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Keep ‘Em Coming: Blackhawks 7, Blues 3

By the time you’re done reading this recap, Jordan Binnington may have given up three more goals.

Posted on by Dave Melton
Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images

The Hawks handed out another ass-kicking to the Blues on Wednesday night at the United Center in front of a national audience, winning 7-3 over their Central Division foes.

As the United Center faithful was in the middle of a “Green Bay sucks” chant (and there were a lot of them), Tyler Tucker put the Blues up 1-0 just 27 seconds into the game:

Near the middle of the first, Chicago tied the game at one during a power play, with Oliver Moore making an excellent pass across the ice to give Nick Lardis a wide open net for this one-timer:

Moore’s contributions continued in the second period, when he scored this power-play goal to put the Hawks up 2-1:

Just 41 seconds after Moore’s goal, the Blues tied it up on a goal from Otto Stenberg.

But the Hawks took the lead back 35 seconds later on this Connor Murphy slapper:

The Hawks weren’t done. Later in the second, Landon Slaggert got a piece of this Colton Dach shot to help usher it past Binnington.

Then a shot-pass from Louis Crevier found the stick of Jason Dickinson for an easy redirect past Binnington and a 5-2 Hawks lead a few minutes before the second intermission:

Were the goals done? Of course not! In the third period, Andre Burakovsky scored a goal during a 5-on-3 advantage:

Later in the third, Crevier scored when this bouncing puck ended up on his stick with the net wide open:

St. Louis added a late goal but who cares about that?

Notes

That’s now an aggregate score of Hawks 17, Blues 9 in three games this season. Delightful stuff.

Few things have made me more optimistic about Team USA’s chances in the upcoming Olympics than watching Jordan Binnington in this game. They can’t possibly have him as their No. 1 goalie in Italy … right?

Not sure if they’ll develop into top-six guys down the road, but the duo of Oliver Moore and Nick Lardis have clear chemistry together and seem like the kind of players who would be excellent third-liners on a championship-caliber team, ones who could go on a little playoff heater and help swing a series in the Hawks’ favor by providing the depth scoring that seems to make the difference in later postseason rounds.

Speaking of Moore, it’s probably been mentioned here and I’m far too lazy to look up the other recaps for confirmation but there’s been so much focus on how fast he is and how he sometimes struggles to put the puck in the net that he probably hasn’t been given enough credit for his vision and passing. Let that primary assist on the Lardis goal serve as evidence of the existence of both attributes.

Haven’t been found a clip of this online but go back to about three minutes into the first period, and there’s a play where Burakovsky picks up the puck behind the Chicago net with a full head of steam, and he skates the puck all the way to the other end of the ice while weaving in and out of a handful of Blues defenders for a shot on goal … and it just looked so damn effortless — a brief reminder of what Burakovsky looked like in his prime. With a few injury-plagued seasons in his recent past and Burakovsky now 30 years old, he probably won’t regain that form again, but don’t forget about him when talking about the veteran forwards who’ve been key contributors to this recent win streak: that’s now six points (1 G, 5 A) for him in the last four games.

Here’s your nightly Levshunov moment:

The fully realized version of Levshunov’s potential could be an insanely fun thing to watch. Let’s hope he gets there some day.

Obviously Binnington’s hilarious gaffes were an enjoyable part of the second period but the Hawks deserve credit for generating steady, consistent pressure in the offensive zone during that whole period, because those pucks don’t go in if the Hawks aren’t there to take the shots. It was like they smelled blood when Murphy’s shot went in and took over possession of the puck, finishing the second with 5-on-5 advantages of 21-14 in shot attempts, 13-7 in shots on goal, 13-3 in scoring chances and 8-2 in high-danger chances, all adding up to a 79.88 percent expected goal share in the middle frame — just complete dominance.

Time for one more hearty laugh at the Blues’ expense, right? Right!

Was going to type out some thoughts like this but since they’re all summarized so nicely below …

FINAL: Chicago wins a laugher, 7-3, against Jordan Binnington and the Blues. The Blackhawks, without their top two centers, are 4-0-0 in 2026, and 5-1-1 since returning from Christmas break. They're two points out of the wild card. And Connor Bedard is on the verge of returning.

— Mark Lazerus (@marklazerus.bsky.social) January 7, 2026 at 11:30 PM

… then throw in this victory being a win over a divisional foe that was one spot ahead of them in the standings …

Why stop there?

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Connor Murphy (CHI) — 1 goal, 1 assist
  2. Oliver Moore (CHI) — 1 goal, 1 assist
  3. Louis Crevier (CHI) — 1 goal, 1 assist

What’s Next

The Blackhawks are back at the United Center on Friday night, hosting the Washington Capitals for a 7 p.m. start.

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