The Chicago Blackhawks dug themselves a three-goal hole in the first period, then climbed all the way out of it to beat the Anaheim Ducks 5–3 on Sunday and finally snap their five-game winless skid.
The Ducks blitzed the Blackhawks early with two goals in the first 47 seconds. First, Cutter Gauthier buried a cross-ice feed from Troy Terry just 15 seconds into the game.
🚨 Cutter 🚨
He gets the party started just 15 seconds into this game! #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/jHRndfJUuz
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) November 30, 2025
Then Olen Zellweger made it 2-0 just over 30 seconds later. After a faceoff win, the rebound created from Terry’s long shot went right to Zellweger in the left circle and he fired it into the far side of the net to double the Ducks’ lead.
🚨 Zelly 🚨
That’s two goals in under a minute of play!! #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/IdWXZ5s9bQ
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) November 30, 2025
Chris Kreider extended the Ducks lead to 3-0 midway through the first after Beckett Sennecke’s shot from the right point deflected off Kreider’s skate and in.
🚨 Kreider 🚨
His 600th NHL point is our third goal of the first period!!#FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/zx9t6uHDe5
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) November 30, 2025
The Blackhawks got one back with 2:03 left in the first with a power-play goal. Connor Bedard spotted Frank Nazar high in the zone from below the goal line, Nazar fired, and Tyler Bertuzzi got the deflection to make it 3–1.
a Bertuzzi beauty🤩 pic.twitter.com/JDQQgd0MfG
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 30, 2025
Ryan Greene trimmed the deficit further at 6:43 of the second, hammering home a one-timer off a gorgeous two-on-one rush setup from Bedard. Credit to Alex Vlasic for running a little interference on an Anaheim backchecker to keep the numbers in the Blackhawks favor.
Ryan Greene has goals in back to back games🔥 pic.twitter.com/yZQpao4hcx
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 30, 2025
Colton Dach tied things up 3-3 on a power play later in the period. A smooth entry pass from Artyom Levshunov sprung Teuvo Teravainen, and Dach finished off a setup from Teravainen from the left-wing board.
someone call the Dachtor🩺 pic.twitter.com/q9myzBvoE9
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 30, 2025
The Ducks briefly thought they’d reclaimed the lead with a shorthanded goal early in the third from Alex Killorn, but it was erased for offsides after a successful Blackhawks challenge.
The Ducks goal is overturned as the play is ruled offsides. Blackhawks catch a break https://t.co/o8qCeIYGoZ pic.twitter.com/L7quBV8TXr
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) November 30, 2025
The Blackhawks took a 4-3 lead at 9:55 after Bedard jumped on a Killorn turnover and slipped one past Ville Husso — who’d just entered after Petr Mrazek left due to injury — with a silky set of moves in close to give Chicago its first lead of the night.
Connor Bedard that was NASTY😮💨 pic.twitter.com/Lg0vI5IXsj
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 30, 2025
Bedard then sealed the comeback with an empty-netter for the 5-3 win in the final minutes, capping off one of the Blackhawks’ gutsier efforts of the season.
Bedard with the empty net for his FOURTH point and then he has some words for the Ducks bench 🤬🚨 pic.twitter.com/hxoyoh7jJF
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 30, 2025
Notes
The Blackhawks’ trend of having at least one terrible, no-good, awful period continued Sunday afternoon — it just happened to be the first period instead of the second like usual. They allowed the Ducks to score twice before the one-minute mark, which might seem like bad luck, but the pure defensive disarray in those first 47 seconds was crazy to watch. The Blackhawks somewhat evened things out after the third goal against midway through the period, but the numbers were still ugly: Chicago owned just 32.14 percent of the shot attempts, 25 percent of the shots on goal, and 29.47 percent of the expected goals in the opening 20 minutes.
The good news about the first period sucking so much is that they got their “one terrible period” quota out of the way early and could focus on clawing their way back into the game — which is exactly what they did in the second. Not only did the Blackhawks score twice to tie the game, they dominated the shot share in what was almost the exact reverse of the first: 62.5 percent attempts, 70 percent shots on goal, and 57.07 percent expected goals. Yes, the 5-on-5 time was only 13:43, which isn’t a lot, but the Blackhawks clearly dictated play in that window and paired it with some very strong special teams work.
The third period picked up right where the second left off: Chicago controlled play at 5-on-5 until they were rewarded with the go-ahead goal. They did turtle a bit in the final 10 minutes but in a pretty respectable way by limiting the Ducks to just one high-danger look at 5-on-5 (which didn’t even hit the net) and three in all situations with only one on goal. Anaheim ended up with a couple more attempts (18-16) and more shots on goal (8-3), but the Blackhawks owned 74.83 percent of the expected goals — one of the most lopsided periods of the season in terms of quality. Hell of a defensive effort at the end.
The last time the Blackhawks faced the Ducks, they won on the back of a 38-save performance from Knight — the kind of game that wasn’t a sustainable strategy for long-term success. As the goaltending regressed to merely average lately, the Blackhawks slipped into a skid, regressing exactly as we’ve all been saying could happen. But tonight, the Blackhawks showed that if they adjust properly to playing a quick-transition, strong-possession style, they can win even with average goaltending. And that’s what Knight gave them tonight: a perfectly fine minus-0.32 goals saved above expected performance. That’s OK, as Knight carried this team so much early in the season that it was about time the skaters returned the favor. This was as pure a team-wide win as you’ll see — and exactly the kind of ending the Blackhawks needed to restore some confidence.
Don’t get me wrong, Knight was very good when needed — especially on the penalty kill — but he didn’t need to be quite so phenomenal in the final two periods because the team in front limited chances as much as possible. It was honestly great to see. Just think of the possibilities if the Blackhawks can consistently play like they did in the final two periods when Knight is really on … the potential of the team feels unlimited.
Big shorthanded stop by Knight pic.twitter.com/kvxxXJ7HIp
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) November 30, 2025
Just because this was very much a team win doesn’t mean there weren’t obvious standouts — specifically Bedard. The kid basically strapped the team to his back offensively, putting up two goals and two assists while generating a pile of chances for himself and everyone around him. He led the team in attempts (7), shots (5), and individual expected goals by a mile (1.09). Now that Bedard finally has linemates who can actually threaten on their own, he’s been able to let loose and take over games seemingly at will. Chicago owned 68.75 percent of the attempts and 76.93 percent of the expected goals when he and his line with Greene and Andre Burakovsky were on the ice — just pure domination.
Crazy play by Bedard to keep possession of the puck while falling https://t.co/ugdyKSSK7Q pic.twitter.com/pUTxDUntYG
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) November 30, 2025
Early chance for Greene as Bedard finds him while flying up the ice pic.twitter.com/M9HQ5fHNWU
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) November 30, 2025
Bedard’s also been quite feisty this season, which we saw again when he chirped the Anaheim bench after sealing things with the empty-netter. He talked postgame about the run-in with Mason McTavish — a close but extremely competitive friend — and, well, let’s just say the rivalry energy isn’t fading anytime soon.
Connor Bedard said he’s friends with Mason McTavish. They roomed together during World Juniors and will probably say hello tonight.
“Everything we do, he’s trying to make it a competition. Such a great player… He’s a fun guy to play against.”
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) November 30, 2025
The Blackhawks did shuffle the lines more than usual, ending up with seven different combos that logged at least a minute together. Most of them were either even or ahead, except for the Nazar, Teravainen, and Bertuzzi trio, which cratered to 25.00 percent of the attempts and 16.87 percent of expected goals in just over three minutes. Their early-season chemistry has evaporated lately, and the lack of it tonight was probably one of the main catalysts for the blender turning up to high.
When Moore slid into Teravainen’s spot, that line suddenly looked much more dangerous in basically the same amount of time: 80.00 percent of attempts and 80.44 percent of expected goals. Yes, it’s an extremely small sample, but it’s at least worth giving a longer look.
That shift also put Teravainen back with Ilya Mikheyev and Jason Dickinson — one of the best defensive lines Chicago has iced in years while still being an actual scoring threat. They mostly broke even tonight (50 percent share of shot attempts, 49.23 percent share of expected goals in 5:31), but they did it while taking on tough competition and starting predominantly in the defensive zone. That’s a win.
On the back end, this was another strong offensive night from Levshunov. He’s at his best when he’s aggressive and pushing toward the net, even if the shot selection is still … an adventure. Five attempts with only one on goal isn’t perfect, but his passing has been sharp and his skating continues to open lanes for teammates. Defensively, it was also one of his steadier efforts, though he and Wyatt Kaiser — who was there to cover for any of Levshunov’s roaming — were affected a bit by being out with the lower lines in softer minutes, which might make their game scores look a little skewed.
The Blackhawks went to the power play because of this play by Artyom Levshunov, who shook the Anaheim forward at the blue line, skated in, and got tripped https://t.co/o8qCeIYGoZ pic.twitter.com/hjeVqPd5Kt
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) November 30, 2025
The rest of the defense regrouped well after the first intermission, playing simple, clean, defensive hockey in the final 40 minutes. There seemed to be a conscious effort to be more patient on breakouts — which they practiced a lot yesterday — which interestingly led to an overall quicker transition game for the Blackhawks. Sam Rinzel, Grzelcyk, Connor Murphy, and Vlasic were the best at zone exits this game. Coverage issues were kept to a minimum, gap control looked good from everyone, they collapsed well in their own zone to keep high-danger chances low and jumped in when needed offensively. As mentioned above, just one of the better, smarter defensive efforts from the Blackhawks this season and the blue line led the way in this regard.
Vlasic sets the pick, Bedard with the no-look pass, and Greene with the finish for his 4th of the season. Beautiful hockey https://t.co/5iTUMYHv2A pic.twitter.com/d7rxu3x8F9
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) November 30, 2025
Overall, the first period was so terrible that it looked like this was going to be another one of those games, but the Blackhawks pulled it together, focused on playing well at the team level, and ultimately showed why they shouldn’t be counted out this season.
Three Stars
Connor Bedard (CHI) — 2 goals, 2 assist
Ryan Greene (CHI) — 1 goal
Tyler Bertuzzi (CHI) — 1 goal
What’s Next
The Blackhawks kick off a four game road trip against the Las Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday at 9 p.m.