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Look What Happened: Panthers 3, Blackhawks 2 (OT)

Guess they’re the champs for a reason.

Posted on by Dave Melton
Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

A youthful Blackhawks lineup opened the 2025-26 season learning why the Florida Panthers have won the last two Cups, as the league’s reigning champions raised another banner then handed Chicago a 3-2 overtime loss on Tuesday night.

The first goal of the game went to the visitors, though, as Frank Nazar finished a breakaway to put Chicago ahead 1-0 despite an onslaught of early Florida chances:

AJ Greer tied the game at one just 63 seconds later:

And then Carter Verhaeghe put the Panthers ahead with this power-play tally later in the first:

Early in the second, the game was tied up at two again when Nazar set up Teuvo for a goal on this odd-man rush

But a well-executed zone entry in the third period resulted in a Jesper Boqvist goal, giving the champs a 3-2 lead they would not relinquish:

Chicago had some decent looks late but were unable to find the tying goal.

Notes

One thing that will need to be stated again and again this season is that there are going to be countless moments when several of the Blackhawks young players look bad. It may even last for an entire game at times. Those are going to happen and they shouldn’t be ignored. But the hope is that those moments don’t happen as often as the season unfolds, and that there are also enough moments of promise to sustain us throughout the year. The bad may not even outweigh the good entirely by the end of the season, but the good still needs to be there in some manner.

The section above is in direct reference to the first periods played by both Sam Rinzel and Artyom Levshunov, who both could not depart for the first intermission quick enough after a woeful opening 20. Both improved as the game continued and neither one of them would be the first to wilt under that hellacious Florida forecheck. The Panthers are two-time champions for a reason.

Two noticeable moments from Levshunov that stood out: one came near the 9-minute mark in the second, when Levshunov was skating back to retrieve the puck, shook off a tenacious forechecker and then navigated through the defensive and neutral zones so he could get to the bench for a change. In the third, he avoided a pair of charging forecheckers by turning the puck straight up the middle of the ice to Nick Foligno, who was awaiting in the low slot. It’s a risky play but sometimes it is the correct one when forecheckers take away the boards. Hoping for more moments like that out of No. 55 this season.

Standing out that much on a national broadcast is one way for Frank Nazar to become much more than just our little secret. He was electric in this game, his line with Teuvo and Tyler Bertuzzi was consistently the most threatening one Chicago had in this game (check out the game card below for more confirmation of that) and a full season of Nazar at the NHL level could very well be the most enjoyable part of this entire season.

Also may be willing to retract some of the things said about Bertuzzi last season if he plays like that consistently this season.

Connor Bedard rung one off the post a few minutes in and was noticeable all game long. Didn’t score, but certainly had plenty of scoring chances, particularly this one that would’ve been on a highlight reel if he’d finished it (and take note of who he undresses along the way!):

Bedard also set Colton Dach up with this golden scoring chance that Dach couldn’t turn into a shot on goal, unfortunately:

More of that from Bedard this season and any of the mild concerns that built up during his sophomore year will quickly become a thing of the past.

Here is the Spencer Knight Appreciation Section, as this game would’ve been a disaster early were it not for his efforts:

Don’t want to overreact too much to this, but it’s probably not a great sign for Ryan Donato that he didn’t even make it to the end of the first game on the top line. He likely wasn’t going to repeat his 30-plus goals from last season but he could still be a decent secondary contributor on this team. “Could” being the operative word there.

Not entirely sure how much to credit Blashill with this, but there was a 20-30 second stretch late in the third when the Hawks couldn’t break out the puck enough to get Knight out of the goal while searching for that tying goal. A timeout was called at the next stoppage and Blashill was shown drawing something up at the bench. Soon after the ensuing faceoff, Chicago quickly navigated through Florida’s defense and set up in the O-zone for a couple of solid chances in the final minute. Mark that down as a positive sign for Blashill from the game.

It should be interesting to see what this team looks like on Thursday against an opponent likely much closer to its weight class.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Jesper Boqvist (FLA) — 1 goal
  2. Mackie Samoskevich (FLA) — 2 assists
  3. Frank Nazar (CHI) — 1 goal, 1 assist

What’s Next

The Blackhawks head to Boston to face the Bruins on Thursday at 6 p.m.

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