LAS VEGAS — Jeff Blashill figured it would take a little time for Oliver Moore and Frank Nazar to click, to learn each other’s tendencies, to read each other’s movements, to simply learn how to make their breathtaking speed work in the context of a three-man unit and a five-man team.

Ahead of the Blackhawks’ game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night, Blashill seemed to suggest the two could become a permanent pairing, future fixtures in the top six. But with time. Patience.

“It could be just chemistry and a matter of time, to be honest,” Blashill said.

It did indeed take some time. Eighty-three seconds, to be exact.

OK, maybe there’s still room for growth, but the potential of Moore and Nazar with the savvy veteran Tyler Bertuzzi paid off almost instantly in the Blackhawks’ riveting, 4-3 shootout loss to Vegas, with Moore finishing off a three-on-two rush 1:23 into the first period with a wicked wrist shot past Carter Hart.

early equalizer✅ pic.twitter.com/2U5MKr3LRg

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) December 3, 2025

It was another tantalizing glimpse into the future during a season chock full of them.

“We can put ‘D’ on their heels a good amount with our speed,” Moore said. “We can drive in and we can forecheck hard. We have a lot of options, especially playing with a guy like Bert — he really supports us all over the ice. It’s fun to play with them.”

It was Moore’s 14th game of the season, the 23rd of his career, and one of his best. Just a few minutes after his goal, Moore shot just wide off the rush. During a wild overtime, he got off a sneaky good shot that Hart was just able to corral. And he was his usual puck-hound self all over the ice.

While Connor Bedard and Nazar are entrenched as the top two centers, and Bertuzzi keeps pouring in goals, the rest of the Blackhawks’ top six is largely up for grabs — especially beyond the short-term contracts of Teuvo Teräväinen and André Burakovsky, each only signed through next season. Anton Frondell, the No. 3 pick this past June, could be there next season, and Nick Lardis surely will get his shot at some point this season. But for now, Moore — picked 18 spots after Bedard in the 2023 draft — has the inside track, and could get a long look as Nazar’s wingman.

“We hope, long-term, the speed of Moore and Nazar can be something over the course of the season that can be real effective,” Blashill said. “They both play real fast. Bert is a really good, accountable, smart player who can put pucks into areas for those guys, and help sort the line a little bit. We’ve used it a little bit. It hasn’t come to fruition yet the way we’d like it to, but we’re hoping it gets there.”

There aren’t many players who can keep up with Nazar, but Moore is one of them. Blashill wants to see them use their speed to take opponents wide, rather than trying to barrel through the middle against bigger, stronger players. The two of them did that in the first period, generating several scoring chances. They tailed off a bit from there, but the promise is obvious.

“He’s so fast,” Nazar said. “It’s fun to play with him. I had a few chances today (where) I should have found him. He’s sneaky; he gets behind the guys. Just got to do a better job finding him. But he did a good job today, played a really good game and had a nice goal.”

Still, Moore was kicking himself after the game for a poorly timed change that led directly to Braeden Bowman’s equalizer with just 2:28 left in the game. Moore called it “an awful change” and “the difference between a winning game and a losing game.” Blashill wasn’t quite so severe, noting that several players shouldered the blame on the goal — Bertuzzi got lost in transition and Alex Vlasic and Louis Crevier lost track of the puck, forcing Spencer Knight to make two big stops before Bowman’s third-chance goal.

But he also acknowledged that Moore can’t change there, not when the Knights have the puck and are coming up the ice with numbers. It was another reminder that, exciting and surprising as these Blackhawks have been this season, they’re still incredibly young and inexperienced.

So yes, time and patience.

“That’s part of the learning process,” Blashill said. “We’ve got some young, young guys out there in critical moments and that’s good, that’s what this is about — continuing to grow.”

Game observations

1. It’s becoming commonplace to see Bedard fire off a ridiculously difficult shot like it’s nothing, but even by his standards, the go-ahead goal in the third period Tuesday night was something special. After entering the offensive zone with speed, Bedard turned Shea Theodore — one of the best defensemen in the NHL — inside-out before firing an unbelievable wrister against his own momentum to beat Hart top shelf on the far side.

Bedard could make shots like that in his first two seasons. What’s different this year is his ability to create those shots for himself. He was more like a catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter his first two seasons, finding a soft spot and getting teed up by a teammate. Now, he’s doing it all on his own, routinely walking defenders and breaking ankles on a nightly basis.

CONNOR BEDARD 🤯

We are running out of words to describe his goals. pic.twitter.com/NAmN1YAdQm

— NHL (@NHL) December 3, 2025

It was Bedard’s 17th goal in 26 games — a 53-goal pace.

“He definitely can create his own space,” Blashill said. “That’s a really good defenseman (against whom) he was able to create enough space to get the shot off. It’s very impressive. I wasn’t here a year ago, I can’t speak to it, but he’s definitely been able to self-create some of those situations.”

2. The Blackhawks are now 1-6 in games that go beyond regulation, with two shootout losses. But this was easily their best overtime of the season, as they dominated the first four minutes with high-end scoring chances for Ryan Greene, Moore, Ilya Mikheyev, Bedard and Nazar. (Knight made huge stops on Mark Stone and Noah Hanifin at the other end in the final minute).

“Our record once it gets to (OT) isn’t good enough right now,” Blashill said. “If you flipped the record with us and Anaheim (6-1 in overtime and shootouts), for example, we’d be right there. So we recognize that, but I will say, that overtime we did a great job. We certainly had all the chances. We just did everything but score.”

3. Bertuzzi has built a career on using his skate to knock pucks into the net, bracing his stick with his foot for his close-range goals. He used that skill somewhat differently on Tuesday night. Midway through the second period, Hart came racing out of his net to play a loose puck in the slot, but Bertuzzi made a kick save on Hart’s clearing attempt with his left foot, keeping the puck in the offensive zone. Bertuzzi got to the puck before Hart could scramble back to his net, giving him an open cage to fire the puck into for a 2-1 lead and his 14th goal of the season.

ope just gonna sneak past ya there pic.twitter.com/ckFaolbPRn

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) December 3, 2025

Bertuzzi is on pace for 44 goals (he’s scoring at a 50-goal pace, but already missed three games with an injury). His career high is 30, set in 2021-22 for Blashill’s Detroit Red Wings.

4. For the second straight game, the Blackhawks gave up a goal in the first minute, and rookie defenseman Artyom Levshunov was probably the biggest culprit, getting turned around in the neutral zone and losing Ivan Barbashev, whose centering pass banked in off Wyatt Kaiser’s skate. Vegas’ second goal was another bad break, going in off Matt Grzelcyk.

But with the Blackhawks trying to preserve a 3-2 lead late in the third, Levshunov made a terrific defensive play, going stride-for-stride with Brandon Saad — an excellent skater — and steering him wide on what, nine times out of 10, would have been a breakaway. The Blackhawks are still sheltering Levshunov to a degree, utilizing the 11/7 lineup to keep him in largely offensive situations. But he’s been making defensive plays like that on a more consistent basis as the season’s gone on.

“He had a little miscue on the first goal, got on the wrong side of the guy,” Blashill said. “But overall, I think he’s done a pretty good job. He has a real strong stick, meaning he can find a way to get stick on puck and disrupt plays. He’s just really strong on it. He’s a guy who’s faster than he looks, he’s got real powerful strides. I think his defensive game’s growing, for sure.”

5. The old-school checking third line has become a relic of the past in the modern-day NHL, with the best teams running three genuine scoring lines over the boards. And against Colorado last week, Blashill matched up Bedard’s line against Nathan MacKinnon’s. But there’s still something to be said for a third line full of responsible players, so it’s little surprise that Blashill reunited Teräväinen with Jason Dickinson and Mikheyev against Anaheim, and stuck with that trio against Vegas.

“It’s three guys that have played well together in the past,” Blashill said. “They’re a group that you can put out and play against anybody, and put in defensive-zone situations and feel confident that they’re going to defend well. It’s an important line to have and put out again, especially on the road where you don’t get the matchups. You put yourself in more advantageous situations by putting them out there.”

It helps that all three players have some offensive punch, of course. Teräväinen is a four-time 20-goal scorer, Mikheyev is a two-time 20-goal scorer, and Dickinson potted 22 just two seasons ago.

“I like playing with them a lot,” Teräväinen said. “We had a really good stretch together last year. I think Dicky got hurt and we switched the lines, but we were playing really good. So I’m excited about that line.”