Three Sustains from the Blackhawks' 4-3 Loss to Buffalo

The Chicago Blackhawks got their first lead of the season but fell short in a 4-3 loss against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night. It was their best game in Chicago's suboptimal 0-3 start to the regular season. Here are three sustains that the Hawks can carry into their Tuesday night home opener against the St. Louis Blues.

Responsible F3 Play

The forecheck has been a thorn in the Blackhawks' tactical employment. Especially the involvement of the F3. Against the Sabres, there were a handful of moments when the F3 stayed high in the zone rather than aggressively pressure the breakout.

The 1-2-2 as a whole performed ideally in the sequence above. Jordan Greenway (CHI 12) as the F1 pressured, released, then reloaded while Cole Smith (CHI 22) as the F2 assumed F1 forechecking duties. Ryan Greene (CHI 20) stayed high in the zone and was prepared to handle Ethan Del Mastro's (CHI 38) pinch, which resulted in a loose puck.

Here's another clip. This time it was Oliver Moore (CHI 11) who acted as the F3 and filled a vacant spot left by Kevin Korchinski (CHI 14).

Levshunov's Zone Entries

There's a lot to improve within Artyom Levshunov's game, and we're just talking about 5-on-5 because the power play is a whole different can of worms. But his skating continued to be one of his most impressive tools.

In the clip above, Levshunov (CHI 55) carried the puck out of the defensive zone, through the neutral zone, and into the offensive zone to generate offense. Unfortunately, a poor forecheck and a pinch by Levshunov without support led to an odd-man rush.

The Blackhawks had a 41.94 percent shot attempt share and a 37.14 percent expected goals share with Levshunov on the ice. Levshunov was tied with Patrick Kane in shot attempts with five.

Anton Frondell

With limited offensive zone time, it's difficult to evaluate Chicago's young players like Anton Frondell and Roman Kantserov. At times, Frondell in particular has looked unaccustomed to the speed of the NHL. However, with two points on Saturday night, Frondell has increasingly looked more comfortable.

It remains to be seen whether Frondell will be center long-term or return to his ideal position on the wing. His line with Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi was outchanced 4-2 on Saturday but generated the team's best shot-attempt share with 42.86 percent.