The Chicago Blackhawks visited the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night in their finale to their season series. They were looking to get off of the five-game slide and start stringing a few wins together. Having just traded Seth Jones earlier in the night, this would be their first game without him in the lineup after three and a half years with the team. TJ Brodie would check into the lineup to replace him, with Arvid Soderblom getting the start in net. Lukas Reichel would get back into the lineup to replace Philipp Kurashev, with Andreas Athanasiou checking in for Nick Foligno.
First period
Neither team got any goals in the first. The Blackhawks put eight shots on net, while the Ducks managed 10. Two minors each from Ross Johnston and Colton Dach were the penalties in the period, with neither team doing anything on the man advantage. We would head to the second still scoreless.
Second period
We almost made it to the midpoint of the game before either team put a goal in the back of the net. Wyatt Kaiser managed to sneak through the Anaheim defense from the point. He put a shot past John Gibson, making it 1–0 Blackhawks. The Ducks got that goal back almost as quickly as it was scored, with Leo Carlsson putting a beautiful backhander over the glove of Soderblom, knotting things up at 1–1.
The Blackhawks got a power play on a Drew Helleson cross-check of Connor Bedard. The Blackhawks would take care of business on the man advantage, with Pat Maroon taking a pass from Reichel and tucking it home to make it 2–1 Blackhawks.
with his assist on Pat Maroon’s goal, Alec Martinez has reached 200 NHL assists👏#AtturoTires pic.twitter.com/upLErS8r5L
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) March 2, 2025
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Then, a few minutes later, after Brodie and Ryan Donato dug the puck out of the corner, it came out in front to Teuvo Teravainen. He made no mistake and buried a wrister past Gibson, 3–1 Chicago.
The Ducks would get one back before the period was out. Jackson LaCombe tipped a Ryan Strome shot in front and then cleaned up the rebound himself. We would go to the intermission with the Blackhawks carrying a 3–2 lead.
Third period
After killing off another Dach penalty, the Blackhawks were on the break. Reichel got the puck from Craig Smith and got in all alone on Gibson. He tucked the puck stick side, giving the Blackhawks a 4–2 lead.
7⃣3⃣ on the breakaway😮 pic.twitter.com/cfwTipzAAZ
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) March 2, 2025
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Just about three minutes later, with the Blackhawks having a two-man advantage, they would strike again. Donato picked up a bouncing puck in front of the net and put it behind Gibson. Just over three minutes later, he would do it again. This time, he got in on the breakaway and juked Gibson out of his skates making it 6–2 Chicago.
EWWWW 🤮
Ryan Donato, that was gross. pic.twitter.com/CI5QEygtj5
— NHL (@NHL) March 2, 2025
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The Ducks would get one back just over six minutes later with another goal by Carlsson, but it would not be enough as the Blackhawks cruised to a 6–3 victory.
Analysis
The Blackhawks looked re-energized in this game. Without the drag of a player who clearly did not want to be on the team anymore, they were able to play like a cohesive unit, taking care of business in almost all aspects of the game. For a young team, a few defensive lapses will still happen, as at least two of the Ducks’ goals would suggest, but they were able to take advantage of a few of their own to get a couple of pucks past the Ducks’ netminder. Donato continues to increase his trade value with a goal and two assists. Reichel had a game that will make it tough to bench him again for at least a couple of games now, with a beautiful goal on the breakaway and an otherwise steady performance in this game.
The one area that definitely needs improvement is the faceoff dot. You cannot win less than 40% of your draws and expect that to go well most nights. You can get out-hit and the other team can have more shot blocks than you, but if you are not maintaining possession in the most straightforward way possible, it is going to be tough to compete many nights in this league.
The Blackhawks are next up against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night in Chicago. That game will be at 7:30 p.m. CST on CHSN.