While Jason Dickinson notched the first goal of the night to put the Chicago Blackhawks up 1-0 in the first period, the team failed to maintain their lead in the third period.
With a 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils, Jarred Tinordi felt that both teams entered the game ready to compete. By the end of the contest, both teams combined for a total of 22 penalties.
“They brought it tonight and I thought we responded well, we brought it too,” Tinordi said. “Those are the fun games you want to play in. There’s a little bit more emotion out there tonight. Both teams wanted to win [badly] and that's the fun part of hockey competing like that.”
In the first period, Connor Bedard suffered a hit from New Jersey’s defenseman Brendan Smith that sparked some tension between both teams. From there, the rookie forward exited the game and did not return.
Head coach Luke Richardson noted that his players played fair and supported their teammates in the right way. Even with some penalties, he praised the penalty kill unit for their perfect night against the first-place Devils' power play unit.
“I think it escalated a little bit in the first period and even in the second period, but our guys reacted well,” Richardson said. “They played well and they played heated but disciplined.”
After Bedard’s exit, Nick Foligno rallied things up with some tough plays in the second period. However, he also left the game and did not return.
Over the last five games on the road, the team placed three players on injured reserve. While the team endured some tough challenges over the last few weeks with injuries, the Blackhawks players continue to navigate how to handle some tough losses.
“There's no way to teach it really,” Boris Katchouk said. “It's a part of this league, it’s a part of hockey and you can't really control it.
Even though they lost two more players in the matchup, Tinordi described the way the team pushed to try and find a win.
Now, the team can focus on what they did right to help them win those types of games moving forward.
“What we're going through as a team is learning how to win these kinds of games,” Tinordi said. “That was kind of a playoff atmosphere out there tonight and we got to learn how to win those games.”
