The Blackhawks got their lunches handed to them in Vegas to open their 2026-27 regular season, losing 5-2. After a summer of excitement and hope, it was a disappointing beginning. There’s no denying that. And I needed to sleep on it before I could really exhale and think through what we watched.
After reading the replies and comments in general on social media, it looks like the bandwagon has emptied pretty quickly this year. So, instead of opening this with what I’d like to initially say about the Blackhawks after one game, I’ll let Charlie Roumeliotis do it for me:
Like Charlie, I’m not going to make macro statements about the trajectory of the franchise and rebuild as a whole after one game against one of the best teams in the Western Conference. In many ways, the Golden Knights were a very good litmus test for the Blackhawks to start the year. A team that was just in the Stanley Cup Final that’s the opposite of the Hawks — big and strong with a lot of experience.
Unfortunately, the bigger, stronger, better team put belt to backside last night. And now the Blackhawks have to sort thru that performance and get ready to play another really good team in Utah on Thursday night.
But — again, after sleeping on it — there are some takeaways to consider from the Blackhawks season opening defeat.
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Bowen ByramBlackhawks Takeaways After One (1) Game
My biggest takeaway from last night is that the shortened preseason was not an effective one for the Blackhawks.
They didn’t skate what they projected to be their opening night lineup together in a single preseason game. Throughout the preseason, head coach Jeff Blashill said they were still sorting out how the pieces all fit together — which is understandable and not an easy task with only two games for anyone with more than 100 games under their belt and less than two weeks before playing a game that matters.
The Blackhawks did skate fairly consistent lines in practice for most of camp. Until they changed them in the final practice before flying to Vegas. The lack of chemistry in the first period fed beautifully into the approach of a physical, veteran team that plays a strong puck possession game. It’s easy to see why the Blackhawks’ best line last night was the fourth line of Cole Smith, Ryan Greene and Jordan Greenway — it’s the only line that didn’t change at any point from Day One of camp to Day One of the regular season.
The Blackhawks started this game with one hand tied behind their back. And they kinda sorta recognized that.
“I just think we weren’t necessarily dialed in on what we had to do, and it showed right in the first…30, 45 minutes of the game,” Bowen Byram said after the game. “It just kind of took a couple periods for the team to kind of get on the same page.”
Added to the line blender being employed the day before the game was Andrew Mangiapane — who didn’t have a good first period — leaving after one shift in the second. Now, a team that was struggling to find chemistry was juggling 11 forwards while chasing a multi-goal deficit. That’s a recipe for a long night. And that’s what the Blackhawks got.
While the 5-2 final as as ugly as the game would have indicated, there was a lot to consider as the dust settles. So let’s talk about some specific takeaways.
Chicago Blackhawks center Frank NazarBlackhawks Player Takeaways
I thought Frank Nazar‘s night started slow, but he looked like a beast in the third period. I really liked his game. He finished with the best individual expected goals (0.63) at 5-on-5 on the roster. Not only did he generate two high danger scoring chances, but he went to the tough areas around the net as well; he had two rebound chances in the game. The Blackhawks had four rebound opportunities at 5-on-5 as a team. He finished the night tied with Greene for the team high with 17 faceoffs, and won eight of them. While Nazar was on the ice at 5-on-5, the Blackhawks had the highest expected goals for (1.11) of any skater and a 62.84 expected goals for percentage, which was second on the team. I like Roman Kantserov‘s game last night. He was playing center against a team with really good centers, and held his own. He skated 17:07 and won 5 of 15 faceoffs, but finished tied for the team lead with three hits. He was not physically intimidated at all — something we wanted to expect after he played against men in the KHL last year, but hadn’t seen in NHL game action yet. Also, Kantserov finished last night tied for the third-highest max skating speed in the league last night. Anton Frondell was on the struggle bus. I thought assigning Mangiapane to his line with Tyler Bertuzzi was… interesting going in. It didn’t work well in the first period and, when Mangiapane left the lineup, that line became a crapshoot. At even strength, Vegas skated their top two lines against Frondell’s line; he spent five minutes against Mitch Marner’s line and four minutes against Jack Eichel’s line at 5-on-5. He won three of only six faceoffs in the game and put only one shot on net. Concerningly, he and Bertuzzi both had a stone cold zero in the individual expected goals column last night. However, what I found to be interesting was the difference in their two numbers in the team’s expected goals for percentage at 5-on-5. Bertuzzi had the best on the team (77.16), but Frondell came in at just 34.27. The Blackhawks had an expected goals for percentage of 100(!) with Bertuzzi on the ice without Frondell. I didn’t expect that. I mentioned it possibly being a better fit before a couple times, but Oliver Moore got some run on the line with Frondell and Bertuzzi and he looked well suited for the “puck pursuer” role the coaches have wanted to complement the other two. He started the night with Kantserov and Patrick Kane and that did not work; while they were on the ice together, the Blackhawks had an expected goals for percentage of just 15.33. It was 64.89 with Frondell. I don’t think anyone thought Sam Rinzel had this in his bag:HIT STICK ? pic.twitter.com/j9hW0oVVfV
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) September 30, 2026 The Blackhawks gave up too many odd-man rushes last night, and part of it was the positioning of their defensemen. Blashill was pretty pointed with his comments about that after the game:“Against that team, if you’re a defenseman, you either have to be right down on the puck down the walls or you have to be inside the dots. If you’re in between at all, which we were a couple of times, they fly out of the zone and it’s going to be a 2-on-1 instantaneously.”
When they got desperate in the third period and started mixing their defensive pairs, Rinzel got more than five minutes of run with Byram. They were able to flip the ice pretty well; the Blackhawks had a 9-2 shot attempts advantage and 72.17 expected goals for percentage in 5:39 when those two were on the ice together at 5-on-5. With that desperation, Ian Cole‘s ice time disappeared in the third. After skating over five minutes in both the first and second period, he got three shifts totaling only 97 second in the third. Finally, the Golden Knights finished the night with 63 shot attempts and 18 high danger chances. That added up to an expected goals for of 4.65, which means Spencer Knight was slightly better than expected. This game could have been worse if he wasn’t sharp early.Hence then, the article about let s talk about the blackhawks first game what worked what didn t 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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