The Blackhawks played a much better game last night than the previous evening in Pittsburgh. There was no disaster period of five-minute implosion. The power play looked better. But… the result was the same. The Blackhawks lost another game — their fifth in a row and eighth of their last ten. After the game, Connor Bedard was as visibly frustrated as he’s been at any point this season, offering only short answers. It’s safe to say sailing this shot over the wide open cage was not sitting well with him still an hour later (and probably isn’t this morning).
Connor Bedard was in complete disbelief that he didn't bury this. He's going to be thinking about this one all night. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/bWNFYocVhc
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) January 31, 2026 The good news, however, is it looks like Bedard’s starting to heat up offensively. He posted his second multi-point game since returning to the lineup last night and extended his personal point streak to three games. After not scoring a goal with a goaltender on the ice on the first nine games since he came back from injury, he’s scored in his last two games. NHL.com’s Tracey Myers shared an answer from Columbus head coach Rick Bowness when he was asked about Charlie Coyle’s hat trick. He talks about Coyle — but he also has a lot of high praise for Bedard. Source: X After the game, Sam Rinzel spoke about returning to the NHL and how his game improved in Rockford. I appreciated his perspective. He talked about having a better understanding of the big picture realities of life as a defenseman.Nice bit here from Sam Rinzel postgame. He touched on what he learned in Rockford and where he got better: pic.twitter.com/RvMMNhvZwe
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) January 31, 2026“Realizing that 90 percent of the game is just 50/50 shifts, and it’s just about winning those 50/50 shifts,” Rinzel said. “Nothing has to be flashy or crazy. It’s just learning to play with my brain and use my brain to beat guys.”
After the game, I asked Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill his thoughts on Rinzel’s first game back in the NHL.“He had an impact skating and moving the puck with less big errors than [before] he left,” Blashill said. “You’ve got to judge the positives versus the minuses. It’s really hard if you have a whole bunch of minuses. Today, outside one decision on a late step into the [offensive] zone, I thought he played well.”
Rinzel was in the lineup because Artyom Levshunov is going to take a bit of a break to work on some “foundational” elements of his game that need a reset. Here’s Ben Pope’s story on the Blackhawks’ decision to have Brian Keane and Anders Sörensen work with Levshunov rather than sending him to Rockford."He’s an instinct player that’s got to learn how to play with enough structure."All the details on the Blackhawks' new approach to developing Artyom Levshunov — with him out of the playing lineup: t.co/1nAz2OGHl2
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 31, 2026 There were a lot of interested eyeball from other organizations s in the press box at the United Center. In total, there were 16 representatives listed from: Vegas (x 2), Minnesota (x 2), Edmonton (x 2), NY Rangers, Tampa, Dallas, Florida, Boston, Buffalo, San Jose, Nashville, Winnipeg and Anaheim. And, again, for the sake of qualifying those in attendance: there were two assistant general managers, four directors of pro scouting/head pro scout and one assistant director of player personnel. So… some heavyweights in the building. Vegas has my attention. They’ve been frequent visitors in recent weeks, and have been among the teams with someone higher on the food chain than a pro scout in attendance. Three Blackhawks took a puck home after the game last night because of a career milestone. Connor Murphy and Teuvo Teravainen played their 800th career games, and Ilya Mikheyev played his 400th career game. Considering the number of scouts in the building last night, I guess we can wonder how many more games those three will play with the Blackhawks — especially Murphy and Mikheyev. Is it me, or does it feel like Tyler Bertuzzi has made whatever line he’s been on better this entire season? For a guy who has been so streaky and inconsistent throughout his career, he’s been on point almost every night this season. He was really good again last night, moving from a line with Mikheyev and Jason Dickinson up to riding shotgun with Bedard and Frank Nazar. On Friday the IceHogs announced goalie Drew Commesso entered concussion protocol on January 27. Steven Ellis at Daily Faceoff wrote about the top NHL prospects to watch at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Here’s what Ellis said about Blackhawks prospect Adam Gajan, who will represent Slovakia and Minnesota-Duluth in the Games:It’s unlikely we’ll see Gajan in action unless Samuel Hlavaj falls apart. The Blackhawks’ goaltending prospect has had a resurgence this season, putting up excellent numbers with the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He even represented the U.S. Collegiate Selects at the Spengler Cup, nearly winning the championship as an underdog. Gajan will be most remembered for his two World Junior performances, which marked the last time he wore the blue, red and white for his country. Don’t be surprised if he lands the starting gig in 2030.
In college action last night, Václav Nestrašil had an assist on UMass’ second goal. In the WHL, Nathan Behm had an assist on Kamloops’ first goal of the night and added an insurance goal into the empty net for a two-point night. Behm now has 64 points (27 goals, 37 assists) — which ranks sixth in the WHL — in 46 games this season. In the OHL last night, AJ Spellacy and Windsor visited Jack Pridham and Kitchener. Pridham had an assist on a power play goal in the first period. Pridham now has 62 points (31 goals, 31 assists) — which ranks third in the OHL — in 46 games. For Brantford, Marek Vanacker scored the first goal of the night for the Bulldogs (on the power play) in the first period and then added an assist in the third period. Vanacker now has 59 points (35 goals, 24 assist) in 40 games. His 59 points rank eighth in the OHL. His 35 goals lead the OHL — by four. Pridham is second in the league. Vanacker’s assist was the 100th of his OHL career.100 assists! In tonight’s game, Marek Vanacker collected his 100th career assist in the OHL. Congratulations, Marek! #BFD pic.twitter.com/1sQoEHlnAy
— Brantford Bulldogs (@BulldogsOHL) January 31, 2026BLEACHER NATION: Go Ad Free | Subscribe to the BN Newsletter
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