All the good vibes of the last Chicago Blackhawks home stand were wiped away by this 0–3–1 four-game road trip. The Hawks were throttled by the Vancouver Canucks early and often in this contest. Arvid Soderblom had his worst game of the season and Connor Bedard got another mystery 10-minute misconduct for language. The lone bright spot was the play of Artyom Levshunov. Levshunov looks like he belongs in the NHL.
First period
Quinn Hughes got the Canucks on the board early in the first period. This was Hughes’ second game back from injury. Less than a minute later, Tyler Myers added to the Vancouver lead. Soderblom allowed two goals against four shots on goal.
Second period
Conor Garland scored his 17th goal of the season to put Vancouver up 3–0. Alex Vlasic got the Hawks on the board with his fourth goal of the season.
Alex Vlasic puts Chicago on the board with his 4th goal of the season. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/XdjSItdp2v
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) March 16, 2025
This was Ryan Donato’s 14th primary assist since Jan. 1. He is tied for fifth in the league during that time.
After two, it was Vancouver up 3–1 over Chicago.
Third period
In the third period, the wheels fell off the Blackhawks’ wagon. Elias Pettersson put the Canucks 4–1 with a goal. The Hawks did respond with a Wyatt Kaiser goal, with Levshunov setting him up for the 19-year-old’s first career point.
Kaiser is such a different player when he’s skating like this. pic.twitter.com/imtIXlY98y
— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) March 16, 2025
Less than four minutes later, Nils Aman put the game out of reach with a goal. Former Blackhawks forward Pius Suter made the final score 6–2.
Analysis
If not for Levshunov’s play tonight, this game would have been bleak. Levshunov played a team high 22:39 of ice time. While he did earn his first NHL point, he was also exposed on two Canucks goals. That is to be expected with the young defenseman as he tries to find his footing in the NHL.
The rest of the Hawks were awful. Soderblom allowed six goals on 15 shots for a .600 save percentage. He was off all night and it showed. Hopefully this is just a blip in his otherwise solid bounce-back season.
It is clear that Bedard is frustrated this season and now it is starting to manifest into penalties. In the last two games, he has drawn two 10-minute misconducts. We will never know what he said because the NHL does allow refs to be interviewed. It might be wise for the Blackhawks to give Bedard a phantom injury for a mental reset.
While Bedard is visibly frustrated, Tyler Bertuzzi is just plan invisible. Bertuzzi has not scored in 20 games. During the Bertuzzi drought, the Hawks have been outscored 16–6 in 5-on-5 play.
Hopefully with an infusion of NCAA players signing and a seven-game home stand, the Hawks can start to build some positive momentum again because right now it is pretty bleak.
The Hawks’ next game is Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. CDT against the Seattle Kraken.