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Don’t Dream It, Be It: Blackhawks 3, Mammoth 1

The Blackhawks pick up their first win of the 2025-26 season.

Posted on by L_B_R
Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images

After dropping their first three games of the season, the Chicago Blackhawks earned their first win: a 3-1 victory over the Utah Mammoth at the United Center on Monday night.

After a scoreless first period, the Blackhawks struck first midway through the second after Ilya Mikheyev came from below the goal line and slipped the puck behind Vitek Vanecek. A smart pinch by Artyom Levshunov along the right boards allowed the puck to reach Jason Dickinson, who sent it down low to Mikheyev.

The Mammoth tied it up at one just over a minute into the third period. Dylan Guenther drove around the back of the net and fired the initial shot, with JJ Peterka jumping on the rebound to bury the equalizer.

Andre Burakovsky put the Blackhawks back up 2-1 with a power-play goal at 8:55 of the third period. After the Blackhawks won a battle along the boards, Nick Foligno sent a blind backhand pass across the ice, setting up Burakovsky with a wide-open look that he buried.

Mikheyev added an empty-net goal with six seconds left to give the Blackhawks a 3-1 win.

Notes

The Blackhawks were decent in the first period, generating solid chances at 5-on-5 (owning 58.67 percent of expected goals) despite once again being on the wrong side of the shot possession stats (just 42.11 percent of shot attempts). Even that was really only a three-attempt difference, and shots were even at four apiece, so overall it was fairly even play. The only real issue in this period was that the Blackhawks didn’t get into high-danger areas enough when they did have the puck: their chances were still threatening but came from farther out, with only one opportunity in the high-danger area.

The second period, on the other hand, was heavily tilted toward the Mammoth: the Blackhawks were out-attempted 26-8, outshot 11-3, and managed just 32.57 percent of the expected goals at 5-on-5. The Blackhawks did manage to score during one of their few stretches of consistent zone time, had a few other bright offensive moments sprinkled in, and disrupted Utah’s prolonged shifts as much as possible. Still, the period was clearly dictated by the Mammoth, and it felt inevitable that they were going to score.

And they did just that in the opening minutes of the third period. The Blackhawks responded well, though, pushing back strongly right after the goal against and keeping things fairly even with the Mammoth until score effects kicked in following Chicago’s power-play goal. This period resembled the first, where shot possession still leaned toward Utah (Blackhawks at 35 percent of shot attempts) while quality slightly favored Chicago (52.44 percent).

Overall, the Blackhawks kept the scoring chances close-ish (19-13), shots down low (allowed only 23 against in all situations), and Spencer Knight was good in net when it mattered — so good enough effort in an albeit imperfect performance to secure their first win of the season.

Knight didn’t have to work as hard in this game as his other two thanks to that low shot count, but he had some strong moments when he bailed out his teammates or when the Mammoth were just peppering him in bursts. He finished with a .957 save percentage this game, raising his season save percentage to .920.

It’s not surprising that Mikheyev stood out in a low-event game like this. He not only generated chances at 5-on-5 (four attempts, two shots on goal, all three high-danger), but he was also excellent on the penalty kill, and his entire line did a great job flipping the ice. In fact, they were the only Blackhawks line to post positive shot metrics, owning the shot attempts (13-5), shots on goal (8-1), and expected goal share (86.08 percent) when that trio was on the ice. Jason Dickinson finished with four attempts, three shots on goal, and three scoring chances, while Ryan Donato had three attempts and chances apiece — though none made it on net. They did all this while matching up against Utah’s top two lines, too. Dickinson’s defensive impact was especially noticeable throughout the game and his face ability was used strategically as well.

Unfortunately, Mikheyev and Dickinson were the only two forwards to register a shot on goal at 5-on-5. The rest came from the blue line, with Connor Murphy recording two, and Wyatt Kaiser, Matt Grzelcyk, and Artyom Levshunov each adding one.

This isn’t to say the forward group was bad, the shots just weren’t there. Bedard’s line even went without a shot attempt at 5-on-5, but Bedard was solid in transition and Colton Dach continues to be physical. Burkavosky was fine as well, but he was better on the power play — two shots on goal, scoring on one. Still, you hope this line isn’t in the red quite so much going forward. Passing was the main issue with this line imo.

Frank Nazar’s line with Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen fared a bit better — each player generated at least one shot attempt, with Bertuzzi getting two — but also top above water in terms of possession or chance share. They were also one of the better defensive forward groups, right behind Dickinson’s line. Not their most explosive offensive outing of the season, but one of the first period’s best chances came from this trio:

The defensemen were all fairly solid, too, though they had some sloppy passing that did contribute to the lack of sustained zone time. The ice was reportedly pretty bad, but cleaning up transition passes could have made a big difference in terms of getting time to really produce.

Interestingly, Wyatt Kaiser led all blue-liners in ice time at 5-on-5 (19:01) and in all situations (21:49). That’s nearly three and four minutes more, respectively, than Alex Vlasic in those same situations. Again, it’s not surprising that a poised, defense-first player who skates and processes the game as well as Kaiser has through these first few games was trusted heavily in a low-event game like this one.

Obviously, ice time for the defensemen will dip across the board when they’re rolling with seven on the back end, but the drop-off for Sam Rinzel and Connor Murphy was still a bit surprising at first glance. Rinzel played 12:16 at 5-on-5 and 14:30 overall, with about half of that (7:17) coming in the first period. While his shift count stayed fairly consistent (seven in the first, six in the second, five in the third), his minutes dipped slightly in the latter two frames (3:29 and 3:44). Murphy logged 12:40 at 5-on-5 and 16:16 overall but with his ice time trending upward as the game went on — from 3:52 in the first to 6:22 in the third — likely reflecting Jeff Blashill leaning more on the defensive guys late.

Artyom Levshunov drew back into the lineup as well, and his playing time was steady across all three periods (about five to six minutes each). He finished just ahead of Murphy at 5-on-5 (12:43) and just behind him overall (15:54). It was a nice game from Levshunov — still some adventurous roaming and maybe a bit too aggressive at times — but his pinch along the boards helped set up the first goal. And honestly, you just have to love how fired up he gets anytime someone scores — that enthusiasm is fun to see.

Not a huge fan of the 11F/7D setup in general, but it sounds like the Blackhawks plan to roll with it regularly for now because of the team’s youth, according to Blashill. I’d imagine that would change if they had more top forward talent available (like Oliver Moore or Nick Lardis) but, for the moment, it’s a fine approach — at least it gets the young defensemen some ice time instead of leaving them in the press box.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Ilya Mikheyev (CHI) — 2 goals
  2. Spencer Knight (CHI) — 22 saves on 23 shots, .957 save percentage
  3. Andre Burakovsky (CHI) — 1 goal

What’s Next

The Blackhawks head to St. Louis on Wednesday to take on the Blues at 8:30 p.m.

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