The familiar scene of the United Center wasn’t enough for the Blackhawks to pick up a preseason win on Tuesday night, as they lost 3-1 to the Detroit Red Wings.
Detroit scored three goals in this game. Wanna see ’em? Go visit Winging It In Motown.
The Hawks lone goal came in the third period when Colton Dach drove to the net unimpeded and made the most of that wide open lane:
COLTON DACH WOW pic.twitter.com/5iydEVq679
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) October 1, 2025
And that was that!
Notes
Not as lopsided as the game one week ago in Detroit but hard to ignore the disappointment stemming from the first preseason game at home against a B or C squad of the opponent with what is essentially your franchise’s “A” team on the ice. Think most of us here were aware that this season was going to be another slog. But thinking it and seeing it spelled out in front of you are two very different things, with the latter being substantially more sobering to experience. Hope you’re all ready for another long haul.
Let’s change up the mood in here by also stating that this is another game where Frank Nazar was noticeable and it’s going to be very exciting to see what he can accomplish in a full 82 games at the NHL level his season.
The Blackhawks had the No. 7 power play in the NHL last season and the top unit seems poised for another solid season if it can generate chances like it did in this game. Obviously putting the puck into the net is the ultimate goal here, but the quintet of Bedard, Teuvo, Rinzel, Nazar and Bertuzzi created a multitude of chances and were a bit unlucky to not come away with a goal. Six power-play chances without a goal scored will be much more annoying during the regular season, though.
Not expecting Sam Rinzel to make that mistake too many more times in his career, if at all. You know the one. In fact, the overall performance from Rinzel from this game — and this preseason — places him up near Nazar in terms of the excitement building around watching to see what he can do over the course of a full NHL season.
Colton Dach may not quite be up to the level of Rinzel and Nazar but he’s certainly raised some eyebrows this training camp and seems to be destined for a start of the season in Chicago instead of Rockford.
Ethan Del Mastro and Artyom Levshunov both seem afflicted with the same ailment in that the puck gets on their stick and their brain seems to immediately scramble and then it’s anyone’s guess as to where the puck will go next. Del Mastro’s spot on the scorecard below is indicative of his continued mishandles of the puck during this game.
Andre Burakovsky seems to be building some early chemistry with Connor Bedard, and it seems like those two will be starting the season on Chicago’s top line with Ryan Donato. Their showing in this game was closer to average than good but it’ll be interesting to see what that trio does when the games start to matter. Coach Jeff Blashill talked about that group after the game:
Asked Jeff Blashill about the chemistry on the top line of Burakovsky-Bedard-Donato:
— Second City Hockey (@secondcityhockey.bsky.social) September 30, 2025 at 10:11 PM
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A few more of these tilts to go and then we’re on to the real thing next week. Feels like we’ve all had enough of the preamble, eh?
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Michael Brandsegg-Nygard (DET) — 1 goal
- Colton Dach (CHI) — 1 goal
- J.T. Compher (DET) — 1 goal
What’s Next
The Blackhawks return to the United Center on Friday night to host the Minnesota Wild for a 7 p.m. puck drop.