Taylor Hall, Tyler Bertuzzi, Nick Foligno, and Jason Dickinson each found the net, while Petr Mrazek made 20 saves as the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the visiting San Jose Sharks 4-2 on Thursday night.
Chicago outshot San Jose 27-22 in their home opener, marking their second win in the last three games. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen both recorded two assists.
Teravainen, who has been on an offensive tear since returning to the Blackhawks—where he played his first three NHL seasons from 2013-14 to 2015-16—has tallied seven points in five games back, including five on the power play.
Bedard, the first overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, notched his third multi-point game of the season.
A highly anticipated matchup between Bedard and the projected top pick for 2024, Macklin Celebrini of San Jose, was put on hold due to Celebrini being on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky indicated that Celebrini could return from IR on Friday but will remain inactive for now.
For the Sharks, Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored, while Mikael Granlund and William Eklund each provided two assists. Vitek Vanecek made 23 saves, but the Sharks fell to 0-2-2.
Hall opened the scoring at 4:20 of the first period after receiving a stretch pass from TJ Brodie and scoring with a wrist shot from the left circle.
Chicago’s next two goals came on the power play, marking the first time this season the Sharks allowed goals while shorthanded. Bertuzzi scored from in front of the net at 19:11 of the first, assisted by Teravainen, followed by Foligno, who netted a goal shortly after the second period began.
Chicago succeeded on 2 of 7 power play opportunities, while San Jose went 0 for 3.
Toffoli pulled the Sharks closer with a goal at 18:17 of the second period. He now has three goals in four games. Chicago stretched their lead back to three when Dickinson scored at 2:19 of the third, but San Jose quickly answered less than a minute later when Zetterlund redirected Granlund’s slap shot past Mrazek.
The Sharks pulled Vanecek for an extra attacker with 3:23 remaining but were unable to score.
