The Chicago Blackhawks could not take advantage of three power-play goals against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets in a 6–3 loss in front of a stale home crowd. Columbus scored six goals from six different players and had an answer every time Chicago hit the back of the net to take away any momentum the home team thought they garnered. Chicago goaltender Petr Mrazek surrendered five goals on 30 shots en route to his second consecutive loss.
First period
Connor Bedard opened the scoring 2:59 into the game when he beat Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins for his fifth goal of the season. Bedard buried the goal after a nice dish from Ryan Donato found himself with the puck in front — something Donato does well for this team — took his time to gain possession and made a great backhand pass to Bedard.
Connor Bedard scores his second goal in three games and fifth of the season. He’s also on a three-game point streak. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/fK7LtyiJd8
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) December 1, 2024
In typical Chicago fashion, the lead did not last long, as Ivan Provorov scored his second goal of the season at the 4:27 mark as he beat Mrazek to tie the game at 1–1. Mrazek never saw the puck with a huge screen in front and the Chicago defense chasing the puck without success.
Kent Johnson would give Columbus a 2–1 lead with his sixth goal of the season. Johnson was allowed to skate in 1-on-5 and eventually found the puck back on his stick for a one-timer that beat a sliding Mrazek.
Second period
Chicago scored its second power-play goal of the game off a nifty tip from Craig Smith from a Taylor Hall pass that found a wide-open net to tie the game at 2–2. The tip-in was a thing of beauty, but as the theme of the Sunday matinee game went, the goal would be given right back a few moments later.
Craig Smith – Chicago Blackhawks (6)
Power Play Goal pic.twitter.com/nI9g7FtADB— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) December 1, 2024
Columbus took the lead for good when Sean Monahan scored his eighth goal of the season on a wrist shot less than two minutes after the Blackhawks tied the game. Monahan beat Mrazek as he was on his knees, something he did a ton early, which opened up a ton of shooting lanes for the Blue Jackets all game, and Columbus led 3–2 at the end of the second frame.
Third period
Columbus would take a 4–2 lead at the 3:08 mark of the third period when Dante Fabbro scored his third goal of the season, beating Mrazek short side during a 4-on-4 after a nice job by Fabbro pulling the puck into his body and releasing a shot screened by Chicago defenseman Alec Martinez.
Chicago captain Nick Foligno would score seventh goal of the season at the 8:08 mark of the period for Chicago’s third goal on the power play to cut the Columbus lead to 4–3. Foligno tipped in a great pass from Teuvo Teravainen, who made a tic-tac-toe pass from Bedard, who found Foligno standing just outside the crease for the tap in on the two-man advantage.
Nick Foligno – Chicago Blackhawks (7)
Power Play Goal pic.twitter.com/4PQRnxL1du— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) December 1, 2024
Columbus would finish off the home team with an unassisted goal from Kirill Marchekno and an empty-net goal from Dmitri Voronkov as the home team skated off the ice to an empty home crowd in a 6–3 loss.
Analysis
Bedard got things going early with a goal and added an assist, which makes two goals and two assists in his last three games. The 19-year-old played 23:17 minutes of ice time and finished the game a -4. In his last three contests, Bedard has fired 11 shots on goal after back-to-back games against Philadelphia and Florida in which he was held without any.
Mrazek spent most of the game looking around Columbus forwards in front of the net with no one there to move them or on his knees opening up shooting lanes for easy goals. The 32-year-old veteran has shown glimpses of hope in net only to find himself back on the struggle bus.
The Chicago defense as a whole was horrible. The combination of Alex Vlasic and Connor Murphy having a terrible game is not good news when Wyatt Kaiser and TJ Brodie are your stars on the back end for the contest, and they did nothing significant. Add in the fact that most of the Blackhawks’ forwards cannot defend the neutral zone or their own end at a NHL-level talent and that was a recipe for disaster for the defense as a whole.
Chicago (8–14–2) skates in Ontario tonight to face the Toronto Maple Leafs (14–7–2) for a 6:30 p.m. CST puck drop which can be seen on CHSN.