’s glove and deflected in.
St. Louis goal!Scored by Philip Broberg with 18:20 remaining in the 2nd period.Assisted by Mathieu Joseph and Dylan Holloway.St. Louis: 1Chicago: 2#CHIvsSTL #stlblues #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/WiSBBhD41k— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 9, 2025
And 10 seconds later, Nathan Walker tied the game 2-2 after another pass interception. This time, Walker picked off an attempted exit pass by Ethan Del Mastro and walked the puck into the high slot to score.
St. Louis goal!Scored by Nathan Walker with 18:10 remaining in the 2nd period.St. Louis: 2Chicago: 2#CHIvsSTL #stlblues #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/1sCZMCwxcu— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 9, 2025
The Blues took their first lead of the game with 2:51 left in the second. A turnover by Seth Jones behind the net ended up on Brayden Schenn’s stick, and he hit Mathieu Joseph with a slick pass, who slapped it past Soderblom from the low slot, putting the Blues up 3-2.
We got all the good Mojo going for us now. pic.twitter.com/xc5RUl2G2Q— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) February 9, 2025
The Blackhawks re-tied the game 3-3 just under four minutes in the third. After a little cycle, Teuvo Teravainen settled the puck before sending a cross-ice pass to set up Alec Martinez for a one-timer from the right circle.
Chicago goal!Scored by Alec Martinez with 16:10 remaining in the 3rd period.Assisted by Teuvo Teravainen and Ilya Mikheyev.St. Louis: 3Chicago: 3#CHIvsSTL #stlblues #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/O1Y4NGK55b— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 9, 2025
With another quick response, the Blues regained the lead about a minute later thanks to Cam Fowler’s left point shot that deflected in off Jones and past Soderblom, making it 4-3. Jones also lost the board battle near the corner before Robert Thomas got the puck to Fowler.
Cam Fowler's point shot finds the back of the net, putting the Blues up 4-3!#STLBlues pic.twitter.com/R2MQKiUekk— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) February 9, 2025
The Blackhawks found the equalizer again at 6:08 of the third, and it came from another deflection off an opposing defender. Nick Foligno grabbed a turnover in the defensive zone to start the play back for the Blackhawks, then eventually set up Teravainen for a slap shot that hit Ryan Suter and went in.
Chicago goal!Scored by Teuvo Teravainen with 13:52 remaining in the 3rd period.Assisted by Nick Foligno and Ilya Mikheyev.St. Louis: 4Chicago: 4#CHIvsSTL #stlblues #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/rlOVbnmLdL— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 9, 2025
A broken Blues stick helped Foligno get the puck up to Ilya Mikheyev, who turned on the jets to get around Justin Faulk before cutting to the front and tucking a backhand past Jordan Binnington, giving the Blackhawks a 5-4 lead with 8:52 left in the third.
Ilya Mikheyev turns on the jets and power moves around the defender for a terrific goal, 5-4 Chicago!#Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/nMaofNyUu7— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) February 9, 2025
Thomas would respond for the Blues with 4:27 left in regulation. After some extended zone time, Thomas teed up Broberg for a one-timer then got behind Connor Murphy to poke the puck into the net that just trickled through Soderblom, tying the game 5-5.
Robert Thomas finds the loose puck first and bangs it home for a clutch third period goal, 5-5 game!#STLBlues pic.twitter.com/un9avroWi2— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) February 9, 2025
The two teams would trade chances in overtime, but ended in a 10-round shootout where Teravainen was the only Blackhawks player able to score, and the Blackhawks ultimately fell 6-5 to the Blues.
Here's the full 10 round shootout pic.twitter.com/l05OTJ3BGA— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) February 9, 2025
Notes
The first was a really strong period for the Blackhawks overall: a strong chip-and-chase strategy did a good job getting around the Blues’ defensive structure with good passing, smart shot selection, hard effective forechecking, and aggressive defensive coverage. Shot attempts (20-18) and shots on goal (10-8) ultimately favored the Blues, but not by a wide margin, and the Blackhawks had a slight edge in scoring chances (7-6). Low-event hockey paired with clever transition and offense is typically key for the Blackhawks to have a shot at winning.
Nick Foligno: "We had a great first period — man, we were all over them — and you think you [have] turned a corner."Then the second period happened."That period reminded me a lot of Florida."— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) February 9, 2025
The second period started rough for the Blackhawks with the Blues scoring twice in a 10-second span, but it was decently even until after the Blues’ first power play when they just seemed to take over. It’s especially frustrating since that was an iffy at best call on Donato, but while the Blackhawks killed the penalty, they never seemed seemed to recover that period. Pressure from the Blues seemed to cause many turnovers or bad decisions with the puck and there wasn’t enough structure to exits or entries to get anything going the other way. It amounted to the Blues basically dominating the puck that the third goal against felt inevitable — hell, if not for Soderblom, the Blackhawks could have been down another two or three in that period alone. The Blackhawks owned just 26.92 percent of the shot attempts, 18.75 percent of the shots on goal, and 5.35 percent of the expected goals at 5-on-5 — the last number being a new season-low for a single period.
Too many failed chances to move the puck forward by the Blackhawks from the neutral zone to the defensive zone pic.twitter.com/adQGCeJnCP— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) February 9, 2025
The third period was just a wild ride. The Blackhawks came out swinging, pushing hard and scoring as a result of that effort. The two teams then traded back, the Blackhawks scoring on another push and then the Blues answering. The Blackhawks adapted to get around the Blues blockade enough to have some opportunistic chances succeed. Final numbers for this period were most in favor of the Blues but not by much — 17-14 shot attempts, 7-6 shots on goal, 7-6 scoring chances — except for high danger which skews towards the Blackhawks 3-2.
It would have been nice if the Blackhawks didn’t turtle after Teravainen’s goal. You can see it pretty well on the Thomas goal against: all the Blackhawks were basically at or below the face off dots right before the pass to Bromberg. Soderblom didn’t even see the initial shot (but thinks he’s made the save) because neither Murphy nor Vlasic moved Pavel Buchnevich from in front of him, and then Murphy did nothing to prevent Thomas from getting inside position for the poke — I’m not even sure if Murphy knew Thomas near him until a few seconds after the puck was in the net.
Once the game was tied again, the Blackhawks turned it back on and had more chances — like the Seth Jones chance in the waning seconds — so it’d be better if they just didn’t let their foot off the gas at all. Better for them to go out aggressive than sitting back hoping it’ll all work out.
Heading to a shootout after this chance for Seth Jones was stopped. Good OT period for Soderblom. I liked the lines but wish Reichel got a shift or two, especially instead of Foligno pic.twitter.com/Zb890Z1ivP— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) February 9, 2025
This wasn’t one of Soderblom’s best games, even if I only think two of the goals against were ones he’d want back. He was mostly fine in the first two periods — though his glove misplay on the Broberg shot was brutal, it was likely going wide if he hadn’t deflected it with his own glove — but not bad overall. However, the sheer chaos of the third seemed to get to him a bit, and he was more scrambly than he’s been a majority of the season. Soderblom still did make some big saves through, and faced 40 shots in total while the Blues had a 70.25 expected goals share in all situations. I’ll cut him a little slack.
Great stop by Arvid pic.twitter.com/V1lB2SwhuS— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) February 9, 2025
The shootout probably felt good to him a bit, even if he didn’t end up winning. Coming into the game, Soderblom had allowed nine shootout goals on nine shots, though only three of those were this season. That’s not great, obviously, but since a majority came last year when he was not good in general, it’s just about improvement from here on out. Tonight, Soderblom doubled his sample size, making stops on eight of 10 attempts, with some of them being really nice saves too. The two goals against — especially the Radek Faksa one — were quite nifty. If the Blackhawks had better shooters, maybe they win.
Great stop by Arvid. Blackhawks can win it with a goal here pic.twitter.com/7GbOlLwgyI— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) February 9, 2025
Arvid's 3/4 pic.twitter.com/mjDfllWyHS— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) February 9, 2025
The Jones and Alec Martinez duo had an up-and-down game tonight. Their first period was solid, like everyone on the Blackhawks it seemed, and then their second period was horrible, again like basically every Blackhawks player. The turnover by Jones behind the net was gross, but Martinez was unable to stop himself from following (and Teravainen chased, too) and exacerbated the situation, leaving Joseph completely uncovered in the most dangerous part of the ice. Still, Jones and Martinez helped fuel a lot of the offensive positives in the third, even if they still had some hiccups (Jones losing the battle before the Fowler goals, for example). Martinez’s efforts were a little more tangible since he had a goal and he prevented the Blues from gaining the zone and chipped the puck forward to start the Smith goal sequence, but Jones had some good moments too.
Speaking of wild rides, the Frank Nazar, Teuvo Teravainen, and Ilya Mikheyev were on a roller coaster too. They basically had their lunch money stolen and were shoved into a locker during the second period, but two of the three of them were a catalyst for the all three goals scored in the third. Nick Foligno was swapped with Nazar and the lines switched matchups (moved away from Oskar Sundqvist’s checking line, faced Buchnevich more), and it seemed to work out pretty well. They broke even when it came to shot attempt 5-5 attempt but owned a whomping 71.57 percent of the expected goals.
This wasn’t Nazar’s finest offensive game and he ended up only playing 10:46 at 5-on-5 as a result (basically the same as the fourth line), but he stood out again defensively, especially on the penalty kill, where he blocked three shots and used his speed and smart aggression to his advantage. I still do think Nazar’s offense is limited by him playing center.
The Reichel, Maroon, and Smith line had a quietly effective game with some pops: outshot 8-2, but they were getting in close for their own chances and owned a 50.53 percent edge in expected goals, the second best of any Blackhawks line after the line listed above. The only negative was Reichel not shooting on at least two really good opportunities in the first and third, respectively, and instead elected to pass to guys with worse options. He’s a playmaker first and foremost, but he’s got to have confidence to take a shot more often.
As for the other lines, Bedard, Donato, and Slaggert had some of the best offensive moments, obviously, but they got hemmed in a lot during the latter two periods. The Blackhawks ended up being out attempted 17-11, out shot 8-6, and owned only 40.34 percent of the expected goals when the trio was on the ice at 5-on-5. Bedard was basically tag teamed whenever he was on the ice, which is gross to see but did give Donato a lot of space: he had six shot attempts, four on goal, and two scoring chances. The line didn’t work as well this game as last, but it’s absolutely worth keeping together to see what more they can do.
The only other forward to really mention is Bertuzzi, who is on another cold streak. It’s crazy how he’ll go from attacking the net or setting up in close to rack up points to basically being a ghost out there.
Come back around to the rest of the defense, I thought everyone had alright games for the most part. Vlasic and Del Mastro had some more obvious mistakes, the latter of which did result in a goal against, but they were overall decent. They were basically the most efficient defensemen at chipping and skating pucks in the first period, in my opinion. This was one of Brodie’s quietest games of the season, which I’ll absolutely take from him at this point. Murphy had some issues with speed and reaction timing, but then made some good defensive moves, especially in his own zone with pass and blocking shooting lanes (only credited with one actual block but got in lanes well).
As for the order of the shootout, usually teams have at least a definitive two guys who always shoot and then determine their third by who does well in shootout practices, but I don’t even think the Blackhawks have done shootout drills since Sorensen took over, certainly not enough to know who is or isn’t good at them. Sorensen said he resorted to looking at “some background”, though I wonder what that was exactly. Donato is fine, he’s solid in the shootout when given the chance, but Smith hasn’t scored a shootout goal in seven years (he was only used as a top-three option for one season). Reichel and Nazar makes sense, because they’re more finesse players, but then none of Mikheyev, Maroon, Foligno, Bertuzzi have scored before (none were ever top-three options though).
Not that it really mattered since everyone but Teravainen failed, but Philipp Kurashev has at least gotten a goal and it’d have been neat to see what Landon Slaggert could do.
Interesting that Kurashev and Slaggert were the two Blackhawks forwards who didn’t get shootout attempts. Anders Sorensen said he looked at “some background” to decide the order. https://t.co/JDB0PuzYTW— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) February 9, 2025
Something to watch out for in the next two weeks: there is no roster freeze during the 4 Nations Face-Off break, so players can be traded and waived during this upcoming period. The Blackhawks don’t really have much of value right now, though, so they may not be particularly active. Donato is the only player kind of sparking right now, and while Seth Jones has been in some trade chatter, that still feels like an offseason move (if it even happens in the near future). Murphy is somewhat of a possibility, but his injury history likely has teams hesitant and the Blackhawks do need bodies to play. Finally, it’s been reported by The Athletic’s Scott Powers that Pat Maroon or Alec Martinez are not expected to ask to be traded.
Game Charts
Three Stars
Robert Thomas (STL) — 1 goal, 1 assist
Ilya Mikheyev (CHI) — 2 goals, 1 assist
Mathieu Joseph (STL) — 1 goal, 1 assist
What’s Next
The Blackhawks are off for two weeks, returning to play in Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets on Saturday Feb. 22 at 6 p.m.
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