The Chicago Blackhawks (28-36-14) had a terrific chance to play spoiler and further establish a budding rivalry with the San Jose Sharks (37-32-7) on Monday at the SAP Center. The Sharks desperately needed a win on home ice to keep their postseason hopes alive, and a defeat to the lowly Blackhawks would have perhaps been the straw that broke the camel’s back.
While the Blackhawks’ new five-forward top power-play unit was firing on all cylinders all three times they hit the ice, the offense didn’t find the same success during 5v5 play, leading to a 3-2 defeat to the Sharks in the final road game of the 2025-26 regular season. With the win, the Sharks are now tied with the Nashville Predators in points for the final Wild Card spot, although Nashville currently holds the tiebreaker.
With the Blackhawks and Sharks playing in two seperate divisions in the Western Conference, they only get the chance to go head-to-head with one another a maximum three times during the regular season. Because of the limited meetings, there doesn’t seem to be much bad blood between the two sides currently, but that very well could change in the years to come.
With Chicago and San Jose having arguably the two best prospect pools in the entire NHL, there could be many meaningful Western-Conference battles not too far down the road, both in the regular season and in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. For the Sharks, their hoping to snap a long playoff drought in the next 10 days, while Chicago would love to do the same this time next year.
There might not be much hostility right now when these teams face each other, but the understanding that this will likely turn into a rivalry at some point is already prevelant. Even Frank Nazar admitted as much during his post-game interview.
“Any time we get to play these guys is a look at what it is in the future. It’s the team that we’re going to be battling against for the next 10 years.”
The Sharks claimed victory in Round 2 on Monday, evening the season series at one a piece. That sets up what should be an uber-entertaining finale at the United Center on Apr. 15, which is the final game of the regular season for the Blackhawks. That matchup will also likely hold massive implications for San Jose’s postseason chances, giving Chicago a second chance to play spoiler in just over one week.
Until then, here are the Hawks Hits from Monday’s 3-2 loss to San Jose, where there was plenty of promise shown from the Blackhawks’ young forwards once again.
Hawks Hits vs. San Jose
1. More Elite Company For 98 — With the secondary assist on Ryan Donato’s opening goal, Connor Bedard officially reached 200 points for his NHL career. It took Bedard 215 games to accomplish the feat, the same number it took Patrick Kane to reach 200 career points. He’s the seventh-fastest player to achieve the milestone in Blackhawks franchise history, and the only one to do so at 20 years old or younger.
The only other active NHL players to rack up 200 points before turning 21? Only Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos.
Bedard also extended his current point streak to three games with the assist and has failed to earn a point in only six of the Blackhawks’ 21 games since returning from the Olympic break. With 72 points (30G, 42A) now in 65 appearances in 2025-26, the 2023 No. 1 overall pick is guaranteed to finish as a point-per-game player for the first time in the NHL. He’s also already reached 70 points for the first time, and he’s eight away from 80 with four games left on the schedule.
While Bedard couldn’t lead Chicago to a second straight win over Celebrini and the Sharks, it wasn’t due to a lack of effort. Bedard had another standout performance, leading the team with 12 shot attempts, seven shots on goal, and six individual scoring chances on Monday.
2. Five Forward PP — While only one of the Blackhawks’ two goals was technically credited as a power-play tally, Blashill’s new five-forward top unit provided all the scoring in San Jose. Donato’s goal in the first period, which Bedard recorded the secondary assist on, came just seconds after Celebrini’s holding penalty expired. The entire play was set up by swift puck movement from Bedard and the first PP unit.
Monday was the most dangerous the five-forward grouping has looked since getting put together, as they were credited with a whopping 18 shot attempts, nine shots on goal, and 14 scoring chances in their three opportunities. Many of those came from attempts and chances came from rookie Anton Frondell, who was firing one-timers from the right circle whenever he got a chance.
After several close calls, the man advantage finally broke through in the third period to cut the deficit to 3-2. Frank Nazar rifled a one-timer of his own from the left circle off a feed from Teuvo Teravainen. With the goal, the Blackhawks’ man advantage has now converted in back-to-back games and in three of five outings since Blashill tinkered with the five-forward top power-play unit.
With Bedard quarterbacking the unit, he’s playing with the puck more often than usual, which unsurprisingly has led to positive results. Frondell’s arrivial adds another lethal weapon for opposing penalty killers to think about, which has also opened up shooting lanes for Nazar at the left circle.
3. Nazar Hits 40 Points — Speaking of Nazar, he earned his seventh multi-point performance since returning from the Olympic break on Monday, scoring his 15th goal of the season and adding a primary assist. It was yet another captivating effort from the 2022 first-rounder, and he’s now eclipsed the 40-point plateau for the first time in the NHL.
Despite dealing with two separate injuries throughout the course of the season, which certainly derailed his early momentum, Nazar now has 15 goals in 62 games, which would put him on pace to reach 20 had he not missed serious time. He’d also be on track to accumulate 60 points over an 82-game schedule as a 22-year-old.
When Nazar is rolling and can serve as the Robin to Bedard’s Batman, the Blackhawks have shown that they are a much more capable offensive team. He’s also started getting more involved on the power play recently since the five-forward unit was installed, with two goals and one assist in the last five games.
Even with his lack of consistency this year, Nazar has flashed his 20-goal upside and displayed the talent to be a productive second-line center behind Bedard for years to come. In his first full-season in the NHL, he’s proved that he’s got the goods to be a key piece of the Blackhawks’ rebuild.
4. Korchinski Keeps Improving — Along with Nazar, another high-end pick from the 2022 NHL Draft stood out in San Jose on Monday. Kevin Korchinski, making his fifth straight appearance since being recalled from Rockford, led the Blackhawks in expected goals percentage at even strength for the second consecutive game.
It had been a sharp first four games back for Korchinski, and he was sturdy once again in defeat against the Sharks. While he was on the ice for a goal against for the first time, he still had an effective outing, as the Blackhawks led 7-4 in shots on goal and 6-3 in scoring chances when he was on the ice at 5v5.
Both offensively and defensively, Korchinski was making the proper reads and being an asset to his team. In the offensive zone, he was finding open space and effectively getting shots on net from the point. Defensively, he used his body and an active stick to break up rushes multiple times.
On both ends of the ice, Korchinski has shown why he was a first-round pick a few years ago recently. Still only 21 years old, he’s made impressive strides in all aspects of his game, and it’s been on display during his current NHL stint.
5. Burakovsky Benched — Finally, even Blashill has reached somewhat of a boiling point with Andre Burakovsky, who has just two points (1G, 1A) over his last 28 games. Most of those showings have come alongside Bedard on the Blackhawks top line, where he somehow hasn’t even lucked himself into more production. It’s honestly quite impressive, but in the wrong manner.
Blashill gave Burakovsky every chance in the world to break out of his seemingly-endless slump, but he just couldn’t do it. After a pitiful showing early in Saturday’s game against Seattle, Burakovsky was glued to the bench for most of the third period. Then, during Monday’s morning skate, he stayed on the ice after the session had wrapped up, indicating that he would be out of the lineup for the first time this season when healthy.
After missing the last nine games due to injury, Andrew Mangiapane was cleared to return against the Sharks and was the one to replace Burakovsky. He skated on the fourth line with Sacha Boisvert and Landon Slaggert, tallying one blocked shot and one hit in 10:04 of ice time.
It will be fascinating to see how long Burakovsky remains out of the lineup, as either Mangiapane or Landon Slaggert would likely have to draw out for the Swedish winger to return. Both players fit bettern on the fourth line than Burakovsky, especially when he’s dealing with turnover AND production problems.
The writing has been on the wall for Burakovsky to be a healthy scratch for months, and Blashill finally pulled the trigger on Monday in San Jose. Even he had seen enough.
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