Seth Jones’ comment about it was meant to be funny, but it couldn’t have been truer: The Blackhawks wish they could play the Coyotes more often.
Two matchups against the NHL’s most dysfunctional franchise in a six-day span provided a perfect opportunity for the Hawks to spark their offense. They took full advantage, rallying past the Coyotes 7-4 on Sunday at the United Center to follow up on their 5-2 victory Tuesday in Arizona.
Those are the Hawks’ only wins in their last 10 games, but they were as energizing as any two wins could be for a last-place team. The Hawks’ seven goals were their most since March 8, 2022, and they snapped the longest road skid in franchise history Tuesday.
“We showed some clips from the last game [about] what worked and what didn’t work,” Jones said. “We didn’t execute in the first period, but then we got going.”
Colin Blackwell had two scrappy rebound goals, then hit the empty net in the final minutes to complete his first career hat trick.
Given the adversity he has persevered through over the last year — missing 10 months with a sports hernia, then nearly getting traded at last week’s deadline despite a strong desire not to move — and how well he has played defensively on Jason Dickinson’s line since December, it was a well-deserved accomplishment.
“Obviously, I missed a lot of time in the beginning of the year, so [I have] 17 more games here to prove that this is where I want to be,” Blackwell said.
Plenty of other Hawks generated things to feel good about, too. Jones had a career-high four assists. Tyler Johnson buried the go-ahead goal late in the second period. Ryan Donato added two points as reward for some effective forechecking. And goalie Arvid Soderblom made 32 saves — including a sprawling beauty in the third period to deny Coyotes star Clayton Keller a hat trick — while earning wins in consecutive starts for the first time.
But what about Connor Bedard, the teenager whom all 18,666 fans in attendance came to see and whose successes and failures simply matter more long-term than anyone else’s? Well, he finally got the breakthrough he sought, finishing with three points.
He had gone eight games without a goal — his longest drought of the season. But it wasn’t as if defenses had been shutting him down or learning how to contain him. He simply had run into some bad luck, hot goalies and regression.
Coach Luke Richardson often mentions how a fortunate bounce can break the dam for a snakebitten player, and that was exactly what happened to Bedard. With the Hawks trailing 2-0 early in the second period, he tried to pass from behind the net to Reese Johnson, but the puck bounced off Coyotes defenseman J.J. Moser and over the line.
“I knew I needed a miracle to put one in, so that was nice,” Bedard said. “But it doesn’t matter how you get them. It’s about getting them.”
The immediate confidence boost was evident as Bedard dominated the rest of that shift, then scored a highlight-reel toe-drag goal on a power play shortly thereafter.
He created Tyler Johnson’s goal by sweeping around the zone and sending a pinpoint no-look pass to the backdoor. Then Bedard nearly completed his own hat trick — which would’ve been his first in the NHL — on a two-on-one rush with Blackwell in the third period. He has 29 shots, 12 shots on goal and 14 scoring chances in just the last two games combined.
“He’s probably thinking it’s not enough, but we’re happy for him,” Richardson said, grinning.
