The Blackhawks return to the United Center on Saturday night to host the Detroit Red Wings about 24 hours after a miserable night in St. Louis was made significantly worse in the game’s closing seconds.
We’ll get to Detroit in a bit because the more pressing issues deal with the home team in this game. Chicago lost 3-2 to the Blues last night but — more importantly — lost Connor Bedard to an apparent shoulder injury in the game’s closing seconds. Word on the severity of his injury won’t come until Monday, so feel free to offer whatever sacrifices to the hockey gods feel necessary. As for the Hawks, losing their top offensive producer led to a corresponding roster move: Nick Lardis was called up from Rockford on Saturday morning. Rockford played at home last night, with Lardis scoring to move his numbers this season to 26 points (13 G, 13 A) in 24 AHL games, and he’ll be thrown right into the fire for this game:
Jeff Blashill says both Nick Lardis and Dominic Toninato will play tonight vs Detroit Says Lardis will be paired with players that match his skill set and will get power-play time
— CHGO Blackhawks (@chgo-blackhawks.bsky.social) December 13, 2025 at 12:13 PM
There’s no replacing Bedard in the lineup, but perhaps the arrival of Lardis and some emergence from slumping players like Frank Nazar can help the Hawks tread water while their young phenom is sidelined.
As for the opponent this evening, the Red Wings still haven’t won a postseason series since Brent Seabrook punted their asses to the Eastern Conference in 2013 and haven’t been to the playoffs at all since 2016. But this season’s version could break at least one of those slumps as Detroit enters this game sitting in third place in the Atlantic Division with 37 points (17-12-3). The top 10 teams out East are separated by just five points, though, so plenty of time remains for the Wings to move up or down in those standings.
After wandering in hockey wilderness for about a decade, Detroit may have finally assembled a legitimate offense, with old friend Alex DeBrincat leading the way at 34 points (16 G, 18 A) in 32 games. Behind him are multiple other real scoring threats in Lucas Raymond (33 points in 30 games), Dylan Larkin (33 in 32) and also this Patrick Kane guy (21 in 23), who’s a hat trick away from 500 goals for his career. The blue line has its own producers as well, most notably ice time leader Moritz Seider (22 points in 32 games, 25:09 ATOI) and fellow top-pairing blue-liner Simon Edvinsson. The Wings have above average possession numbers and are middle in the pack in terms of scoring, which could be enough to send them to the postseason come April.
And they need that offense, because the goaltending situation remains a problem. Neither John Gibson (8-7-1 record, 3.32 goals-against average, .884 save percentage) nor Cam Talbot (9-5-2, 3.01, .885) have been any good, so the Wings will need to continue putting the puck in the net to keep pace out East. Talbot played in Detroit’s last game, a 4-1 loss in Edmonton on Thursday, so it seems like Gibson would be the starter for this one. That loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Detroit, so it’s largely been an upward trend for the winged wheel of late.
Here was Detroit’s lineup from Thursday:
No room for excuses in this league, even if the Hawks losing their best player is a sizeable blow. Would be a great time for some other players to step up in Bedard’s absence.
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Red Wings
46.39% (29th) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 50.60% (14th)
44.22% (31st) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 51.65% (11th)
2.94 (20th) — Goals per game — 3.06 (t-15th)
2.97 (15th) — Goals against per game — 3.34 (25th)
46.4% (29th) — Faceoffs — 52.1% (8th)
22.2% (10th) — Power play — 23.0% (8th)
84.0% (6th) — Penalty kill — 79.1% (20th)
(All stats from this season)
How to watch
When: 7 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: CHSN
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720