The Chicago Blackhawks have been a tad bit better lately but they are still right there with the San Jose Sharks competing for the worst record in the league. Two standings points separated them coming into Sunday night’s action.
Of course, the bottom spot in the league will come with the best odds of winning the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery. The team that wins it will select Boston University forward Macklin Celebrini.
Celebrini is a complete stud and anyone would want him. He has 30 goals as a freshman with BU which tells you just how good he is. There is a good chance that he will be a difference-maker right away in the NHL.
San Jose looked like they would tie the Hawks in points when they took a 2-0 lead in the game. However, the Hawks got it tied up and then scored two goals in 11 seconds to take a 4-2 lead. Late in the third, Connor Bedard had a buzzer-beating empty net goal to make the final 5-2.
The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the San Jose Sharks on Sunday
Now, the Hawks have a four-point lead in last place in the league. Developing Bedard and some of the other young players on the team is their most important thing but they do want to have another high draft pick for the sake of the rebuild.
Both teams could use Celebrini as we saw in this game. San Jose is really bad and they don’t even have a player like Connor Bedard. They do have Boston College freshman Will Smith coming who may be a star in the NHL soon too.
Seeing BC’s Smith and BU’s Celebrini work together in San Jose would be great hockey magic. It will be interesting to see how things stand after the lottery.
So a little St. Patrick’s Day magic in the third period gave Chicago a big win. Now, these two bottom feeders are going to face one more time. They will have the game in San Jose on Saturday.
In the meantime, the Hawks will make their tread to California to take on the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday. As for San Jose, they will stop in Nashville for a game against the Predators before heading home for a while. Both squads have a lot on the line (win or lose) in every remaining game.