For the third time in just over a month and for the final time this season, the Blackhawks will play the Utah Hockey Club in the fourth of Chicago’s current five-game homestand.
These teams met about three weeks ago, with Connor Bedard ending the evening’s activities in overtime, followed with a little “Are you not entertained?” for the home crowd:
That loss started a bit of a downward slide for Utah, which is 4-4-3 in its last 11 and has lost three straight, including an 8-0 debacle against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. Utah fared better in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers on Friday but suddenly sees itself likely out of the playoff picture. With 76 points in 73 games, Utah is 11 points behind St. Louis for the second wild card spot and even a pair of game in hand on the Blues likely won’t be enough for Utah to close that gap over the final three weeks of the season. It’s still a young, speedy team that has given Chicago fits at times this season, though, so that subpar run of play shouldn’t be reason for any overconfidence from the home side.
Here was the Utah lineup from Thursday:
The main headlines here are focused on that home side, though, as defenseman Sam Rinzel and forward Oliver Moore will be making their NHL debuts on Sunday afternoon after signing with the team on Saturday. Rinzel is a tall, rangy blue-liner who can navigate all three zones deftly with his feet while possessing the hands and hockey IQ to be a factor on offense. Moore can absolutely fly although questions will persist on his hands catching up those feet until he can prove otherwise. Still, the inclusion of those two into Sunday’s lineup makes the Hawks a little bit younger, a little bit faster and a little bit more interesting of a watch.
Lineups are expected to be similar what was shown during Saturday’s practice:
#Blackhawks lineup at practice:
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) March 29, 2025
Donato-Bedard-Mikheyev
Teravainen-Nazar-Bertuzzi
Moore-Veleno-Foligno
Slaggert-Reichel-Maroon
Vlasic-Levshunov
Kaiser-Rinzel
Korchinski-Del Mastro
Söderblom
Knight
Extras: Brodie, Crevier, Martinez (hip)
Not practicing: Murphy (maintenance)
More rookie debuts and a little more reason to tune in Sunday, even in the final weeks after another otherwise unpleasant season.
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Utah HC
44.10% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 53.12% (6th)
43.25% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 52.68% (5th)
2.71 (27th) — Goals per game — 2.78 (24th)
3.59 (30th) — Goals against per game — 3.05 (19th)
45.1% (31st) — Faceoffs — 51.7 (t-9th)
25.6% (t-7th) — Power play — 21.6% (16th)
80.6% (11th) — Penalty kill — 80.5% (12th)
(All stats from this season)
How to watch
When: 3 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: CHSN
Webstream: ESPN+, Hulu
Radio: WGN 720