By Townhall Chicago News Staff
The Chicago Blackhawks earned their first road point of the season Saturday in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden, generating one of their strongest offensive performances of the year before a late Bruins rally erased a two-goal lead.
Rookie Anton Frondell scored twice, Patrick Kane reached 900 career assists and Connor Bedard extended his point streak to five games for the Blackhawks, who fell to 4-9-1 on the season.
Frondell opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 6:04 of the first period off assists from Kane and Bedard, according to the team’s game recap. He added a second goal early in the second period, deflecting a Tyler Bertuzzi shot to give Chicago a 2-1 lead.
Kane’s assist on Frondell’s first goal was the 900th of his NHL career, making him the 21st player in league history and the first American-born player to reach the mark, according to the Blackhawks’ website. Only Sidney Crosby among active players has also accomplished the feat.
“That was probably our best game of the year,” Bedard said after the loss, according to NHL.com. “Just the way we were battling, not shying away from anything, taking hits, getting into the fight. It [stinks] to see the result, how it ends, and we have to find a way to win, but most of the game we played pretty well.”
Ryan Greene put the Blackhawks ahead 3-2 at 9:38 of the third period, finishing a 3-on-1 break. Bedard scored less than three minutes later to extend the lead to 4-2, marking his fourth goal and fifth assist in eight games this season.
Boston rallied in the final minutes. Mason Lohrei cut the deficit to one at 13:06. With the goalie pulled for an extra skater, Morgan Geekie scored a one-timer with 12 seconds remaining to force overtime.
Elias Lindholm won it for Boston at 2:32 of overtime, fending off two defenders and tucking a forehand past Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom, who made 27 saves.
“I thought ‘Frondy’ played great,” Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said, according to NHL.com. “It was unfortunate not to get the win out of it based on when guys play as good as they play. But again, that’s the way it goes.”
Frondell became the seventh Swedish teenager in NHL history to record multiple multi-goal games, joining Lucas Raymond, Elias Pettersson, Leo Carlsson, Elias Lindholm, Gabriel Landeskog and Mats Sundin, according to the Blackhawks’ recap.
David Pastrnak scored for the Bruins and moved into sole possession of third place on Boston’s all-time goal list with 428, passing former teammate Patrice Bergeron.
The Blackhawks have lost five of their past six games and are 0-5-1 on the road this season. They return to United Center on Monday when they host the Colorado Avalanche.
