Blackhawks notes: Rem Pitlick finding ‘soft spots’ on makeshift first line

With 65 seconds left in the Blackhawks’ eventual loss to the Stars on Saturday, new forward Rem Pitlick found himself in the perfect spot to tie the game.

He planted himself on the edge of the crease, saw the cross-ice pass from Taylor Raddysh coming and angled his skate to redirect the puck into the net — and then missed wide by an agonizing inch.

That moment exemplified Pitlick’s first week with the Hawks, during which he led the team with 11 individual scoring chances yet wasn’t able to find the net. Actually, that moment has exemplified the Hawks’ team-wide offense lately, as they’ve played some admirable hockey without Connor Bedard yet struggled to translate it into significant offensive production.

“That’s just the ups and downs of hockey,” Pitlick said. “They’ll go in eventually.”

Pitlick will remain on the top line with Raddysh and Philipp Kurashev on Tuesday against the Sharks, his fourth appearance with the Hawks.

While stuck in the AHL in the Penguins organization earlier this season, he found himself watching some games and highlights of Bedard and Kurashev working together. So even though he didn’t know Kurashev personally until arriving in Chicago last week, he did have some familiarity with Kurashev’s game.

“When you watch any offensive guy that has [high] IQ, they go to the same spots,” he said. “That’s what I notice: he’s open [on the] back door, or climbing the half-wall in between the forward and the ‘D.’ He knows how to find those soft spots, and I like to look there.”

He’s fully aware this opportunity was made possible by Bedard’s injury, but he’s holding out hope he’ll get an even luckier opportunity to play with Bedard once the star rookie returns.

“That would be amazing,” he said. “I think that with my instincts, I could read off of some of his plays.”

Rem’s rec

Pitlick has immediately experienced some of the worst weather Chicago has to offer, but that hasn’t stopped him — as a self-described smoothie lover — from visiting SunLife Organics’ new Chicago location a couple times already.

The California-based health food chain, which offers smoothies, shakes, coffee, acai bowls and the like, opened a store in Fulton Market in August. Pitlick recommends the “Blue Majik” smoothie — which includes spirulina, coconut, dates and other unusual ingredients — regardless of temperature.

“It’s not that cold; it’s kind of fluffy,” he said, grinning. “It’s good.”

This and that

• Defenseman Connor Murphy will miss Tuesday’s game with a lower-body injury that Richardson described as minor. Jarred Tinordi will claim his spot in the lineup alongside Jaycob Megna, while Isaak Phillips will sit out for the seventh time in the last eight games.
• Forward Andreas Athanasiou, who hasn’t played since Nov. 9 in Tampa due to a groin injury, had a procedure done on his groin a while back, Richardson said. It was the same procedure — with the same doctor — that Athanasiou underwent on the other side of his groin during his injury-ridden 2021-22 season with the Kings. Comically, the Hawks still haven’t won a road game since Athanasiou’s absence began.
• The Hawks still haven’t heard from the NHL what the plan is for All-Star Weekend on Feb. 1-3. Could Bedard still go as an off-ice representative? Could Jason Dickinson replace him? Could the league forego having a Hawks representative? It’s unclear for now.