Connor Bedard scored his third goal in the last four games, but Tyler Bertuzzi’s ejection for an elbow proved pivotal in the Chicago Blackhawks’ 5-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Sunday at the United Center.
In fact, the game’s 11 penalties played a big factor.
Bedard scored the opening goal on a first-period power play, his third goal amid his current four-game point streak
The Hawks’ 23rd time scoring first also broke a tie with the Buffalo Sabres for the league lead.
Later in the first, Jamie Benn chopped in the tying goal after Arvid Söderblom made a pad save on Evgenii Dadonov.
In the second period, Bertuzzi was called for elbowing ex-Hawk Colin Blackwell in the head.
But after review, officials upgraded the penalty to a five-minute major and a match penalty and ejected Bertuzzi from the game.
The Stars didn’t need five minutes of power play, just 12 seconds for Jason Robertson to pick a corner on Söderblom. Later in the second period, Dadonov went back-door off Matt Duchene’s cross-ice pass to give the Stars a 3-1 lead.
Hawks coach Anders Sorensen said the Bertuzzi penalty “obviously hurt us — they scored right away.
“But then we did a good job of weathering the rest of that PK out. But it did hurt us a little bit. The third one (the goal by Dadonov) probably hurt us a little bit more, to be honest with you.”
Wyatt Johnston and Duchene all but buried the Hawks early in the third period.
Johnston scored 10 seconds into the frame, and Duchene boosted the lead to 5-1 just 2 minutes and 45 seconds later.
Duchene scored or assisted on the Stars’ last three goals.
For the Hawks, there were plenty of moments of blame, but the Bertuzzi penalty clearly was a gut punch from which they never recovered.
“We couldn’t seem to find momentum after it,” Seth Jones said. “There’s going to be adversity through games like this, and we have to find a way to turn it around.”
The Stars had 15 minutes of man-advantage, 11 through the first two periods.
Here are six takeaways.
1. Were the referees sensitive to head-targeting penalties?
Head-related penalties were in the spotlight last month, highlighted by New York Rangers’ Matt Rempe’s eight-game suspension for elbowing Dallas’ Miro Heiskanen from behind.
I’m not saying Bertuzzi’s infraction is related — and even I said recently that refs are letting some hits go without a call — but Sunday’s punishment seemed a bit excessive.
The zebras huddled and decided a two-minute minor wasn’t enough.
“I feel like that was a tough one,” Teuvo Teräväinen said. “I don’t know if I saw five (minutes) there. That was a tough one. They get a goal, and the momentum starts shifting the other way. And we lost a big player there, too, for the rest of the game.”
Teräväinen couldn’t say if the officials seemed more sensitive to these types of penalties.
“The refs, they’re looking for something, I don’t know,” he said. “I’m sure they saw something. Refs are doing a good job. It’s a tough job they’re doing.”
2. Bedard continues to electrify in December.
Bedard’s goal gave him six goals and 10 assists in 13 games, with Tuesday’s Winter Classic against the St. Louis Blues left to close out the month.
Bedard also scored the game-opener for the fourth time this season, all this month, all in the first period.
- Dec. 1 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets: power play
- Dec. 12 vs. New York Islanders: power play
- Dec. 23 at Minnesota Wild: even strength
- Sunday vs. Stars: power play
His latest was quick and simple.
Seth Jones said, “When he’s moving his feet through the neutral zone, he’s shooting the puck, he’s not overhandling, that’s when he’s at his best.
“He’s setting up other guys, making plays, scoring goals. You saw on the power play. It’s just simple, not his best shot … but he’s put it to the net and good things happen.”
Still, there’s a defensive downside to his game.
He was on the ice for four Stars goals.
Sorensen said, “I think there’s lots to go into the game, but I think offensively he’s doing some good things.
“Today obviously he was on for a bunch (of goals) against, but some of them weren’t necessarily on him. Offensively, he’s playing well. He’s creating a lot, try to get him on the ice in those situations, (so we have to) get him the puck a lot.”
3. Do the Hawks suddenly have a goalie crisis?
Söderblom and Petr Mrázek have been the backbone for the majority of the season (and some of these losses could’ve looked a lot worse).
Here lately, the Hawks’ net appears to be unraveling. A Hawks goalie has allowed at least four goals in the last four games.
On Friday, Mrázek was pulled for Söderblom after a four-goal first period.
“Everybody has to be better, for sure,” Teräväinen said. “Goalies have been really good for us the whole year, and right now, a couple games, we’re not helping them at all.
“All those little plays all over the ice, everybody has to win their battles and be in the right spots.”
4. Seth Jones’ return to form has been slow going.
Jones and T.J. Brodie didn’t look like what you’d expect from a top pair.
Brodie was on the ice two Stars goals, and Jones was on for three (one with Brodie).
Sorensen was curt when asked about the Brodie-Jones pairing:
“Could be better.”
The final insult: Johnston’s pass bounced off Jones’ stick to Duchene, who worked a give-and-go with Johnston and potted a game-sealing fifth goal.
Jones had a goal during Friday’s blowout loss to the Buffalo Sabres, but since returning from a monthlong right foot injury on Dec. 21 in Calgary, he has had a minus-5 rating.
“Just trying to take it shift by shift,” Jones said.
5. The Hawks have been following a disturbing script.
First: They start fast. Sunday was the league-leading 23rd time they scored first.
Second: They typically don’t hold the lead, often within the same period. That held true again when Benn answered Bedard’s opening goal with 2 minutes and 48 seconds left in the frame.
Third: The bottom falls out in the third period.
You’d expect a team down 3-1 on home ice after the second intermission to come out of the tunnel biting nails.
But they handed Dallas another goal with frightening quickness, 10 seconds after the puck drop. Duchene just added the cherry on top.
“Still a game going into the third,” Jones said. “We have no reason to come out the way we did in the third period. And like I said, we sucked. It just wasn’t good enough.”
It was the third straight game the Hawks have allowed two goals in the final frame of regulation.
The Hawks are now minus-20 in third-period goal differential, their league-worst ranking look that much uglier.
6. History pretty much repeated itself.
The Hawks didn’t enter the game with the best recent track record against the Stars.
Since the start of the 2021-22 season, no opponent has scored more goals on the Hawks than the Stars, 36 in 14 games, according to NHL Stats.
Small caveat: The Arizona Coyotes scored 34 goals in 11 games, but relocated as the Utah Hockey Club before tacking on another five goals in this season’s opener.
The Stars and Hawks entered Sunday’s matchup tied 9-9 in goals, though that’s skewed by the Hawks’ 6-2 win on Nov. 27.
The Stars fixed that, adding five goals to take a 14-10 advantage in the series final and ratchet up their total to 41 goals in the last 15 games.
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