Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar had golden opportunities in overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks their first victory of the 2025-26 season. A chance to split the season-opening two-game road trip. For Jeff Blashill to earn his first win as the new head coach. Joonas Korpisalo had other ideas.
Fraser Minten scored the game-winning goal in the extra period to lift the Boston Bruins to a 4-3 win at TD Garden on Thursday night, but it wouldn’t have happened without some remarkable saves first from the 31-year-old Finnish netminder.
Korpisalo came up clutch when his team needed him the most, shutting down the Blackhawks’ young star forwards with the game on the line. Nazar was stopped on a 2-on-1 with Bedard, and then again from right out in front of the Bruins’ net moments later. Bedard was denied on a breakaway attempt that would have put a stamp on an excellent evening. It was almost uncomprehendable that the Blackhawks couldn’t close out the game.
Here are the key stats, takeaways, and highlights from a wacky game the Blackhawks should have won.
Hawks Can’t Hammer One Home
Truly unbelievable. Here’s a look at the incredible saves made by Korpisalo in overtime that allowed the Bruins to stay alive and ultimately come away with two points. Bedard and Nazar are going to be kicking themselves for failing to bury these prime-time chances.
Both Bedard and Nazar had strong performances, but this was a game the Blackhawks needed to put away. The team’s two best offensive threats had the puck on their sticks with a win in their sights, but they failed to covert.
Chaotic Third Period
Following a rather benign opening 40 minutes without much tension between the two teams, all hell broke loose in the third period at TD Garden.
First, Connor Bedard and Charlie McAvoy got mixed up in the Bruins’ zone for a few moments behind the play, as they were tangled up after a minor collision. McAvoy appeared to be frustrated by Bedard failing to get up off his rear end, which led to the defenseman breaking his own stick. Bedard ended up baiting McAvoy into taking a penalty.
Then, a massive skirmish ensued at the end of a Blackhawks power play. Bedard stuck up for Nazar after Zadorov took a few shots after the whistle, leading to pandemonium breaking out. Love to see this young group stick up for one another.
With the emotions running high, Arvid Soderblom made his best save of the night to keep the game tied 3-3 with under seven minutes to play. Soderblom battled hard and stopped 29 of the 33 shots he faced in the game, and this right-pad stop on Tanner Jeannot was his top highlight.
Bedard & Burakovsky Tally Two Points
After only one game, Blashill decided to switch up his top line, swapping Colton Dach in for Ryan Donato on the left wing with Bedard and Andre Burakovsky. That decision proved to pay off, as both Bedard and Burakovsky put up multi-point performances. Dach also recorded a secondary assist and led the team with six hits.
Bedard got the Blackhawks on the board to tie the game at the midway point of the first period, rifling a one-timer off a feed from Burakovsky for his first goal of the season. What a bullet!
Colton Dach➡️Andre Burakovsky➡️Connor Bedard🚨
Bedard absolutely CLAPS a one-timer from Burakovsky for his 1st goal of the season to tie the game 1-1! First point with the #Blackhawks for Burakovsky.
BIG hit by Colton Dach to help make it happen.pic.twitter.com/Wc0gBLZHzT
— Talkin’ Hawkey (@TalkinHawkey) October 9, 2025
Early in the second period, Bedard picked up the primary assist on Louis Crevier’s goal that put the Blackhawks ahead 2-1. Captain Nick Foligno deserves some credit for winning the offensive-zone faceoff to start the sequence.
Nick Foligno➡️Connor Bedard➡️Louis Crevier🚨
Crevier pots his 1st goal of the season in his first game to put the #Blackhawks ahead 2-1! Bedard with the primary assist for his 2nd point of the game. All started with a faceoff win by the Captain!pic.twitter.com/NBu97qhoMS
— Talkin’ Hawkey (@TalkinHawkey) October 10, 2025
Burakovsky capped off a beautiful passing play all around for his first goal with the Blackhawks to tie the game 3-3 in the early stages of the third period.
Frank Nazar➡️Artyom Levshunov➡️Andre Burakovsky🚨
Levshunov makes a nice feed to find Burakovsky on the rush for his 1st goal with the #Blackhawks to tie the game 3-3! 2nd point of the game for Burakovsky. He’s been much better tonight.pic.twitter.com/VFeFLAT3vG
— Talkin’ Hawkey (@TalkinHawkey) October 10, 2025
Bedard brought his A-game with him to Florida for the season opener on Tuesday, but the same couldn’t be said for Burakovsky. He finished without a shot on goal and had only one individual scoring chance in his Blackhawks debut. But Blashill gave him another crack with Bedard in Boston, and Burakovsky made good on the opportunity.
11 Forwards, 7 Defensemen in the Lineup
In a rather interesting turn of events, Blashill elected to roll out an 11-forward, seven-defenseman lineup just ahead of puck drop. Sam Lafferty ended up being a last-second scratch despite taking part in pre-game warm-ups, while Crevier made his season debut as the extra blue-liner.
Crevier took advantage and potted his first goal of the season, while also finishing with a plus-two rating in 8:22 of ice time. The mammoth 6-foot-8 defenseman now has five career goals in only 57 NHL games. Not too shabby for a former seventh-round selection back in 2020.
With only 11 forwards dressed, Bedard took a handful of extra shifts against the Bruins, with a few coming alongside fourth-liners Foligno and Ryan Greene.
The Foligno-Greene-Bedard trio had an 8-5 advantage in shot attempts, led 4-3 in scoring chances, and were on the ice for one goal for and zero against in just below four minutes of ice time together at five-on-five, per Natural Stat Trick.
Rinzel Responds
Sam Rinzel faced a tough task in the season opener vs. Florida, as he skated on the top pairing without defensive anchor Alex Vlasic on his side, which led to a rough showing. Rinzel committed a team-high five giveaways and was on the ice for a whopping 14 scoring chances against in just over 25 minutes of ice time. He was asked to handle a lot in just his 10th NHL game.
But with Vlasic back in the lineup on Thursday, Rinzel fared far better and utilized his swift skating ability to generate quality looks for himself and his teammates.
Rinzel also had an outstanding look for his first NHL goal, but Korpisalo (story of the night) came up with a big-time glove save.
Dickinson Doesn’t Return
The Blackhawks were actually down to only 10 forwards for the final 25 minutes of Thursday’s game, as forward Jason Dickinson exited late in the second period and didn’t return for the remainder of the contest.
Dickinson took a hard hit from Jeannot at center ice and immediately skated back to the visitors’ bench.
Blashill didn’t provide an update on Dickinson’s status during his post-game presser. The Blackhawks are already down one bottom-six forward, as Landon Slaggert remains on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. Let’s hope Dickinson isn’t in jeopardy of missing serious time moving forward. We’ll have a better idea of what he’s dealing with in the coming days.
UP NEXT
The Blackhawks return to the United Center for their home opener in another Original Six matchup with the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT and will be televised on CHSN, the NHL Network, CNE, CITY, and TVAS.
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