Blackhawks hang on, hand Kraken 4th loss in row

SEATTLE — Sacha Boisvert scored his first NHL goal, and the Chicago Blackhawks held on to end a five-game skid with a 4-2 win against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday.

“Yeah, 100 percent,” Boisvert said when asked if it felt good to score the game-winning goal. “And it’s my first NHL win as well, so that made it even better.”

Ilya Mikheyev had a goal and an assist, Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi scored, and Connor Bedard and Wyatt Kaiser each had two assists for the Blackhawks (28-35-14), who were 0-4-1 during their losing streak. Arvid Soderblom made 25 saves.

“I think we defended good, all throughout the game,” Soderblom said. “We cracked down a little bit at the end, but overall, a solid defensive game from our side. And then we know we’re a skilled team, so the goals are going to come.”

Jaden Schwartz and Kaapo Kakko scored for the Kraken (32-32-11), who are 0-3-1 in their last four and 1-6-2 in their last nine. Philipp Grubauer made 27 saves.

Seattle is six points behind the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference with seven games left.

“Not enough desperation, didn't start the game well, and our goaltender played fantastic for us,” Seattle coach Lane Lambert said. “Too many quality chances from them, and the power play didn't give us anything, and our penalty kill got scored on. So really, not a really overly great assessment of the game in a game that we needed. It just wasn't good enough.”

Teravainen made it 1-0 with a power-play goal at 9:15 of the second period, taking Bedard’s feed at the left hashmarks, then walking across the left circle and shooting from outside the crease. Teravainen found his own rebound at the left post and swept it under Grubauer.

“I thought we had a good team game,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said. “I thought we defended pretty well, and we talked about, going into the game, we can’t give them anything easy. We had to make them earn it, because they were going to make us earn it. And I thought we did a pretty good job of that overall.”

Bertuzzi pushed it to 2-0 off a rush at 19:37. Mikheyev’s cross-slot pass intended for Anton Frondell hit Seattle forward Schwartz’s skate and sat loose in the slot, where Bertuzzi found it and snapped it inside the right post.

“I feel like it shows we can keep up with -- I mean, Seattle’s going for a playoff spot here, so we’re right in the mix,” Chicago defenseman Alex Vlasic said. “I think when we’re playing our best game, when we’re playing smart with the puck, it’s hard for teams to keep up with our speed.”

Said Schwartz: “That same shift, we had chances the other way, and then I think it was a 3-on-3 play. And it just went off … I think it was my skate to one of their guys that they weren’t even trying to pass to. Just a little bit of an unlucky break there.” 

Schwartz cut it to 2-1 at 10:48 of the third period, driving to the top of the crease and redirecting Eeli Tolvanen’s feed from the bottom of the left circle past Soderblom’s blocker.

“There were pucks around the net,” Schwartz said. “Bobby (McMann) had an unreal chance in, I think it was the second, and (Soderblom) made a sprawling save. There were pucks there, there were chances around the net.”

Boisvert regained a 3-1 lead at 13:08, one-timing Kevin Korchinski’s drop pass to the top of the slot through Grubauer’s five-hole for his first goal in five NHL games.

“Obviously, we kind of had a good shift there going on,” Boisvert said. “I think everyone contributed, whether it was on the forecheck, and then (Landon Slaggert) made a good play to Korchinski, and then ‘Korch’ just gave it to me, and I just put it in.” 

Kakko brought Seattle back within 3-2 at 14:18, finding Berkly Catton’s rebound in the low slot and snapping it off the left post and in.

“Our team was pushing,” Schwartz said. “‘Tolvy’ made a good play off the rush in front of the net, and then ‘Cats’ did a good job of fighting for the spot in the middle there, and then ‘Kaaps’ made a good shot on the rebound.”

Mikheyev added an empty-net goal at 18:48 for the 4-2 final.