Connor Bedard said the Chicago Blackhawks weren’t going to be pushed around this season. That has appeared to hold true.
The star center found himself in almost every scuffle and did his part in initiating them in the Hawks home opener against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night at the United Center.
He took a hard left hand from Mike Matheson with a smug look on his face. In the second period, Bedard bumped into the Canadiens’ Ivan Demidov, starting another dustup. Later, Bedard and Josh Anderson chirped at each other near center ice, exchanging some choice words.
Now, it’s about figuring out the balance between intensity and discipline.
The Hawks lost 3-2 in their third close battle in as many games, and this one was a heartbreaker: The Canadiens’ Kaiden Guhle tipped the puck in for the winning goal with 15.7 seconds left, spoiling the Hawks’ centennial celebration.
“It was a 3-on-3 and that’s something that we’ve done a couple of times, we have to get it corrected,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “They sent a puck down that chipped back the other way, so it kind of becomes chaos at that point and unfortunately for us, it went in.”
The Hawks found themselves on the penalty kill 10 times Saturday, and it’s hard to score when a skater is consistently in the box.
“Anybody that killed was playing so many minutes, and you’re trying to get some of the guys that don’t kill back in rhythm,” Blashill said. “That’s a really hard game to get any rhythm going.”
Added captain Nick Foligno: “It’s not a recipe for winning hockey. Stay out the box and understand that we’re a really good five-on-five team.”
The Hawks didn’t back out of a fight. Defenseman Louis Crevier spent 17 minutes in the penalty box after getting into multiple scuffles, including one in which he dropped the gloves with Guhle after a hard hit on Frank Nazar.
The Hawks need to cut back on the penalties, but Blashill appreciated his players coming to their teammates’ defense.
“If you don’t care about each other enough to fight for each other, you’re not going to be a good team,” Blashill said. “We’re going to make sure we’re looking after each other.”
Defenseman Sam Rinzel scored his first NHL goal for the Hawks, tying the score at 1 at the 4:34 mark of the second period. Nazar and Teuvo Teräväinen each had two assists, and goalie Spencer Knight made 25 saves.
Rinzel wasn’t satisfied with how he played in the opener against the Florida Panthers, but he thinks he’s finding his groove.
“I felt better for sure, I think it’s being confident and knowing my strengths,” Rinzel, 21, said. “Trusting those abilities and going out there and playing hard knowing I’ll learn along the way.”
Nazar picked up two more points in yet another impressive showing from the young forward. His shot bounced off Bedard, who was credited with the power-play goal at 9:15 of the second to make it 2-2.
“I got a lot better, I feel good with the puck and defensively,” said Nazar, who has five points in three games after his two assists Saturday. “I’ve got to sniff blood and know when it’s time to attack.”
The Hawks were without Jason Dickinson, who is day to day with an upper-body injury after taking a hit Thursday in Boston. Ryan Greene replaced him on the third line with Ryan Donato and Ilya Mikheyev.
Artyom Levshunov was a healthy scratch Saturday after struggling in the first two games. Blashill thinks the time off will help the young defenseman.
“The biggest thing for us is trying to look at his development path,” Blashill said. “I don’t think development is you just play and magically get better. Certainly playing is part of it, but you have to have confidence and learn how to do things certain ways.
“We feel the best place for him to be is with us right now. He’s going to play plenty of games and there are going to be some games he doesn’t play. That’s just the reality, but it’s not a big deal.”
It was the third one-goal loss for the Hawks after falling 3-2 to the Panthers and 4-3 to the Bruins in overtime.
“That’s the beautiful thing about our team is we have an understanding that every day we have an opportunity to get better,” Foligno said. “The mindset is knowing that we have to find a way to get it done now and make sure our fans feel good about our game.
“We did a lot of good things tonight but didn’t get the job done. It’s that mentality, that little attitude snarl that we have to come back with.”