Connor Bedard scored his first goal of the season and added an assist in the Chicago Blackhawks’ 4-3 loss in overtime against the Boston Bruins on Thursday. (Photo courtesy of the Chicago Blackhawks)
Following a season-opening 3-2 loss to the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Tuesday, the Chicago Blackhawks continued their road trip to start the 2025-26 campaign on Thursday night against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. The Hawks made some lineup changes from Tuesday night’s contest, as they went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen with Louis Crevier dressing and Sam Lafferty and Ethan Del Mastro sitting as healthy scratches. The game also marked the season debut of Alex Vlasic, who missed most of the preseason with a leg injury. Arvid Soderblom made his first start of the season against the Bruins’ Joonas Korpisalo.
First period
The Bruins struck first when Casey Mittelstadt scored his first of the season at 3:51. Viktor Arvidsson skated in and made a nifty move around Artyom Levshunov and put the puck on net, which Soderblom stopped, but Mittelstadt outworked Levshunov and swept it in for the goal.
Connor Bedard tied it with his first of the season at 8:17. Behind the Bruins’ net, Colton Dach took a big hit, but before that was able to poke the puck around the boards to Andre Burakovsky in the corner. Burakovsky found a wide-open Bedard in the right circle, who ripped the one-timer to tie the game at 1–1.
CB98 first goal of the season✔️ pic.twitter.com/q4IBqFrJTc
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 9, 2025
The game would remain tied after one with the Bruins having an 11-7 edge in shots on goal.
Second period
Crevier gave the Hawks a 2-1 lead at the 2:22 mark with his first of the season. Nick Foligno won an offensive-zone draw back to Bedard, who fed Crevier, who snapped a wrist shot that deflected off of Tanner Jeannot and over Korpisalo’s glove to put the Hawks in front.
another first goal of the season‼️ pic.twitter.com/yygVG21iBe
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 10, 2025
Speaking of Jeannot, he tied the score at 2-2 at 9:10. Michael Eyssimont skated in front and shot the puck, which Soderblom stopped but left a rebound on the doorstep that Jeannot jumped on for his first of the season. The game would remain tied through two periods. The Hawks outshot the Bruins 8-7 in the frame but the Bruins had an 18-15 edge through 40 minutes.
Third period
The Bruins carried over some power play time from a two-man advantage they had late in the second period. Elias Lindholm wasted no time scoring his second of the season just 15 ticks into the period. David Pastrnak skated at the top of the circle and dished to Pavel Zacha at the doorstep, who passed across the goalmouth to Lindholm, who shot it in to give Boston a 3-2 lead.
The Hawks tied it when Burakovsky scored his first as a Blackhawk. Levshunov made a nice no-look backhand pass to Teuvo Teravainen to exit the zone and skate up the ice. Teravainen entered the offensive zone, fed Frank Nazar, back to Levshunov, who found Burakovsky in the slot, who snapped it in at 2:22 of the third to tie the game at 3-3 and it would stay that way at the end of regulation.
things we love to see🤩 pic.twitter.com/7c4jibenWc
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 10, 2025
Overtime
In the extra session, the teams traded quality chances including Nazar getting robbed on a sprawling save by Korpisalo, who also stopped Bedard with the glove on a breakaway. Fraser Minten won it for the Bruins with an unassisted goal at 2:10. Minten skated in and sniped a wrist shot past Soderblom for his first of the season to win it 4-3 for Boston.
Analysis
It was a strong effort start to finish for the Hawks, as you can start to see this team settle in to head coach Jeff Blashill’s system. There are certainly some areas that still need work, including special teams and staying out of the penalty box. Individually, there were strong efforts from several including Bedard, Burkovsky, Dach, Nazar and Sam Rinzel, however, Levshunov remains an adventure on the ice with some good moments like his playmaking on the Hawks’ third goal and some rough ones, especially defensively.
The Blackhawks return to Chicago for their home opener on Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens. Puck drop is at 6 p.m. CST and will be nationally televised on NHL Network and locally on CHSN with the radio call on 720 AM WGN.
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