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The Promised Land: Blackhawks 3, Mammoth 2 (OT)

Exhale. Nazar scores the game winner in OT.

Posted on by Steve Kwiatkowski
Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

The Chicago Blackhawks went to overtime for the third time in four games on Monday night. But this time, the Hawks ended the night with a victory: 3-2 over the Utah Mammoth.

Near the middle of the first period, Barrett Hayton opened up the scoring after the Blackhawks turned the puck over following a faceoff win. Hayton tipped in Nick DeSimone’s shot from the point.

At the 13:46 mark, Ryan Donato’s shot bounced off of Andrew Mangiapane for his first goal as a Blackhawk to tie the game at one.

With about three minutes left in the first, Alex Vlasic lost a board battle and had no forward support on the breakout, leaving Louis Crevier to fend off a 2-on-1. Dylan Guenther scored on it to put Utah up 2-1.

With 4:30 remaining in the second period, Connor Bedard whiffed on a shot, which sent the puck into the end boards. Andre Burakovsky was there to collect the puck and near at the net front to tie the game at two.

With the Blackhawks on the power play and 2:36 into overtime, Teuvo Teravainen found Frank Nazar in the high slot, and Nazar buried it home for the game-winner.

Notes

The Blackhawks certainly didn’t start on the right foot as they didn’t get a shot on goal until there was about 8:20 left on the clock in the first period. Even when they scored their first goal, they only had two shots on goal. They did press on the gas pedal and ended up actually outshooting the Mammoth 8-6 at 5-on-5 in the first, which was good momentum to carry into the middle frame. Utah did have the advantage in 5-on-5 expected goals share at 57.27 percent.

The second period was better for Chicago as they owned an 18-14 advantage in 5-on-5 shot attempts and an 81.01 percent expected goals share at 5-on-5. In general, I thought the Hawks’ forecheck was much more aggressive than in the first period, and their breakouts were much cleaner. Ryan Donato’s line with Ilya Mikheyev and Mangiapane had a very strong opening shift, which set the tone for the period. Connor Bedard also had an excellent period, but we’ll talk more about him below.

While the Blackhawks had the advantage in 5-on-5 expected goal share (51.66 percent) in the third period, Utah challenged the Blackhawks in the defensive zone. It wasn’t a dominant period for the Mammoth (5-on-5 shot attempts were 19-16, Chicago advantage), but the Hawks made a couple of mistakes in their zone that could have been costly. Chicago managed to hang on and head into overtime, where a Blackhawks power play saw Nazar score the game-winner.

Just a couple of players I want to point out, and let’s start with Connor Bedard. He had 5 shots on goal, 11 shot attempts, and 7 scoring chances in all situations. Bedard has been feeling it ever since hockey resumed post-Olympics. Including his two assists tonight, Bedard has seven points in the seven games since the Olympics ended. Yet, somehow I’m still waiting for that Bedard game to happen. I’ve really enjoyed his chemistry with Ryan Greene (who also had a solid night, even with just the one scoring chance). While I don’t think Greene is a long-term partner for Bedard by any means, he’s certainly someone who could fit on the Hawks’ future third line.

Just a couple of Bedard clips:

I thought Sam Rinzel had a strong night. His analytics aren’t eye-popping with a 40.63 percent shot attempt share and a 52.81 percent expected goals share (both at 5-on-5), but I saw good defensive work from Rinzel to help move the puck out of his zone. Rinzel led the team in time on ice (23:22) and wasn’t on the ice for any goals against. He’s been quarterbacking the first power-play unit and, while not a beautiful power play by any means, it’s certainly been an improvement from the games before the Olympic break. The Hawks generated only two scoring chances and faced one against on their three regulation power plays.

Drew Commesso finished the night with a .917 save percentage, stopping 22 of 24 shots on goal. Both goals against were high-danger goals, and Commesso faced six high-danger chances in all situations. Commesso made some nice saves (like the one below) but also had a couple of shaky moments. One of which included the puck sitting on the goal line, which Mikheyev swiftly cleared.

Let’s relish the victory and hope this sparks a strong finish to the Blackhawks schedule. These two meet again on Thursday.

Game Charts

#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Chicago Blackhawks on 2026-03-09 #Blackhawks

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— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards.com) March 9, 2026 at 8:22 PM

Three Stars

  1. Frank Nazar (CHI) — 1 goal
  2. Andre Burakovsky (CHI) — 1 goal
  3. Andrew Mangiapane (CHI) — 1 goal

What’s Next

As mentioned above, these two meet again this Thursday in Utah at 8 p.m.

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