Everyone — besides a healing Frank Nazar — participated in the Chicago Blackhawks’ Monday morning skate. Louis Crevier, Ilya Mikheyev, Arvid Söderblom and Spencer Knight all got their normal reps in.
Knight got his start on Monday after having to miss Friday’s game due to an illness that ran wild among the Hawks. The team won on Saturday in Nashville despite the circumstances behind Drew Commesso’s 37-save shutout.
Finally, Hawks coach Jeff Blashill got his healthy team back. It was perfectly timed, given the arrival of Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.
The bug then bit again right before puck drop. Connor Bedard was ruled out just minutes before the 7:30 p.m. start time.
The home team was forced to go another game without their star center. They only had about 30 minutes to prepare without the forward, and it definitely showed.
The Hawks (19-20-7) fell to the Oilers 4-1 on Monday. They’re now 5-7-1 in games without Bedard this season.
“No excuse for it, that’s disappointing,” team captain Nick Foligno said. “They got to their game better than we did, and then we were just off (on) everything, passes, shots and simple plays that we’ve made.”
It was a tough break for the center, who just returned from a shoulder injury on Friday against the Washington Capitals. He has two assists in Saturday’s 3-0 win at the Predators, increasing his season point total to 46 on the year.
As a result, the Hawks were dominated in their defensive zone and unable to get McDavid and company past the blue line. Edmonton had 35 shots in the game.
“You got to win puck battles (and) puck races to have any chance, and we didn’t do that early,” Blashill said. “You’re going to have zero identity when you don’t do that.”
Bedard’s absence may have thrown things off, but the Hawks won’t use that as the reason for the loss. They won their previous four without Bedard, so they know they can function without him.
“Obviously would prefer Connor in the lineup, we prefer Frank (Nazar) in the lineup, we prefer any of our great players in the lineup,” Foligno said. “The reality is when you don’t have them, you come together.
“Today, we allowed them to get to their game right away. We didn’t make them hard on them.”
Things weren’t pretty from the get-go for the Hawks. Edmonton did whatever they wanted in the Hawks’ defensive zone, but Knight (31 saves) was able to keep his team in the game.
The Hawks only put up five shots on goal in the first period. The second period was better with 12 shots, but Edmonton goaltender Connor Ingram (29 saves) kept the Hawks scoreless for a while.
“Spencer (Knight) kept us in it through that stretch, I thought the last five of the first and the rest of the game were not bad, and then we were really good in the third,” Blashill said. “Unfortunately, game isn’t 40 minutes long, it’s 60.”
The Oilers were able to get past Knight with a ricochet from left winger Zach Hyman at 14:41 in the first period. Defenseman Evan Bouchard sent a soft shot that hit Knight’s skates and then into the net six ticks into the second period.
McDavid had two secondary assists on the night. It’s his 19th straight game with at least one point, scoring 44 points in that span.
Tyler Bertuzzi scored his 24th goal of the season at 14:46 in the third. Despite being outplayed all game, the Hawks were in a position for a miracle win.
“He’s a monster around the net,” defenseman Wyatt Kaiser said. “Any loose puck battles, he’s winning it (when) it’s bouncing to him.”
Added Blashill: “He’s a winning hockey player (that) does a lot of little things right. He’s playing great hockey because he’s really doing it at both ends of the ice.”
The Hawks emptied their net at the end of the third period, and any hope for a Hawks comeback win was dashed. Bouchard (19:07) and Leon Draisaitl (19:15) scored goals within eight seconds of each other.
Teuvo Teräväinen exited the game in the first period due to an “upper-body” injury. He’ll be evaluated on Tuesday.