LOS ANGELES — Nick Foligno saw space and his eyes widened.
The Los Angeles Kings had been limiting the Chicago Blackhawks’ space all game. The Blackhawks had been struggling against the Kings’ 1-2-2 zone defense for two periods and were denied time after time from getting the puck into the offensive zone. The Kings had more shots on goal than the Blackhawks had shot attempts through the first 40 minutes and the Blackhawks had just eight shots overall on net after two periods. For Foligno and the Blackhawks’ other centers, it had been a frustrating game to create any offense, and the Kings led 2-0.
And then Foligno saw his chance. Early in the third period, Foligno received a breakout pass in the neutral zone, broke forward, skated by one defender, took the open ice in front of him and shot the puck from the high slot as four defenders converged. Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper stopped the initial shot but couldn’t keep hold of it as Foligno raced in to knock in his rebound.
The Blackhawks had life and took advantage of it. The Blackhawks battled back in the third period from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, forced overtime and prevailed in the shootout to defeat the Kings 4-3 on the road Saturday.
“They kinda left the middle open for me,” Foligno said. “I don’t know if they thought I was Nick from 10 years ago, but I felt like it after. You take what they’re giving you. That’s what I’m talking about. We had more time with the puck and instead of maybe chipping it in, I realized I have some time and space here. Nobody really came to me, I was able to use the D as a screen and luckily it got through him. I’m happy it got us going and it was a testament to the guys to finish the job.”
Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson thought Foligno deserved a ton of credit for his leadership in the win.
“I thought a lot of character from our guys, obviously led by our captain Nick Foligno with a spirited fight and just the way he played and forechecked and got us that first goal,” he said. “I think it’s all reactional timing. He knew our team needed a bit of a jump in the beginning and then in the third period being down 2-0. Our team really responded in the third.”
The third period was a much different one for the Blackhawks. They more than doubled their shot total by accumulating 11 more shots on net in the period. The difference? Richardson thought it was a minor change in how they were breaking out as they began coming out the weak side instead of the strong.
“I think we just started moving the puck quicker, more execution,” Richardson said. “We talked about it after the second, very indicative even on our power play, both passing and receiving was not executed very well and it just gave a good skating team the puck too much. I thought we kind of corrected that a little bit better on our breakouts in the third period, so we had the puck more and I think you can do more with the puck.”
Relief was a word the Blackhawks used multiple times after the win. There was a feeling they shouldn’t have been in Saturday’s game with how the Kings outplayed them for two periods. At the same time, there have been other games, including their last one against the San Jose Sharks, where they felt the final result hadn’t matched their play.
“It’s not the way we want to draw it up, but we got the result, which is what we’ve been talking about,” Foligno said. “We obviously know we can play better and need to play better, but to find a way to come back in this game and get it done is a testament to the guys in here, and honestly probably the hockey gods, too. We probably deserved to win in San Jose and didn’t. Here we probably didn’t but we got the win. That’s a great testament to the group. I’m pleased with it because we need these points right now.”
Points aside, the Blackhawks continue to be right in the mix in every game. Saturday’s game marked the 11th time out of 12 games this season where the Blackhawks have led, been tied or been within a goal in the third period.
“I feel like that’s what a good hockey team does,” Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrázek said. “You know you’re in a game every single night, and that’s what we’re trying to change here and trying to win games. And if you’re leading, trying to keep the lead and win the games like that. So it tells you a lot that the team is on the rise. It’s way better than it has been.”
Mrázek has had a lot to do with the Blackhawks being in that situation. He’s consistently made quality starts this season. Saturday was another one. He made 37 saves, including five in overtime, and stopped another one in the shootout.
Lukas Reichel’s confidence appears to be growing from shift to shift and game to game. He and Craig Smith were a dangerous duo on Saturday.
There was this chance late in the first period:
And this one in the third:
“He just wants the puck now,” Foligno said of Reichel. “You see him, he’s dicing through. He’s still got to understand the certain pressures of when he can do it, but man, he’s dangerous when he does. He’s so slippery, he’s so fast and makes a great play to Smitty. He can keep bringing that, it’s a huge boost to our team.”
#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Chicago Blackhawks on 2024-11-02:#Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/gJzqf303L1
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) November 2, 2024
T.J. Brodie has been the Blackhawks’ worst defenseman this season. The Blackhawks have been outscored 9-2 with him on the ice in five-on-five this season. That gives him an 18.18 on-ice goals percentage. No other defenseman is lower than 40 percent.
The question was whether Richardson would make a move, though. Brodie is a veteran and someone the Blackhawks signed to bring stability to the defense. But coming off another subpar game for Brodie, Richardson replaced Brodie with Isaak Phillips.
Richardson did paint the move as something more than Brodie’s play.
“He’s been fine and there’s just been a couple instances where he’s maybe got caught in the D-zone a little bit too long,” Richardson said. “But that’s kind of our whole team, it’s not just one player, but this is more about getting a young defenseman that had a good camp and hasn’t been in yet, and has been up and down to the American League a couple times on transactions, and just we’ve got to get him playing. Otherwise, it could be too long of a time, and then all of a sudden you have injuries and a guy that doesn’t have a lot of experience behind him this year.”
Phillips had an OK game. He was on the ice for one goal for and one goal against. The Kings held a 11-4 advantage in shot attempts and 4-3 in shots on goal in his 10:16 of five-on-five ice time.
“I thought he was solid,” Richardson said. “Maybe on the second goal, he could have stepped up on that guy at the bench. But I thought first game of the year just trying to play it safe on the inside. I thought he was physical, moved the puck simple. It was good. I thought he was very assertive out there for a first game. He didn’t play soft or passive, being a little bit worried to make a mistake. I thought he just played his game.”
Ryan Donato’s recent play got him promoted to the top line on Saturday. He joined Connor Bedard and Philipp Kurashev on the first line.
Donato just missed scoring early in the game when his hard shot hit Kuemper and bounced off the post. Donato had a team-high five shots on goal and seven shot attempts. He also set up Tyler Bertuzzi for the game-tying goal with 30.3 seconds left in the third period with six attackers on the ice and scored the final shootout goal with an unexpected move.
RYAN DONATO. 🥵
What a move to win it in the shootout for the @NHLBlackhawks! pic.twitter.com/zi9vmkUBsK
— NHL (@NHL) November 2, 2024
“I think we’re expecting Dono to shoot a puck, not deke a guy out of the crease, but whatever works,” Richardson said. “I thought it was three excellent goals. Again, we were lucky to get that point. We should thank Petr for that. But good character in the third period, led by Nick pretty much all the way through the game.”
For our usual CHSN update, there’s still nothing too new. It does sound like the direct-to-consumer app is getting closer. With that, I put out this poll during Saturday’s game:
If you don’t have access to CHSN now, would you pay for a direct-to-consumer app subscription?
— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) November 2, 2024
It’s apparent some fans will subscribe when the app is ready. There were some mentions of balking at price if it’s at $20. My guess is it’s around that range. It’s pretty standard. Marquee is around that monthly. If CHSS asks fans to pay for access to individual teams, that’s where it may lose a lot of people.
(Photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today)
