Chicago Blackhawks Fall To Sharks, Graf Scores Twice In 4-2 Victory

On Thursday, March 13th, the Chicago Blackhawks already challenging four-game road swing took another disappointing turn when they visited the San Jose Sharks, falling 4-2 to the Sharks, who themselves snapped a three-game losing streak, extended the Blackhawks’ road woes to a third consecutive defeat. Collin Graf had a standout performance, scoring two goals and contributing to the Sharks’ victory. The Blackhawks finish their road trip in Vancouver on Saturday before heading back to the United Center on Tuesday to take on the Seattle Kraken, while the Sharks host the Washington Capitals.

Chicago Blackhawks Lineup:

Dach – Bedard – Dickinson
Teravainen – Donato – Mikheyev
Slaggert – Nazar – Foligno
Bertuzzi – Veleno – Reichel

Del Mastro – Murphy
Vlasic – Kaiser
Martinez – Levshunov

Knight
Soderblom

San Jose Sharks Lineup:

Eklund – Celebrini – Toffoli
Graf – Wennberg – Smith
Kolalenko – Dellandrea – Kostin
Gregor – Giles – Goodrow

Ferraro – Mukhamadullin
Vlasic – Liljegren
Schuldt – Desharnais

Georgiev
Romanov

Will Smith opened the scoring early into the first period on San Jose’s second shot on goal with his 13th of the season at 16:12 after Mario Ferraro chased the puck along the left boards with Colton Dach, the puck got across to Tyler Toffoli, who passed it down to William Eklund from the right circle. Eklund made a quick pass to Macklin Celebrini in the neutral zone, and he carried it until he skated into the right circle, where he passed it to Smith, who hammered a one-timer home blocker side of Spencer Knight to put the Sharks ahead 1-0. Making it 2-0, Collin Graf by the right hash marks on a one-timer for his third goal of the season when Alex Wennberg found him after taking a pass from Ferraro and spinning around Frank Nazar along the right boards with 9:44 on the clock in the first.

Frank Nazar cut it to 2-1 only 10 seconds into the middle frame for his sixth of the season when he fired a wrister from the right circle blocker side of Alexandar Georgiev. After Nick Foligno won the draw, the puck got to Wyatt Kaiser, who fed across to Nazar skating in the zone to put Chicago on the board. At 9:43, Collin Graf struck again for his second of the night and his fourth of the season on a power play when he got a piece of Will Smith’s one-timer, who received a pass from Shakir Mukhamadullin towards the net to make it 3-1 for San Jose. Ilya Mikheyev pulled the Blackhawks within 3-2 as he was driving to the net for his 15th of the season at the front of the net at 6:42, deflecting a pass from Ryan Donato, who sent the backhanded pass to the top of the crease after getting the puck from Teuvo Teravainen.

After Connor Bedard got a 10-minute misconduct and just about a scoreless third, Tyler Toffoli struck the empty Chicago net with 33 seconds left to play for the 4-2 final with his 25th goal of the season from center ice with a high flip.

Frank Nazar on team performance, his goal/contribution, and the importance of the Vancouver game: “I thought we’ve done a good job in games before trying not to dig too deep holes. We came into this game, dug ourselves a hole, and just couldn’t get out of it. …It’s definitely nice. It’s good for the confidence, just being able to go out there and know you’re moving well. There are games you’re going to have like that, and there are games where you might not feel your best,” – “Just being able to win on the road is what we’re focused on, and that’s what we’re going to try our best to do.”

Connor Bedard on the 10-minute misconduct, how tough it was to be in the box and watch his team chasing a one-goal game, team performance overall, frustration/past few games, and giving Celebrini a smile at the face-off: “I guess (the ref) just didn’t like what I said. That’s how it goes… I didn’t think it was too crazy, but he’s a ref, so he gets to make that call. You have to live with it. …It’s not fun, so I got to be smarter with my words there. I’m supposed to be out there in those situations. It’s frustrating to have to watch,” – “Not great, especially in the first, they really took it to us. We were a bit better in the second there with getting in the o-zone, but I think they probably out-chanced us and outplayed us overall. We can be better. …I feel like we’ve really taken steps and steps lately the past week and a bit. I guess two days off is too much for us, and we couldn’t keep it together. …We know each other, so, you know, say what’s up.”

Game Notes:

– Spencer Knight made a total of 21 saves for Chicago.

– Top picks Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini faced off for the first time.

– Artyom Levshunov almost scored his first NHL career goal.

– Jason Dickinson and Barclay Goodrow dropped the gloves.

– Alexandar Georgiev made a total of 24 saves for San Jose.

– Will Smith is the second rookie in San Jose Sharks history with multiple streaks of at least five games in a single season. He joins Logan Couture (2x: 5 GP in 2010-11). …His game-opening goal marked the fourth time this season that Macklin Celebrini, William Eklund, and Smith combined for a goal. …Smith has three goals and four assists during his five-game streak. He added both a goal and an assist to that streak.

– This was Collin Graf’s first two-goal game. …Graf has scored three goals in consecutive games.

– The San Jose Sharks have become the first team since the 2015-16 Arizona Coyotes (seven from October 10-15, 2015) to have rookies account for seven or more consecutive team goals. The Anaheim Ducks are the last team to have a longer streak from their rookies back in 1997-98 (nine from April 13-19, 1998).

– CHI: 20-37-9, SJ: 18-40-9