Isaak Phillips completely shut down Colorado’s first-line forwards on Tuesday night
The MVP of Tuesday’s game is undisputedly Isaak Phillips. The 22-year-old defenseman sent a strong message to Luke Richardson and Kyle Davidson with his play tonight. Phillips’ statement is that he deserves to be on the Blackhawks roster permanently. He said such with his lockdown defense.
Phillips stepped up big time for a severely undermanned Hawks team. He led the first-line defense all night to secure a win.
Phillips played veteran-level defense against a high-octane offense
Colorado has a lethal set of forwards. Their first line is one of the best in the entire NHL. Phillips made them completely ineffective.
Lead Blackhawks writer Tab Bamford of Bleacher Nation posted the stats of Colorado’s top 3 offensive threats through 2 periods. The stats show that Isaak Phillips was utterly dominating them, and that result held for the rest of the game.
So… um… the #Blackhawks have Isaak Phillips lined up against the Avs top line tonight and he's… kinda dominating? Here's his vs. numbers from @NatStatTrick thru 2 periods pic.twitter.com/CMfCGYyIwB
— Tab Bamford (@The1Tab) December 20, 2023
The Blackhawks had just sent Phillips back to Rockford on December 2. He was especially needed with Kevin Korchinski’s absence continuing. Korchinski has been away from the team spending time with family after the passing of his father Larry Korchinski.
Isaak Phillips was one of the Blackhawks top prospects this offseason after a strong season in Rockford. He was assigned to Rockford again at the start of the season. His most recent call-up should certainly earn him more NHL ice time.
He has had strong performances when called up this season. Phillips had a impressive showing back in November versus Tampa Bay. A few more games like tonight will likely lead to a permanent position on the Blackhawks roster.
Two more standout showings: Connor Bedard and Petr Mrazek
Petr Mrazek recorded 35 saves and a .946 save percentage in the Blackhawks win on Tuesday. Mrazek made a handful of fantastic saves down the stretch to keep the Avalanche’s goal total at 2.
Connor Bedard registered 2 more assists pushing his point total to 28 in 31 games. Bedard was aggressive towards the net on Tuesday but couldn’t find the back of the net.
The Blackhawks will be back in action on Friday as they host the Montreal Canadiens at the United Center.
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