QUICK HITS
BLUES Speaking to the media postgame after Saturday’s loss, head coach Jim Montgomery said the team is trying to establish consistency early in the season, both on the ice and in the locker room’s mental preparation going into games.
“It’s early in the year and you’re going to have a lot of inconsistency and now it’s up to us to be able to find [consistency],” he said. “We knew it was not going to be like game one every night. It’s not the way it goes for anyone in the NHL but we’re playing a different style of game and it’s going to take a little while. We got a lot of new players so unfortunately we’re going to have nights where we’re not on the same page.”
Zach Dean and Dillon Dube both made their season debuts against the Avalanche. Dalibor Dvorsky scored the lone goal for the Blues on a beautiful no-look backhand and Jordan Binnington made 30 saves on 36 shots.
If there’s any silver lining to the loss, it’s the Blues’ penalty kill. It has been clinical in the first two games of the season, not allowing a single power-play goal on eight attempts. The kill went 4-for-4 against the Avalanche - and when you’re competing against a unit that has Nathan Mackinnon, Cale Makar and Martin Necas on the ice together, that’s saying something.
Going into Tuesday’s matchup against Chicago, the Blues will need more offensively across the lineup, especially from the Robert Thomas line. In two games, Jimmy Snuggerud is the only player on the top line to register a point, recording an empty-net goal and an assist in the season opener against Dallas.
“They’re putting forth good effort, it’s not coming together right now for them with the production that we saw from them the last 20 games. It’ll get there,” Montgomery said.
BLACKHAWKS The Chicago Blackhawks finished 31st overall in the NHL last season with a 29-39-14 record. The club has spent the past few seasons near the bottom in league standings, entering a rebuilding phase to accumulate assets and young talent to push themselves back in playoffs contention.
They are led by newly appointed captain Connor Bedard, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft who signed a five-year contract extension that will keep him with the team through the 2030-31 season. However, the team will have to make do without the young star forward for now, as it was announced in early July that he needed surgery on his left shoulder, sidelining him for four months.
However, the team is not sitting idly while they wait for their captain to return. They acquired defenseman Bowen Byram and forward Jordan Greenway from the Buffalo Sabres in June. The Blackhawks also signed forward Cole Smith and defenseman Ian Cole as free agents.
And of course, Patrick Kane, one of the most accomplished players in team history, signed a two-year contract that brought him back home to United Center. Kane was drafted No. 1 overall by the Blackhawks in 2007 and played 16 seasons in Chicago before being traded to the New York Rangers in February 2023.
The Blackhawks have begun the season with an 0-3 record, with losses to the Vegas Golden Knights, Utah Mammoth and Buffalo Sabres.
