Blackhawks have found power play that works: Connor Bedard quarterbacking five forwards

The Blackhawks, in their final four home games, hope to show fans "how good we can be and how good we will be," coach Jeff Blashill said Wednesday.

That's easier said than done, of course. Two of the Eastern Conference's top four teams by record (Hurricanes and Sabres) and two teams desperately battling for Western playoff spots (Blues and Sharks) will pose difficult tests to close out the Hawks' season.

The ultra-young Hawks still have a long way to go to convert their talent into victories, too, considering they've won just three of their last 13 games.

But this late-season experimentation time has yielded some interesting and encouraging ideas. That pleases Blashill, who mentioned Monday that "every step forward we take this year means that's one less we have to take a year from now."

The success of the five-forward power-play unit must headline that list.

It has improved rapidly every game since Blashill first deployed it five games ago in New Jersey, culminating in one of the Hawks' most impressive power-play performances in years Monday against the Sharks.

"They’re definitely catching some confidence and swagger," Blashill said. "[Connor Bedard] up top is real dangerous; he’s a great distributor. [Anton] Frondell on that side is a real weapon, too, with his one-timers. The combo of all five guys, they’re starting to get some chemistry. I think they’ve looked good every time they’ve been together, to be honest."

Blashill added he would be "crazy not to" consider keeping it intact next season, when everything will matter more as expectations begin to rise.

The first-instinct concern about having no defensemen on the ice is defending shorthanded chances by the opposing penalty kill, but that hasn't been a problem so far.

Having a forward with Teuvo Teravainen's defensive skills on the ice mitigates that weakness. The unit has allowed only two shorthanded scoring chances and zero goals in about 17 minutes together.

On the other hand, they've produced about 1.85 scoring chances per minute — up from a paltry 0.87 previously this season — and scored basically four goals (one of which occurred seconds after a penalty expired) in those same 17 minutes.

Retrieving cleared pucks and executing offensive-zone entries seemed like another potential weakness at first, but Bedard and Frank Nazar appear perfectly comfortable doing that and making drop-passes to each other — or using their speed and elusiveness to enter the zone themselves.

And once inside the zone, Bedard has proven adept at quarterbacking plays from the blue line, making accurate passes or shooting and getting the puck through screens.

"He's moving the puck so well, and when he's moving over to me, it's right where I want it for the shot," Frondell said.

Blocked shots and intercepted passes are most important things to avoid, since even missed shots can create chaos in a good way.

And Bedard, who has found it's "100 times easier to shoot a puck from up there," has only gotten three of his 10 shot attempts blocked. Defensemen Sam Rinzel and Artyom Levshunov were getting 46% and 44% of their attempts blocked, respectively.

Bedard also frequently leaves the blue line to roam around the zone, which keeps the entire unit in motion and continuously opens up new passing and shooting lanes.

Both Frondell and Nazar can now play simultaneously on the flanks, which creates the Frondell one-timer threat that Blashill mentioned and makes better use of Nazar's playmaking skills than the bumper role did.

Tyler Bertuzzi's job down low, where he's extremely effective, hasn't changed. And with both him and Frondell on the unit, the Hawks have two guys who excel at winning pucks back, which is another plus.

The unit will have to demonstrate again in training camp next season that its unusual concoction still works, but they've at least earned the opportunity to start it together.