Chicago Blackhawks secure a hard-fought 3-1 win over the Utah Mammoth. Catch all the game highlights and insights.
The Chicago Blackhawks hosted the Utah Mammoth on Monday night and secured their first victory of the season. The Hawks won 3-1 against a team that’s trying to collect meaningful points. It wasn’t a pretty win, but there’s a lot to like.
Box Score: Blackhawks 3 – Mammoth 1
From Natural StatTrick
Game Notes
Ilya Mikheyev scored two goals (one an empty-netter) and Andre Burakovsky scored his second of the season. Head coach Jeff Blashill opted to bring in Artyom Levshunov and roll with seven defensemen and 11 forwards. Levshunov looked much better in this. In fact, the defense as a whole looked better (not perfect). Offense was definitely an issue—but there’s an easy explanation for that.
Wyatt Kaiser
Wyatt Kaiser has had an impressive start to the season. He’s not incredible, but he’s the best Blackhawks defenseman right now. Kaiser has the best Corsi relative to teammates for defensemen through four games (+18.83/60). A large part of that is how Jeff Blashill wants his defensemen to be more aggressive in the neutral zone. Kaiser has been effective at standing up the blueline and defending the red line by creating turnovers and making it difficult for the opposition to make entries. With Kaiser, the Hawks have a 2.2 expected goals against rate—without him, they have a 3.66 xGA/60.
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Defensive Zone Entries
Jeff Blashill’s system includes his defensemen being aggressive and making it difficult for the opposition to enter their zone. The Utah Mammoth had a difficult time entering the Hawks’ zone and establishing possession, which is why a good portion of the game was spent going back and forth in the neutral zone. Last season, Utah led the league in 5-on-5 shots off the rush per 60 (15.03). By forcing Utah to dump the puck, this slowed their offense down. This is what Utah opted to do during the second and third periods.
Blackhawks Offense
This is going to be an issue all season long. The Blackhawks struggled not only to create offensive zone entries, but they also failed to maintain offensive zone pressure. The Hawks’ 5-on-5 possession stats were a meager 31.51% for Corsi, and their scoring chances were a humble 43.98% expected goals share. Connor Bedard didn’t register a single shot attempt at 5-on-5, and the offense as a whole struggled to get to the scoring area of the ice. The issue here is roster construction. Andre Burakovsky isn’t a player of Bedard’s caliber, and Colton Dach is best suited for the third line.
Oct 13, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Blackhawks right wing Ilya Mikheyev (95) celebrates with Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Artyom Levshunov (55) after he scores a goal against Utah Mammoth goaltender Vitek Vanecek (41) during the second period at United Center. Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images
Extra Observations
The Blackhawks’ power-play entries need some work. The first of three power-play attempts was brutal to watch as the Hawks’ first power-play unit failed to enter the zone.
Dach led the team in hits with seven on the night.
The Hawks’ defensive zone coverage of man-on-man defense is a bit hairy right now. If this is supposed to be a hybrid, the defensemen are chasing the puck-carrier above the dots. They’re supposed to release and collapse depending on their trigger. I’m not observing that.
Spencer Knight had an easy but solid night in net. He stopped 22 of 23 for a .957 SV%.
The Hawks take on the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night at 8:30 pm CT.