After skating lineups that were mostly prospects in their first two preseason games, the Blackhawks sent a group that was largely NHL players to Minnesota on Sunday afternoon. The hope — expectation — was that a lot of the game would look cleaner with players who will be playing in Florida making up the majority of the lineup.
This game felt a lot like a regular season battle with Minnesota. The Blackhawks’ speed was evident all over the ice. The young defense played well. And one of the young Blackhawks stars started his first full NHL season with a bang (three times).
First Period: 1-0 Blackhawks
Drew Commesso got the start and didn’t have to do much early on. He didn’t face a shot for the first ten full minutes. Almost eight minutes into the first period, Frank Nazar set up Wyatt Kaiser all alone on the doorstep for a glorious opportunity that, unfortunately, handcuffed Kaiser. It was a pretty backhand pass from Nazar. The Blackhawks got the game’s first power play moments later. The first Blackhawks power play unit came on mid-way thru the advantage and made it happen. Tyler Bertuzzi made a great play to keep the puck in the zone and found Teuvo Teräväinen, who made a gorgeous pass to Nazar on the backdoor for an easy goal. And, yes, that’s a 6-7 goal celebration from 91.Teuvo Teravainen finds Frank Nazar backdoor to open the scoring on the power play. Peep the Nazar celly too pic.twitter.com/D9sKAg5rAF
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) September 28, 2025 Nolan Allan came out hitting hard! He had a couple big hits in the first period. We got our first look at a top line of Ryan Donato, Connor Bedard and André Burakovsky and I thought they were good — and dangerous. They had a few terrific scoring chances, including one shot from Donato that hit the post so hard it bounced all the way back to him by the faceoff dot. He caught it and continued the play. Ryan Greene stayed hot at the dot. He won both of his draws in the first period after winning 13 of 22 on Saturday night. Artyom Levshunov led all Blackhawks with 8:18 of ice time in the first. He had a good period. If you’re one of those fans who’s wanted to see a stronger start, the more veteran lineup did that. Commesso faced only six shots in the first period and stopped them all. The Blackhawks were 1-1 on the power play and the penalty kill. The Blackhawks had an 18-8 shot attempt advantage. A strong opening 20 minutes.Second Period: 2-1 Blackhawks
Nazar took a nice pass from Bertuzzi at full speed and unloaded a shot that found the back of the net for an even strength goal 80 seconds into the middle period.Frank Nazar again! 2-0 Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/nV80zW4iVe
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) September 28, 2025 Allan kept hitting people. I like it. In the middle of the period, a sky-high clear bounced a few times, found Tyler Pitlick and he set up Hunter Haight for a quick tap-in goal to cut the lead in half. I thought both Levshunov and Kevin Korchinski were solid in the second period. Levshunov (14:49) and Kaiser (14:40) were the Blackhawks’ ice time leaders after 40 minutes. Korchinski was only at 9:57 but he was skating well and made some good outlet passes. Allan had a team-high five hits on the pair with Korchinski. The young blue line looked good; the Blackhawks allowed 13 shots thru two periods.Third Period: 4-1 Blackhawks
The Blackhawks spent most of the first seven minutes of the third period stuck in their own defensive zone. Their issues were amplified by Alex Vlasic leaving the bench; he skated one shift early in the third and went to the room. Vlasic appeared to tap his leg on the way to the bench. In any one-goal game, the next one is huge. The Blackhawks sent Bedard’s line over the boards after the TV timeout at the 13-minute mark and they created that next goal. Donato with the finish off a pretty backhand dish from Bedard. Kaiser with the second assist.Connor Bedard with a spinning backhand pass to Ryan Donato who scores to extend the lead! pic.twitter.com/mahk45IpUo
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) September 29, 2025 In the second half of the third period, the Wild turned up their physical play. That should have been expected; Minnesota always hits, and they were chasing two goals at home. Kaiser saved a goal with Commesso scrambling on a late penalty kill. Incredibly smart play by Kaiser and Rinzel to keep the puck out of the net in a big spot. The puck hit Rinzel’s skate and then Kaiser swatted it away. Just inside the final minute of regulation, Nazar finished his hat trick into the empty net.Frank Nazar with an empty netter for the HAT TRICK pic.twitter.com/3zY938bABa
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) September 29, 2025 Kaiser was magnificent — especially with Vlasic out of the lineup in the third period. He skated a heavy workload (more than half of the third period) and was terrific. I once again really liked Ryan Greene‘s game. He isn’t flashy, but he’s always in the right spot and he’s smart with the puck. Commesso was really good tonight. He was pressured a lot late; he faced 16 shots in a third period without Vlasic available and didn’t allow any of them to go in. We didn’t see as much of the physically aggressive versions of Samuel Savoie and AJ Spellacy that I expected. Spellacy was a missile last year in the preseason; Savoie has been a constant attacker in his pro career. Spellacy is coming off a shoulder issue he picked up during the prospect showcase, so I understand if he wasn’t looking to initiate as much. I would have liked to see more from Savoie tonight.Hence then, the article about blackhawks 4 wild 1 preseason takeaways was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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