With a two-man advantage in the second period Sunday, Connor Bedard made a pass to his right to Teuvo Teravainen, who scored his seventh goal and first since Nov. 27 against the Stars.
When the Blackhawks brought back Teravainen, they viewed him as a veteran forward who could accentuate Bedard’s game.
Teravainen’s defensive prowess could cover up some of Bedard’s deficiencies, and his vision would allow Bedard to unleash his lightning-quick shot.
For the majority of the season, however, that plan hasn’t panned out. Teravainen has been held scoreless 21 times in 31 games.
But in the Hawks’ 5-3 victory against the Islanders at the United Center, Teravainen had a big impact.
He had two assists in the first period, including an impressive pass through traffic to find forward Ilya Mikheyev for the first goal of the game.
“He was really good tonight, so hopefully he can build off this,” interim coach Anders Sorensen said. “We all know that he’s better than he’s played, and he knows that, and we’ve had conversations about that. So a really good response from him tonight.”
Though he’s not playing on a line with Bedard, the Hawks still need more production from Teravainen, whom they signed to a three-year, $16 million contract in the offseason.
“It’s good whenever you can help the team win the game,” Teravainen said.
“The puck was bouncing pretty good for me and my line today. Good effort by our line.”
Shutdown penalty kill
The Islanders were 0-for-4 on the power play. A strong penalty kill was a hallmark of former coach Luke Richardson’s tenure, and it’s clear that the tenets he instilled in the Hawks remain.
“[Assistant coach Kevin Dean has] done a great job,” Sorensen said. “He’s very direct, and he lets them know exactly what we’re looking for and what the other team’s looking for.”
Defenseman Alex Vlasic also lauded the Hawks’ ability to learn opponents’ power-play tendencies to prevent them from scoring.
“I don’t want to jinx anything, but I think we’re . . . playing well,” Vlasic said. “We’re paying attention to what we’re learning about an opponent’s power play and what they try to look for.
‘‘We’re bearing down on the chances we get to clear the puck down the ice and just making sure that everyone’s fresh and going 100%.’’
Injury updates
Defenseman Seth Jones has been on injured reserve since Nov. 16 after injuring his right foot in the Hawks’ game Nov. 14 against the Kraken while blocking a shot.
Sorensen said Jones has been progressing and that he was on the ice before the game, but that it was “going to be a little bit longer” for his return.
Goaltender Petr Mrazek (groin) could be on the ice Monday. Before his injury, Mrazek was having a solid season with his lowest goals-against average since 2019-20.
