x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

The Boys Are Back: Bruins 4, Blackhawks 3

Getting closer!

Posted on by Dave Melton
Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

The Blackhawks picked up their first point of the season on Thursday night in Boston but not their first win, falling 4-3 in overtime to the Bruins.

Casey Mittelstadt opened the scoring for the Bruins when he fired this loose puck home:

Boston goal! Scored by Casey Mittelstadt with 16:07 remaining in the 1st period. Assisted by Viktor Arvidsson and Pavel Zacha. Boston: 1 Chicago: 0 #CHIvsBOS #NHLBruins #Blackhawks

[image or embed]

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 6:21 PM

Connor Bedard evened the game about four minutes later with this one-timer after a neat cross-ice pass from Andre Burakovsky:

Early in the second, the Blackhawks went ahead 2-1 when Louis Crevier scored off this well-executed faceoff play:

Near the middle of the second, Boston tied the game at two with this Tanner Jeannot tally:

Boston went ahead 3-2 just 15 seconds into the final period when Elias Lindholm scored while the Bruins had a two-man advantage:

Power play goal for Boston! Scored by Elias Lindholm with 19:45 remaining in the 3rd period. Assisted by Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak. Boston: 3 Chicago: 2 #CHIvsBOS #NHLBruins #Blackhawks

[image or embed]

— NHL Goals (@nhlgoals.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 8:12 PM

But Chicago tied the game at three just a few minutes when this organized rush up the ice ended with a Burakovsky goal:

After a chippy end to the third and a frantic stretch of back-and-forth chances during overtime, Boston secured the second point with this Fraser Minten goal:

Would’ve been nice to skate away with both points but still some positives to take away from this game overall. Let’s get to it!

Notes

One thing we’ll keep an eye on all season is how this younger team fares when the stakes feel like they go up a little bit — as they did during the intense third period that unfolded in this game. It was encouraging to see the Hawks respond with a game-tying goal in the third, but Boston carried most of the action in the final frame while chasing that potential game-winning goal. The Bruins had 5-on-5 advantages of 9-4 in shots on goal and 5-1 in high-danger scoring chances, adding up to a 74.9 percent share of the expected goals in the third period. When other teams find another gear and the Hawks have one of their own to counter with, we’ll know things are starting to trend in the right direction. Here’s hoping we see some signs of that later on this season.

We may be witnessing one of the first early evolutions of Bedard’s game this season. He hadn’t really shown a great knack for one-timers during his first few seasons, which is probably symptomatic of those being extremely difficult to do well and Bedard not needing them when he could just fire wristers past goalies at every level prior to the NHL. But there’s been plenty of reporting that Bedard focused on one-timers during the offseason and seeing that pay off in the form of his first goal this season is an excellent early development.

That first goal was also a perfect example of three forwards with different skillsets putting them all together for a goal. Dach used his wheels to hop on a loose puck, poking it over to Burakovsky while absorbing a bit hit from Zadorov. Burakovsky then had open space to find Bedard and used his nifty hands to steer the puck right into Bedard’s wheelhouse, who made no mistake. Real, real good stuff there.

Also … veteran savvy to draw this call? Yeah, let’s go with that.

A thing Sam Rinzel hopefully won’t do anymore: turn towards the boards with a massive defender closing in hard. Things Rinzel hopefully will continue to do all the time? These:

A strong start from Soderblom to kick off his 2025-26 season. Spencer Knight is obviously the No. 1 here but it wouldn’t be a bad thing if both of them played so well that it felt like a 1A/1B situation.

Another outing from Frank Nazar that will do precisely nothing to quell the hype building around him. No points from this game but certainly not for a lack of effort. [UPDATE: Actually, he had an assist on the Burakovsky goal. Everything else still applies. Thanks to AR1 for the correction!]

Ryan Greene seemed noticeable in a positive way this evening. No specific clips to share but it always seemed like he was corralling the puck in the defensive zone and moving it quickly, whether he passed it to a teammate or carried it out of the zone himself — a very good trait for a bottom-six center to have.

We’ll pass along any info on Jason Dickinson if it becomes available but this appeared to be the culprit:

Big fan of the tactic from the start of overtime to put Foligno out on the ice for the draw then have him immediately depart after winning it. Foligno deserves a lot of credit for that Crevier goal since his clean faceoff victory started the whole sequence, but he also cannot take a penalty during a faceoff when his team is already down a skater.

Here are some OT clips if you wanted to re-live that madness at all:

Bedard and Nazar stand out once again, Rinzel rebounds from a shaky season debut, Levshunov had some moments (especially on that Burakovsky goal), Soderblom played well, Greene looked good … not a bad night overall, even if the outcome leaves a bit of a sour taste in your mouth.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Fraser Minten (BOS) — GWG
  2. Elias Lindholm (BOS) — 1 goal
  3. Andre Burakovsky (CHI) — 1 goal, 1 assist

What’s Next

The Blackhawks head back to Chicago for their first game at the UC this season on Saturday night against the Canadiens at 6 p.m.

LOGIN SIGN UP

Talking Points