It wasn’t the prettiest performance, but the Chicago Blackhawks held on to defeat the Utah Mammoth 3-1 at the United Center on Monday night for their first victory of the 2025-26 season. After three consecutive one-goal losses, the Blackhawks finally got the job done in a close contest, which also gave Jeff Blashill his first win as the team’s new head coach.
“We’ve been in this situation four times now,” Blashill said after the game. “That’s a good thing, but you have to find ways to win. You can’t just be close in those games. You have to continue to find ways to win, which we did tonight… For me, personally, it’s a good feeling. You want to get that first one out of the way, and hopefully, there are many more to come.”
Ilya Mikheyev tallied two of the team’s three goals in the game, and the third line of Mikheyev, Ryan Donato, and Jason Dickinson was the strongest trio offensively for Blashill against the Mammoth.
Andre Burakovsky scored the game-winning goal on the power play in the third period and has now found the back of the net in two of his last three games. After a sluggish start to his Blackhawks tenure during the preseason and on opening night against Florida, Burakovsky is beginning to settle in nicely with his new team.
“I’m getting comfortable in the group,” Burakovsky said. “It’s a really good group, and I really enjoy being here. I’m super excited to be a part of this group, and I’m getting more comfortable every day.”
Spencer Knight had yet another stellar performance, stopping 22 of the 23 shots to earn the win in net. Through his first three starts, Knight now has an impressive 2.35 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage. While the Blackhawks have struggled to give him enough run support, Knight has held up his end of the bargain every time he’s hit the ice this year.
“I think we’ve had good efforts,” Knight said about the opening four games of the season. “I don’t really like to focus on just winning the game. I think the process is what matters, and the more we focus on that, the more I think we’ll be in a position to win hockey games. You can’t just come to the rink and think about winning. We need to have winning habits from the start.”
Let’s get into the highlights and key stats from the first win of the Jeff Blashill Era in Chicago.
FIRST PERIOD
There wasn’t much action in the opening 20 minutes on Monday for either side, as the two teams totaled only 11 shots on goal combined in the first period. According to Natural Stat Trick, only nine scoring chances and four high-danger chances were generated in the frame. It was a pretty sleepy start for both squads.
The most interesting moment of the first period was perhaps the lights shutting off in the middle of play at the United Center. That led to a few excellent GIFs being posted on social media.
SECOND PERIOD
After surrendering the opening goal in the last two games, the Blackhawks struck first near the midway point of the second period on Monday. Mikheyev managed to stuff a shot through Mammoth goaltender Vitek Vanacek for his first goal of the season to put the Hawks ahead 1-0. Dickinson and Donato were credited with the assists.
While the Blackhawks scored the lone goal, the Mammoth dominated in terms of puck possession in the period. Utah led 13-3 in shots on goal, 15-5 in scoring chances, and 7-3 in high-danger chances in all situations in the middle frame. Knight did a tremendous job of keeping the visitors off the board and giving his team the lead going into the third period for the first time this year.
THIRD PERIOD
Just over one minute into the third period, the Mammoth finally managed to beat Knight to even up the score. After a failed clearing attempt by Sam Rinzel, Dylan Guenther made a phenomenal feed to set up J.J. Peterka at the far post to tie the game 1-1.
After Mikhail Sergachev was whistled for hooking against Connor Bedard, the Blackhawks capitalized on the ensuing power play for the team’s second PPG of the season. Colton Dach kicked the puck over to Nick Foligno along the wall, and the Captain then made an incredible cross-ice pass to find Burakovsky all alone in front of Vanacek. The 30-year-old winger made no mistake with the shot, blasting a wrister blocker side to regain the lead.
Colton Dach➡️Nick Foligno➡️Andre Burakovsky🚨
Burakovsky snaps home his 2nd goal of the season to put the #Blackhawks ahead 2-1 on the power play! Heck of a pass from Foligno to make it happen.pic.twitter.com/eiA4758yZK
— Talkin’ Hawkey (@TalkinHawkey) October 14, 2025
Mammoth defenseman John Marino took a costly penalty with just over three minutes remaining, which put his team in a tough spot. Vanacek was able to get off the ice for the extra attacker with only 40 seconds to play, and there wasn’t enough time for Utah to create any dangerous opportunities.
A fitting way to end the night, Mikheyev put the puck into the empty net for his second goal to seal the Blackhawks’ first win of the season.
GOAL: Ilya Mikheyev scores his second of the game on the empty net to seal the Blackhawks first win of the season. Looked like Mikheyev wanted to pad Bedard’s stats but played it safe pic.twitter.com/t3kti4Oe6I
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) October 14, 2025
Dickinson’s Strong Return
Dickinson was listed as a game-time decision after suffering a lower-body injury in Thursday’s 4-3 OT loss to the Boston Bruins. The Blackhawks were certainly fortunate that he was able to suit up, as the veteran forward played a pivotal role in the win.
Mikheyev’s two goals will get most of the attention, but Dickinson was excellent in his own right on Monday. With Dickinson on the ice at even strength, the Blackhawks led 8-2 in shots on goal, 8-5 in scoring chances, 6-3 in high-danger chances, and 1-0 in goals for. Dickinson tallied a primary assist and won eight of 17 faceoffs in his return to the lineup.
“I thought that line was excellent,” Blashill said about the Mikheyev-Dickinson-Donato trio. “He, Mikheyev, and Donato did a really good job. They did the best thing you can do against good players, and that’s make them defend. Between Dickinson, Mikheyev, and Donato, they had a really good night.”
As a trio, the Blackhawks led 13-5 in shot attempts, 8-1 in shots on goal, and 8-2 in scoring chances at five-on-five against Utah. When they weren’t on the ice, the Mammoth led 30-6 in shot attempts, 10-2 in shots on goal, and 12-3 in scoring chances. They were the difference on Monday.
When the line of Donato-Dickinson-Mikheyev was on the ice at 5-on-5 tonight:
• Shot attempts: 13-5 CHI
• Shots on goal: 8-1 CHI
• Scoring chances: 8-2 CHI
When they weren’t:
• Shot attempts: 30-6 UTAH
• SOG: 10-2 UTAH
• Scoring chances: 12-3 UTAH
Dominance. #Blackhawks
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 14, 2025
11F/7D Lineup
For the second time in three games, Blashill elected to roll out an 11-forward, seven-defensemen lineup against the Mammoth. That meant both Artyom Levshunov and Louis Crevier were part of the blue line, while Lukas Reichel and Sam Lafferty were the healthy scratches.
Blashill said that he’ll likely turn to that style of lineup frequently throughout the season, mostly because of the number of young defensemen in the lineup.
“We’ll do it a decent amount, and the reason for it is we have a lot of really young D. I’ll give you two things: one, when you have really young D, you don’t know what you’re going to get every night. So, when there are seven there, it increases the odds that certain guys are on [top of their game that night]. More specifically, it allows us to even out the minutes. Louis Crevier’s an excellent penalty kill guy. Murphy and Crevier can start those kills if one of them’s not in the box. Rinzel and Levshunov have got the power-play minutes, so on that right side, it really evens those minutes out, which I think is a positive thing.”
For Reichel, who centered the team’s fourth line during the morning skate on Monday and seemed like he was going to play, it probably wasn’t easy to hear that he was going to be scratched for the third time already this season. And Blashill’s liking of an 11F/7D lineup won’t do him any favors in getting consistent opportunities moving forward. Once again, Reichel remains in limbo with the Blackhawks.
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