The Chicago Blackhawks did a lot right against Boston and still walked away with nothing to show for it.
They outshot the Bruins 41-32, pushed the pace for long stretches and built a lead three different times, only to watch the Atlantic Division leaders keep clawing back. The final gut punch came in overtime, when Elias Lindholm finished off a 5-4 Boston win and sent Chicago to 4-9-1.
Anton Frondell was at the center of Chicago’s best work. The rookie, who came in with eight points in 14 games, snapped a six-game scoring drought and did it in a way the Blackhawks don’t see often: on the power play.
After moving onto the top unit with Connor Bedard back in the lineup, Frondell wasted no time, hammering a one-timer past Michael DiPietro off a Patrick Kane feed. Kane’s assist also made him the first U.S.-born player to reach 900 assists in NHL history.
Frondell wasn’t done there. Early in the second period, Sam Rinzel jumped into the play and moved the puck up the boards to Tyler Bertuzzi, who held the line and sent a wrist shot toward the net. The puck changed direction off Frondell’s leg and slipped past DiPietro for Frondell’s second goal of the afternoon.
He had a real shot at the first hat trick of his career, too. The chances were there all game, including two shots on goal in overtime, but the third goal never came.
Connor Bedard looked like he had never left.
There were fair questions about which version of Bedard Chicago would get after his return, but he answered them quickly. On Frondell’s power-play goal, he handled the quarterback role with Teuvo Teravainen out, working with Kane on the near-side boards to open space before the puck found Frondell. Bedard picked up a secondary assist on the play.
Then, with 7:40 left in the third and Chicago ahead 3-2 after a Ryan Greene goal, Bedard finally got his own. It came on a broken play.
Roman Kantserov recovered the puck and sent it to Ryan Donato on the breakout, and Donato immediately looked for Bedard with a long stretch pass. James Hagens got in front of it briefly before losing an edge, and Bedard was suddenly in alone.
That’s a bad place to be if you’re the goalie.
Even that wasn’t enough to close it out.
Mason Lohrei answered Bedard’s goal just 46 seconds later, keeping Boston within striking distance. Then came the late collapse: with Michael DiPietro pulled for an extra attacker, Morgan Geekie tied it 4-4 with 12 seconds left in regulation. Lindholm ended it 2:32 into overtime.
Arvid Soderblom finished with 27 saves on 32 shots, while DiPietro stopped 37 of 41.
Afterward, Bedard didn’t sugarcoat what Chicago had just put on the ice. Speaking with Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times, he said:
“I thought that was probably our best game of the year, the way we were battling, not shying away from anything, taking hits, getting in the fight maybe more than against Detroit. It sucks, the result and how it ends. We’ve got to find a way to win.”
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