The Chicago Blackhawks fell 3–2 to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night, coughing up a two-goal lead by allowing three unanswered goals in a rough third period.

After a scoreless first period, the Blackhawks opened the scoring 43 seconds into the second. Tyler Bertuzzi cashed in on a slick tic-tac-toe setup from Frank Nazar and Teuvo Teravainen, putting the Hawks up 1-0.

The Blackhawks piled on with a beauty to double their lead midway through the second as Teravainen buried an unbelievable one-handed dish from Tyler Bertuzzi on the power play.

The Kraken halved the Blackhawks lead to 2-1 at 5:09 of the third period, thanks to a blue-line wrister from Brandon Montour that took the scenic route. His shot deflected off Oscar Fisker Molgaard then Tye Kartye and somehow found its way past the traffic and into the net.

Shane Wright pulled the Kraken even at 7:13 in the third, getting his stick on a Ryker Evans wrist shot from the high slot and redirecting it past Spencer Knight stick-side.

The Kraken took a 3-2 lead with 2:18 left in the game when Jaden Schwartz finished off a brilliant setup from Montour, sliding it five-hole on the power play.

Notes

It was the kind of game where a sour ending just spoiled the whole thing, leaving a bad taste after what was mostly good effort from the Blackhawks. The first 20 minutes were solid, the second 20 were excellent — but the final 20 were just flat out frustrating in more than one way. It wasn’t just that the Blackhawks stumbled — which they definitely did do — but it genuinely felt like the game’s ending wasn’t entirely in their hands, which made the mistakes sting even more.

Back to the first, it was a fairly even — if unremarkable — affair. The Blackhawks led in attempts (16–15) and high-danger chances (5–2), but the shots on goal (9–7) and overall scoring chances (7–5) favored the Kraken at 5-on-5. Chicago had a few gorgeous looks, especially from the Connor Bedard line, but they were a bit sparing. The biggest news, though, was Andre Burakovsky leaving the game in the opening minutes and not returning. Postgame, we learned it’s unclear how much time he’ll miss, but he’s definitely out for Friday’s game.

Andre Burakovsky won’t play tomorrow and then TBD after that. Blashill said he thought this hit should’ve been a penalty because Burakovsky never really had possession.

Bedard: “It’s back-to-back games of guys going right to the head… It’s bullshit.” pic.twitter.com/nEe71Y4Kty

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) November 21, 2025

When the second period rolled around, we probably all braced ourselves, considering how the middle frame has tormented the Blackhawks this season — but instead, they delivered the exact opposite. It wasn’t as high-octane offensively as the second period in the Blues game last month but, statistically, it was the best second period of hockey the Blackhawks have played in years. At 5-on-5, they owned 73.53 percent of shot attempts, 80 percent of shots on goal, and 65.8 percent of expected goals. It might even be their best possession period, period: they generated 25 shot attempts to the Kraken’s nine and allowed only three shots on goal. Even with special teams factored in, Seattle mustered just six shots — the least action Spencer Knight has ever seen in a Chicago sweater in a 20-minute span.

Unfortunately, the Blackhawks couldn’t carry that momentum into the third, which ended up being the antithesis of the second. And while it’s not totally fair to say they “blew” a two-goal lead — the first Kraken goal came after an obvious blown icing call, the second followed what looked like clear interference, and the third was made possible only because of some thin-skinned officiating — let’s be honest: Chicago didn’t play well down the stretch, either. They didn’t register a shot on goal until the final six minutes of the period, and they added just two more in the last minute with Knight pulled for an extra attacker. They finished the third with a paltry 14.29 percent of attempts, 10 percent of shots on goal, and 0.55 percent of expected goals. That’s right — they generated less than one percent of the potential goals in the period. Just a little bit crazy. The Blackhawks did seem to be battling some fatigue in the third — playing with only 10 forwards, maybe? — but either way, just a disappointing and frustrating period.

Let’s move on the hottest topic for the game … Connor Bedard yelled at the referees after not getting a penalty call he felt was obvious — it absolutely was — and the officials didn’t appreciate the feedback: the young superstar got tagged with an unsportsmanlike misconduct for his outburst. Coach Jeff Blashill was just as heated on the Chicago bench, baffled that the whistle never came.

During postgame interviews, Blashill was adamant there should have been a penalty called on the Kraken player in the clip above, laying into the referees. And while he also acknowledged that Bedard needs to keep his cool in those situations, Blashill was clear that, unless Bedard said something truly over the line to the referee, there really wasn’t justification for giving the kid an unsportsmanlike penalty when the game was on the line.

Jeff Blashill went off on the refereeing of the Bedard breakaway: “It’s a penalty… When you don’t have position on a guy, and you put your stick in there and you hit his glove — yes he got the stick after, but the first contact was on his glove — it’s a penalty.”

“And then I…

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) November 21, 2025

Bedard also spoke about his reaction post game, taking responsibility and admitting he needs to stay more disciplined in that situation, even if the right call was a penalty on the play.

Connor Bedard on his unsportsmanlike penalty after a missed no-call: “Obviously in the moment you think it’s a penalty but I have to control my emotions in a better way. I put our team in a vulnerable spot there, so just got to be better.” #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/HRarmkrQuW

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) November 21, 2025

On to some good news: the top two lines for the Blackhawks were quite impressive this game (or well, the first two periods anyway). The Blackhawks owned 57.89 percent of the attempts and 62.50 percent of the expected goals when Bedard, Bertuzzi, and Greene were on the ice — the best overall shot statistics on the team. Bertuzzi was shifted up to the top line after Burakovsky was injured and played just under 10 minutes with them, so it’s interesting that his goal came 24 seconds into a shift with Teravainen and Nazar. And obviously Bertuzzi’s pass on the power play was just a thing of beauty. He’s been really impressive this season.

Individually, Bedard was feeling it, too: he led the team in attempts (7), shots on goal (5) and scoring chances (4) at 5-on-5. He likely deserved a goal for his effort tonight.

This is one of my favorite moves that you see a lot of elite defensemen do. Changing direction on a dime while protecting the puck is nearly impossible to defend. Usually you can always get some sort of separation, and here Connor shakes him completely: pic.twitter.com/J9nhD7UEAP

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) November 21, 2025

Nazar, Teravainen and Moore were the other line to show up quite well, though more in terms of possession than quality of chances: in 7:16 together, the shot attempts share (60 percent) favored the Blackhawks but expected goals share did not (just 14.19 percent). Nazar was the best player on this line tonight, matching Bedard in attempts (7) and then also tying for second most shots on goal (3) and was solo for second best scoring chances (3).

On the blue line, Sam Rinzel, Alex Vlasic, Wyatt Kaiser, and Connor Murphy were the standouts, which isn’t surprising. Rinzel had a handful of so-so to poor games this month and saw his ice time reduced as a result — he still only played 16:25 but that was good enough to be top-four — but he was quite steady overall and showed some solid offensive instincts too.

I want to go back to this real quick — I wonder if this was planned by Rinzel to attack that gap right away and get in on a break or this was an in-the-moment decision. The guy that leaves the drop pass typically doesn’t bolt up the ice so I wonder if Sam already knew there would… https://t.co/uNEMzs6TiT

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) November 21, 2025

Vlasic obviously led defensemen in time on ice (21:10) and Kaiser was next with (18:04) overall, but Matt Grzelcyk surprisingly got the second most minutes (16:04) at 5-on-5. He got eaten up and then spat out in those minutes, too. Murphy is still getting bottom-tier minutes (14:22 overall) but he’s so strong defensively in those minutes. As for the other two, Crevier was not noticeable and Levshunov had some more moments offensively — like in the clip below where he weaves around and through for a chance — but the defensive side had some issues.

Three Stars

Jaden Schwartz (SEA) — GWG

Tyler Bertuzzi (CHI) — 1 goal, 1 assist

Brandon Montour (SEA) — 2 assists

What’s Next

The Blackhawks are back at it on Friday night: they head to Buffalo to face the Sabres at 6 p.m.