The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the New York Islanders on Sunday 5-3. Teuvo Teravainen and Connor Bedard led the way offensively so that their team could redeem themselves against the Islanders who defeated them in a wild one last Thursday.
In that tough loss last week, Arvid Soderblom was pulled after allowing 5 goals on 19 shots. It was his only true blemish of this season which has been otherwise wonderful for him on a personal level.
Rookie goaltender Drew Commesso came in relief and started Saturday’s game against the New Jersey Devils. On Sunday against the Islanders, Soderblom was thrown right back into the fire.
To say that he bounced back would be an understatement. Soderblom made 30 saves on 33 shots. The Islanders outshot the Hawks by 10 and dominated play for most of the afternoon. Without good goaltending, Chicago wouldn’t have had a chance to win.
The Islanders had four power plays and Soderblom didn’t allow one goal to them in that situation. They say that the goaltender has to be the best penalty killer. He was that and so much more in this game.
Once the game was over, his teammates and head coach were singing his praise to the media:
“That was big. He’s playing great for us, I think all of the goalies are. We just got to help the goalies better for sure.” Teuvo Teravainen said of his goaltender. “He’s been great and today was awesome.”
Teravainen, who had three points and was a big part of the win himself, speaking his praise was just the start of it.
“I’m so happy for him. He’s been great for us all year so for us to get a win for him and for him to be playing the way he’s been playing this year is awesome to see.” Said Alex Vlasic when asked about Soderblom’s bounce back.
Vlasic has a high-quality view of what Soderblom (and all of the goalies) do on a nightly basis and it is clear that he has confidence in him.
“Mentally he’s tough, he’s gone through a lot. That was probably the one thing we talked about in the room like hey we feel good about it, he usually responds so really good” Said interim head coach Anders Sorensen at his postgame presser.
Sorensen knew that he’d be able to go back to Soderblom against the same team he had the one tough game against. The young netminder rewarded him.
There are going to be ups and downs during an NHL season for any team but especially a young developing team like the Chicago Blackhawks.
Despite struggles here and there, they always believe in each other which is evident in their support for Soderblom when asked about his comeback game. Now, it is on the skaters to continue helping their goaltenders be in a better situation.
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