It\u2019s a quick turnaround for the Chicago Blackhawks (23-29-11) after a 4-3 overtime loss on the road to the Dallas Stars on Sunday night. The Blackhawks are back in action again on Monday for the back end of a back-to-back against the Utah Mammoth (34-25-4) at the United Center.<\/p>\n
Monday marks the third of four meetings between the Blackhawks and Mammoth this season, and the final three occur in a 12-day stretch. Chicago has won both matchups so far, defeating Utah 3-1 at the United Center on Oct. 13 and 4-0 just eight days ago at the Delta Center. The two teams will play again on Thursday for the season series finale in Utah. <\/p>\n
In his 94th NHL start, Arvid Soderblom finally recorded his first career shutout, stopping all 22 shots faced to blank the Mammoth on Mar. 1. Teuvo Teravainen scored twice, while Landon Slaggert and Nick Foligno also found the back of the net. It wound up being Foligno\u2019s final tally with the team before getting traded to the Minnesota Wild.<\/p>\n
The Mammoth are coming off a 5-4 overtime win over the Columbus Blue Jackets in their last time out on Saturday and have won three games in a row since falling 4-0 to the Blackhawks. Logan Cooley scored twice, including the overtime winner, while Michael Carcone, Dylan Guenther, and Alexander Kerfoot also recorded tallies. Karel Vejmelak stopped 27 of 31 shots to earn the win in net. MacKenzie Weegar made his Mammoth debut and picked up an assist in a team-high 23:21 of ice time.<\/p>\n
With 72 points through 63 games this season, the Mammoth currently holds the top Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, but they\u2019re still 13 points behind the Minnesota Wild for third place in the Central Division. Utah has a six-point cushion over the San Jose Sharks, the first team currently on the outside of the playoff picture.<\/p>\n
The Blackhawks\u2019 lone victory since returning from the Olympic break came against Utah, as they\u2019re 1-3-2 in six games. With only 57 points through 63 games, Chicago has the third-fewest points in the NHL with less than a quarter of the season remaining. Only the New York Rangers (56) and Vancouver Canucks (46) are below the Blackhawks in the league-wide standings.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s everything else to note before the puck drops at 7:30 p.m. CT in Chicago.<\/p>\n
Blackhawks Projected Lineup<\/p>\n
Forward Lines<\/p>\n
Ryan Greene \u2014 Connor Bedard \u2013 Andre Burakovsky<\/p>\n
Tyler Bertuzzi \u2014 Frank Nazar \u2014 Teuvo Teravainen<\/p>\n
Andrew Mangiapane \u2014 Ryan Donato \u2014 Ilya Mikheyev<\/p>\n
Nick Lardis \u2014 Sam Lafferty \u2014 Landon Slaggert<\/p>\n
Defensive Pairings<\/p>\n
Alex Vlasic-Louis Crevier<\/p>\n
Wyatt Kaiser-Sam Rinzel<\/p>\n
Matt Grzelcyk-Artyom Levshunov<\/p>\n
Scratched<\/p>\n
D \u2014 Ethan Del Mastro<\/p>\n
Injured<\/p>\n
G \u2014 Spencer Knight (illness), F \u2014 Oliver Moore (undisclosed)<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
The Blackhawks held an optional morning skate on Monday after a late flight back to Chicago, so their forward lines and defensive pairings against Utah are to be determined.<\/p>\n
Head coach Jeff Blashill already ruled both Spencer Knight and Oliver Moore out for the game. Knight did not travel with the Blackhawks to Dallas and will miss a third consecutive game due to illness. He did participate briefly during the morning skate, which could indicate a return on Thursday. Moore exited Sunday\u2019s loss to Dallas in the first period after crashing into the boards and will undergo further testing later today. The team will know more about his status on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a chance that Blashill rolls with only 11 forwards and seven defensemen in the lineup, particularly with the team lacking depth at center currently. Ethan Del Mastro was a healthy scratch against Dallas and could draw back in as the extra blue-liner.<\/p>\n
Mammoth Projected Lineup<\/p>\n
Forward Lines<\/p>\n
Clayton Keller \u2014 Nick Schmaltz \u2014 Dylan Guenther<\/p>\n
JJ Peterka \u2014 Logan Cooley \u2014 Logan Crouse<\/p>\n
Jack McBain \u2014 Barrett Hayton \u2014 Kailer Yamamoto<\/p>\n
Alexander Kerfoot \u2014 Kevin Stenlund \u2014 Michael Carcone<\/p>\n
Defensive Pairings<\/p>\n
Mikhail Sergachev*-MacKenzie Weegar<\/p>\n
Nate Schmidt-John Marino<\/p>\n
Ian Cole-Sean Durzi<\/p>\n
Scratched<\/p>\n
D \u2014 Nick DeSimone, F \u2014 Liam O\u2019Brien, F \u2014 Brandon Tanev<\/p>\n
Injured<\/p>\n
D \u2014 Mikhail Sergachev (lower body)<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Mikhail Sergachev was listed as a game-time decision on Saturday against Columbus, but he ended up being ruled out after not participating in pregame warmups. Should Sergachev play, he\u2019ll likely skate on the top pairing with MacKenzie Weegar. If he misses a third consecutive game, then Nick DeSimone will dress.<\/p>\n
Projected Goaltending Matchup<\/p>\n
Drew Commesso (1-1-0, 2.50 GAA, .917 Sv%, 1 SO) vs. Vitek Vanecek (4-9-2, 2.73 GAA, .890 Sv%, 1 SO)<\/p>\n
Commesso will likely make his third NHL start of the season in the back end of the back-to-back for the Blackhawks. The 23-year-old\u2019s last NHL appearance came on Jan. 10 against the Nashville Predators, when he recorded his first career shutout with 36 saves in a 3-0 win. Commesso has yet to face the Mammoth in his young NHL career.<\/p>\n
Vanecek will start for the Mammoth in the front end of their back-to-back, which allows starter Karel Vejmelka to play against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday. Vanecek is also coming off his first shutout of the season in his last start on Thursday, stopping all 16 shots faced in a 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Vanecek is 3-2-1 with a 2.16 GAA, .914 Sv%, and one shutout in six career games against Chicago.<\/p>\n
2025-26 Results vs. Mammoth<\/p>\n
Chicago is 2-0-0 against Utah this season and has earned points in three of their last four games against them (3-1-0).<\/p>\n
10\/13\/25 \u2014 3-1 W, United Center<\/p>\n
03\/01\/26 \u2014 4-0 W, Delta Center<\/p>\n
03\/09\/26 \u2014 United Center<\/p>\n
03\/12\/26 \u2014 Delta Center<\/p>\n
2025-26 Team Stats & Leaders<\/p>\n
Chicago Blackhawks:<\/p>\n
Goals \u2014 Tyler Bertuzzi (27)<\/p>\n
Assists \u2014 Connor Bedard (32)<\/p>\n
Points \u2014 Connor Bedard (58)<\/p>\n
GF\/GP \u2014 2.63 (27th)<\/p>\n
GA\/GP \u2014 3.17 (20th)<\/p>\n
PP% \u2014 19.2% (21st)<\/p>\n
PK% \u2014 85.3% (1st)<\/p>\n
FOW% \u2014 46.5% (30th)<\/p>\n
Utah Mammoth:<\/p>\n
Goals \u2014 Dylan Guenther (29)<\/p>\n
Assists \u2014 Clayton Keller (44)<\/p>\n
Points \u2014 Clayton Keller (63)<\/p>\n
GF\/GP \u2014 3.19 (14th)<\/p>\n
GA\/GP \u2014 2.75 (4th)<\/p>\n
PP% \u2014 17.1% (26th)<\/p>\n
PK% \u2014 78.2% (20th)<\/p>\n
FOW% \u2014 49.6 (19th)<\/p>\n
How To Watch, Listen, & Game Info<\/p>\n
Utah Mammoth (34-25-4, 72 points) @ Chicago Blackhawks (23-29-11, 56 points)<\/p>\n
7:30 p.m. CT \u2014 United Center<\/p>\n
Head Coaches: Andre Tourigny (UTA), Jeff Blashill (CHI)<\/p>\n
TV\/Stream: CHSN (Ball\/Pang), Utah16<\/p>\n
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman\/Konroyd)<\/p>\n
For more Blackhawks news, visit Chicago Hockey Now<\/a> and like our Facebook Page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Follow us on X:<\/p>\n @chihockeynow<\/a>, @JackBushman2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a quick turnaround for the Chicago Blackhawks (23-29-11) after a 4-3 overtime loss on the road to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5117],"tags":[37717,44949,49202,45780,49204,96,196,147,5278,58,5,58623,44321,57567,4,197,3154],"class_list":{"0":"post-495351","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-stars","8":"tag-blackhawks-game-day","9":"tag-blackhawks-game-day-preview","10":"tag-blackhawks-how-to-watch","11":"tag-blackhawks-lines","12":"tag-blackhawks-starting-goalie","13":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","14":"tag-dallas","15":"tag-dallas-stars","16":"tag-dallasstars","17":"tag-featured","18":"tag-hockey","19":"tag-mammoth-how-to-watch","20":"tag-mammoth-lines","21":"tag-mammoth-starting-goalie","22":"tag-nhl","23":"tag-stars","24":"tag-utah-mammoth"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116201340648905804","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}