Game Recap: Oilers 4 - Blackhawks 1

Moments before puck drop, the Blackhawks announced that Connor Bedard was going to sit this one out due to the flu. Going up against Connor McDavid and his Edmonton Oilers was a tall task beforehand; after Bedard's scratch, it wasn't any better.

Game Summary

Overall, a disjointed affair from the Hawks. From defensive gaps to losing puck battles and poor neutral zone play, the Hawks didn't look good out there. The younger players looked decent, a lot better than most of the veterans out there. Tyler Bertuzzi scored the lone Hawk goal with Wyatt Kaiser grabbing the assist. Spencer Knight had a .917 SV%, stopping 33 of 36. With a couple of hairy moments sprinkled in their two power-play attempts, the Hawks looked good on the man-advantage.

I'll note that the Hawks kept the game 2-1 for most of the night. Although that can be attributed to the Oilers clutching on to a lead. It took an empty net goal late in the third to put the Oilers up 3-1 and a bad Leon Draisaitl goal to make it 4-1 with less than a minute remaining.

Observations

Defenseman Evan Bouchard had his way with the Blackhawks man-on-man defense. He found lanes and skated through the Hawks' holes. The Oilers' first goal is an example of this. Bouchard drew two Hawks defenders and found a backdoor Zach Hyman, who had zero issues battling with Alex Vlasic.

Spencer Knight made incredible saves, as expected, but he can't be the sole reason why this team wins. In the above example, I would have liked Vlasic to defend harder against Hyman. Something Jeff Blashill has noted in the recent past about both Vlasic and Louis Crevier.

I will give props to Jason Dickinson, who was matched against McDavid's line. Dickinson gave the Blackhawks a 5v5 Corsi of 63.64% and a 59.56 xG%.

As pointed out in yesterday's preview, the Hawks simply don't generate enough offense without Connor Bedard. The Hawks' expected goals share at 5v5 was 40.05%. But Artyom Levshunov's offensive play was noticeable again. His analytics aren't great (both Corsi and xG% are sub-50%), but I liked what I observed in the offensive zone (passing, driving, and keeping the puck in).

Anything Else?

• Teuvo Teravainen missed the last two periods of the game due to an upper-body injury.
• Love the Green Bay sucks chants.

We'll be back with a SITREP today if there's anything worth sharing or discussing. The Hawks take on the Calgary Flames next on Thursday.