Tyler Bertuzzi recorded a hat trick and Spencer Knight made 43 saves in the Chicago Blackhawks’ 5-2 road win over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.
The victory ended both Chicago’s three-game winless streak (0-2-1), and a longstanding drought against Vancouver. The Blackhawks were 0-10-1 in their previous 11 games with the Canucks, dating back to the 2021-22 season. The 11-game domination tied the Canucks’ franchise record for longest win streak against a single opponent.
Vancouver outshot Chicago by a 45-28 margin and held a 35-19 shots edge through two periods. Led by Knight’s outstanding performance, the Blackhawks withstood this early barrage to keep the game scoreless before the teams erupted for a seven-goal third period.
The Blackhawks had the first four of those tallies, led by Bertuzzi converting passes from the side of the net at both the 3:06 and 6:46 marks for a 2-0 lead.
After Ilya Mikheyev scored, Bertuzzi struck again 11:37 into the third period for his fourth hat trick in his 10 NHL seasons.
Knight stopped 43 shots to improve to 5-3-2 this season. The save total was the second highest of his career.
Chicago’s Connor Bedard had an empty-net goal and an assist. The forward has 11 points (five goals, six assists) over a six-game point streak. Ryan Donato assisted on two of the Blackhawks’ tallies.
Aatu Raty and Evander Kane scored late in the third period to spoil Knight’s shutout bid and give the Canucks some late hope prior to Bedard’s empty-net tally with one minute remaining.
Vancouver’s Drew O’Connor seemingly had the opening tally 8:34 into the second period, but the would-be goal was erased after a video review. O’Connor collided with Knight before jamming the puck into the net, leading to Chicago coach Jeff Blashill making a successful goaltender-interference challenge.
Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen stopped 23 of 27 shots.
–Field Level Media
