After spending over two weeks away from home, the Chicago Blackhawks (8-5-3) are back at the United Center for a matchup against the New Jersey Devils (11-4-1) on Wednesday night. The game will be nationally televised on TNT and is the back end of the network’s doubleheader, following a tilt between the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Blackhawks opened November with five consecutive road contests, but they’ll play on home ice for all but one of their remaining nine games for the rest of the month. Chicago’s young group has a tremendous opportunity to expand on its impressive start to the season with a flurry of home games ahead on the schedule. Wednesday marks the beginning of the four-game homestand for the Blackhawks.
Last time out, Connor Bedard extended his point streak to eight games with a three-point showing (1G, 2A), while Arvid Soderblom made a career-high 45 saves to help the Blackhawks defeat the Red Wings 5-1 in Detroit on Sunday. Andre Burakovsky (1G, 1A), Tyler Bertuzzi (1G, 1A), Teuvo Teravainen (1G, 1A), and Artyom Levshunov (2A) also each tallied two points in the team’s third consecutive win. The Blackhawks’ special teams units were flawless at Little Caesars Arena, as the power play was 3-for-3, and the penalty kill was 5-for-5.
New Jersey is coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Islanders in their most recent appearance on Monday. The Devils began the season with eight wins in their first nine games, but they’ve been reeling a bit over the last two weeks. Since Oct. 28, their record is 3-3-1 in seven games. Still, the Devils currently sit atop the Metropolitan Division and entire Eastern Conference with 23 points, one point clear of the Carolina Hurricanes.
Jack Hughes has led the charge for New Jersey in the early portion of the year, as he’s the team’s leading goal scorer (10) and point getter (18) through 16 games. Jesper Bratt is second on the team with 16 points, and Dawson Mercer is right behind him with 15 points.
Here’s everything to note before puck drops at 8:30 p.m. CT (WHY?!) in Chicago.
Blackhawks Regular Season Notes (Last Five Games)
The first point of the six-game road trip was earned, but the Blackhawks lost for a second consecutive contest, falling 3-2 in overtime to the Edmonton Oilers. Connor Bedard extended his point streak, but Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were too much to handle.
The losing streak has reached three games after a 3-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken. The Blackhawks outshot and outpossessed the Kraken, but they only had one shot beat Joey Daccord in net. Chicago remains winless during their current road trip.
Spencer Knight was stellar in the opening 40 minutes, and Tyler Bertuzzi recorded a third-period hat trick to lift the Blackhawks to their first win during the current road trip. FINALLY, the losing streak to the Vancouver Canucks has ended.
Connor Bedard EXPLODED for a four-point performance, while Spencer Knight recorded his first shutout with the Blackhawks in a 4-0 win over the Calgary Flames. Bedard is now second in the NHL with 22 points, and Knight continues to play at a Vezina-level early this season.
The Blackhawks closed out their road trip with three consecutive wins after a 5-1 victory against the Detroit Red Wings. Connor Bedard momentarily jumped into the NHL lead in points after recording one goal and two assists at Little Caesars Arena.
Projected Blackhawks Lineup
Forward Lines
Tyler Bertuzzi — Connor Bedard — Andre Burakovsky*
Teuvo Teravainen — Ryan Greene — Ilya Mikheyev
Colton Dach — Nick Foligno — Sam Lafferty
Ryan Donato — Oliver Moore
Defensive Pairings
Alex Vlasic-Sam Rinzel
Wyatt Kaiser Artyom Levshunov
Matt Grzelcyk-Connor Murphy
Louis Crevier
Scratched
F — Landon Slaggert*
Injured
G — Laurent Brossoit (hip), F — Jason Dickinson (upper body), F — Frank Nazar (lower body)
***
The Blackhawks are expected to be without Jason Dickinson and Frank Nazar on Wednesday night. Neither player participated in Tuesday’s practice session, and head coach Jeff Blashill confirmed that he doesn’t anticipate them playing in the team’s return home.
Bertuzzi is expected to play on the top line with Bedard and Burakovsky, and all three players enter Wednesday’s contest on a hot streak. Bertuzzi has six goals over his last three games, Bedard has 18 points (7G, 11A) during his current eight-game point streak, and Burakovsky has four multi-point performances in his past seven outings. It’s also worth mentioning that Bertuzzi has points in 10 of his last 11 matchups against New Jersey, with five multi-point efforts.
UPDATE: Burakovsky (undisclosed) is listed as a game-time decision. Should he not play against New Jersey, then Landon Slaggert, who was recalled from Rockford on Wednesday afternoon, will be the 11th forward in the lineup.
Blashill will roll with seven defensemen in the lineup for the 15th time in the team’s first 17 games of the season. Levshunov, who’s riding a three-game point streak, picked up his first multi-point game of his NHL career against the Devils on Mar. 26, 2025.
Devils Projected Lineup
Forward Lines
Arseny Gritsyuk — Jack Hughes — Dawson Mercer
Timo Meier — Nico Hischier — Jesper Bratt
Ondrej Palat — Cody Glass — Stephen Noesen
Paul Cotter — Luke Glendening — Zack MacEwen
Defensive Pairings
Jonas Siegenthaler — Simon Nemec
Brenden Dillon — Luke Hughes
Dennis Cholowski — Colton White
Scratched
F — Juho Lammikko
Injured
F — Connor Brown (upper body), F — Evgenii Dadonov (fractured hand), D — Dougie Hamilton (lower body), F — Johnathan Kovacevic (lower body), F — Marc McLaughlin (upper body), D — Brett Pesce (hand)
Projected Goaltending Matchup
Spencer Knight (6-3-2, 2.50 GAA, .926 Sv%, & 1 SO) vs. Jacob Markstrom (4-2-1, 3.82 GAA, .872 Sv%, 0 SO)
Knight is expected to be back in net for his 12th start of the season after serving as the backup on Sunday. The 24-year-old netminder stopped all 33 shots faced to record his first shutout as a member of the Blackhaws in his most recent start last Friday. Knight is 3-3-0 with a 2.82 GAA and .901 Sv% in six career appearances against the Devils.
Markstrom will make his eighth start of the season for the Devils. The 35-year-old netminder stopped 21 of 24 shots faced in his most recent outing in an overtime loss to the Islanders on Monday. Markstrom is 12-4-4 with a 2.51 GAA, .916 Sv%, and two shutouts in 21 career appearances against Chicago.
2024-25 Results vs. Devils
The Devils won both meetings against the Blackhawks during the 2024-25 campaign. New Jersey is also 6-1-0 versus Chicago in seven matchups since the start of 2021.
12/14/24 — 4-1 L, Prudential Center
03/26/25 — 5-3 L, United Center
2025-26 Team Stats
Chicago Blackhawks:
Goals — Connor Bedard & Tyler Bertuzzi (9)
Assists — Connor Bedard (16)
Points — Connor Bedard (25)
GF/GP — 3.31 (9th)
GA/GP — 2.50 (3rd)
PP% — 25.5% (7th)
PK% — 83.9% (8th)
FOW% — 47.3% (26th)
New Jersey Devils:
Goals — Jack Hughes (10)
Assists — Jesper Bratt (11)
Points — Jack Hughes (18)
GF/GP — 3.31 (9th)
GA/GP — 2.94 (13th)
PP% — 25.6% (6th)
PK% — 85.7% (5th)
FOW% — 48.2% (22nd)
How To Watch, Listen, & Game Info
New Jersey Devils (11-4-1, 23 points) vs. Chicago Blackhawks (8-5-3, 19 points)
8:30 p.m. CT — United Center
Head Coaches — Jeff Blashill (CHI), Sheldon Keefe (NJD)
TV/Stream: TNT (Faust/Botterill/Armstrong, truTV, HBO MAX, SN360, SN (JIP), TVAS2
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Konroyd)
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