BOSTON — The Blackhawks have been prone to conceding goals in bunches all season. On Thursday, they finally generated a scoring burst themselves.
Ryan Donato, Tyler Bertuzzi and Kevin Korchinski scored in a 93-second span early in the third period to break open a tie game, and the Hawks earned a 5-2 victory over the downtrodden Bruins.
“That’s what our team is capable of doing,” said captain Nick Foligno, who scored the Hawks’ other two goals. “There’s skill on this team, and there’s guys that can put the puck in the net. But you’ve got to give yourself the opportunity to do it. And some nights, it doesn’t come in bunches; it comes sporadically. And you’ve got to be smart in order to keep the lead in the game. But today, it came in that spurt.”
Said interim coach Anders Sorensen: “We made a couple of quick adjustments in our neutral zone [structure] going into the third, and it worked.”
It was just the Hawks’ eighth win in 39 road games this season and only their fourth in their last 30.
It probably wasn’t a coincidence that the rare road victory came after their bared-hearts postgame meeting after a 5-0 loss Tuesday in Pittsburgh, either. They had hoped that would bring them together for the last four games of the season, as odd as the timing might be.
“[We’re] thinking [about] showing up to each game and looking at the guy next to you like, ‘How can I go out there and do something for him and make him better?’ ” rookie forward Frank Nazar said Thursday morning.
Lots of things to love about this play as you look toward the Blackhawks’ future: https://t.co/Fgj13b2DQT
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 11, 2025
Nazar, to his credit, seems to approach every game with that selfless type of mentality. He’s one of the guys who needed to hear that message the least. Even in Pittsburgh, he was probably the Hawks’ most determined, involved player.
But the NHL roster has turned over considerably even since his December call-up. That, combined with Nazar’s natural wisdom, has thrust him as close to a leadership role as a rookie can possibly be in. And he figured it wouldn’t hurt to “reiterate something of that importance.”
Foligno saw direct carry-overs from that meeting in the Hawks’ play.
“There was a more conscious effort for some guys to just dig in and respect the game,” he said. “[We need to] respect how you need to play for your teammates and respect how you need to play in this league. It can humble you quickly.
“And just be predictable for each other. I think that’s the biggest thing, right? You need to go on the ice and know what each other are going to do. And when you don’t, that’s the result we got in Pittsburgh. Too many nights have been like that this year. It was just the time to address it and hopefully put that to bed for a while.”
With veteran defenseman Connor Murphy (as well as Wyatt Kaiser) out sick, the Hawks dressed a young defensive lineup. Louis Crevier was the eldest at 23 years, 11 months.
Korchinski had some hiccups aside from his pretty goal, and Artyom Levshunov (as usual) did not match the aforementioned “predictable” description, but the group held its own overall. Granted, the Bruins are a shell of their former selves; they’ve lost 20 of their last 25 games.
Sorensen singled out Alex Vlasic as being “really good,” but it’s most remarkable how suddenly rookie Sam Rinzel — just a couple of weeks removed from college — has become the Hawks’ No. 1 defenseman. Rinzel logged a career-high 24:55 of ice time.
Behind that inexperienced defense, goalie Arvid Soderblom — who has not started much since Spencer Knight’s arrival — was excellent, stopping 31 of 33 shots to earn his second win since late January.