A valiant comeback effort was mounted, but a three-goal deficit proved too much to overcome for the Blackhawks, who lost 5-2 to the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday night in their 2024-25 season opener and the first NHL game for the league’s newest franchise.
Dylan Guenther scored the first goal in Utah’s history after a speedy team attack up the ice set him up with a one-timer from a spot where Petr Mrazek probably should’ve made the save:
Chicago started taking control of the play in the second but that did not result in a goal. Instead, Utah went up 3-0 when Barrett Hayton got his stick on this Mikhail Sergachev point shot:
Then, a moment of brilliance finally got the Blackhawks on the board. With about five minutes left in the second, Connor Bedard deftly navigated the puck into the Utah zone and set up our prodigal son Teuvo, who returned to us this summer and returned to the scoresheet with this nifty backhand flip of the puck for a goal:
Let’s watch it from another angle, shall we?
Yeah, that’s the good stuff.
Utah opened the third period with the lion’s share of scoring opportunities but a draw in the offensive zone was won by Nick Foligno, and Foligno was rewarded with a goal when he tipped in Alex Vlasic’s point shot:
The Blackhawks had some chances later in the third to tie the game up.
Taylor Hall was denied on a breakaway:
Connor Bedard attempted The Michigan:
The Blackhawks never could get that tying goal and then a pair of late Utah goals put this game to bed.
Notes
Bedard had some rough moments in the first 25-30 minutes or so but the way he so effortlessly breezed past alleged No. 1 defenseman Mikhail Sergachev ahead of that Teuvo goal was simply magnificent. It’s incredible how quickly he can go from a subpar night to a highlight-reel play that results in fairly easy goal for a teammate. Just so many ways that he can affect the game and we got a very early reminder of that in this game.
One of the big questions entering last season was whether or not Philipp Kurashev could be a reliable contributor without skating on the same line as Connor Bedard. More games like the one he put together this evening would answer that question in the affirmative. Go look at who made the pass to Hall for that third-period breakaway as evidence.
Kurashev’s line with Taylor Hall and Tyler Bertuzzi on his wings was one of the Blackhawks best in this game. They were down 16-13 in shot attempts during their 11:02 of 5-on-5 ice time together but still posted a 57.95 percent expected goal share, indicative of the consistently quality chances they were creating. That trio hit also a few posts, so that hopefully means all of those chances will be resulting in some goals in the very near future.
Nolan Allan’s debut: only skated 10:26, likely affected by the power-play heavy portions of the second period and Chicago chasing for the tying goal in the third. Offense isn’t his strong suit, so it’s not surprising he wasn’t utilized in those situations. But he was on the positive side of just about every possession metric and didn’t make any egregious errors that resulted in goals against. When Allan’s at his best, you probably won’t notice him much. So chalk up this evening’s performance as a solid start.
Plenty of gripes to be had from this game, largely revolving around the dreadful power play and some lineup decisions with that particular part of the game. Let’s look past that for now and lean towards the positives from this game instead. We got a glimpse of the magic Bedard and Teuvo can create together. The second line looked like a trio that could ease the scoring burden on Bedard. A first-round pick had a solid debut on defense. And, perhaps most important of all, the Blackhawks remained competitive in a game where that seemed destined for a blowout early on. And when Utah scored that gut-punch of a goal in the second after Chicago started controlling the play, the Blackhawks still rallied to make it a one-goal game and were very inches away from forcing overtime in the waning seconds. The possession metrics largely favor Chicago, which was a rarity last season, even in games when the Blackhawks were trailing all night. After an abysmal postseason, this team looked a lot more like what was expected: a squad that can be competitive on most nights, even if they fall short of a win more often than not.
We’ll obviously need more than 60 minutes for this to be considered a reliable sample but it’s a decent place to start.
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Dylan Guenther (UTA) — 2 goals
- Connor Bedard (CHI) — 2 assists, 1 embarrassment of a Utah defender at the blue line
- Barrett Hayton (UTA) — 1 goal, 1 assist
What’s Next
The Blackhawks head north of the border on Friday night to face the Winnipeg Jets at 7 p.m.