The Chicago Blackhawks hosted the defending champion Florida Panthers on Sunday, Jan. 25 in what was their third game in third game in four nights. The condensed schedule due to the Olympic break in February isn’t doing any team any favors. It was also the second of back-to-back games for the Panthers, having defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-3 in overtime the night before.
The Panthers proved to be the best team on this night as well, coming away with a 5-1 win. The Blackhawks certainly can’t take some learning moments away from this one. Here are some key thoughts and takeaways from the loss.
Blackhawks Lines & Pairings vs. Panthers
Oliver Moore – Connor Bedard – Andre Burakovsky
Ryan Greene – Frank Nazar – Nick Lardis
Tyler Bertuzzi – Jason Dickinson – Ilya Mikheyev
Ryan Donato – Nick Foligno – Landon Slaggert
Alex Vlasic – Louis Crevier
Wyatt Kaiser – Artyom Levshunov
Matt Grzelcyk – Connor Murphy
Spencer Knight/Arvid Soderblom
Scratched: Sam Lafferty, Colton Dach, Teuvo Teravainen (upper body)
Related – Key Takeaways From the Blackhawks’ 2-1 Shootout Loss to the Lightning
Head coach Jeff Blashill continued to experiment with the forward lines to try to determine the best lineup. In this contest, he deployed Oliver Moore with Connor Bedard, saying the two haven’t had a chance to play together yet.
The consequent second line was intriguing as well, with Ryan Greene moving down and Nick Lardis moving up to be centered by Frank Nazar.
Spencer Knight was in net against his former team.
Bertuzzi Scores to Break Slump
After a relatively uneventful first period and most of the second period, both sides got on the board towards the end of the middle frame. Tobias Bjornfot scored for the Panthers at the 15:33 mark, and then Tyler Bertuzzi found the back of the net to even the score with less than 30 seconds left in the frame.
a beauty from Bertuzzi🤩 pic.twitter.com/Yni2vu7H5W
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 26, 2026
Before this, Bertuzzi hadn’t score for five straight games, since Jan. 12 against the Edmonton Oilers. The feisty winger has always been known as a streaky scorer, but he was finding a lot more consistency this season. Blashill has asked him to utilize his biggest strength within the Blackhawks’ system, that being a constant net front presence.
Related – Blackhawks’ Goalie Tandem Set for the Present & Future
Bertuzzi has only had one other “slump” this season. He didn’t score for six straight games between Dec. 12 through Dec. 23. Hopefully this goal will get him back on track.
Getting Bedard Going
Speaking of slumps, Connor Bedard has only one goal and four points in the last eight games since returning from a shoulder injury.
The young superstar is basically the cog that keeps things going for the Blackhawks, so this isn’t exactly ideal. Blashill addressed this postgame.
Since he’s been back, I think there’s been moments where he’s going good and moments where he hasn’t … You’re out for a long time, it’s hard to get your mojo back sometimes. He’s just working to get his mojo back. We’ve kind of played with the lines. Maybe that’s hurt him, not having consistency there. Sometimes you’re trying to help spark guys & you end up hurting him by making too many changes.
There have been a lot of line changes, but that also shouldn’t really be an excuse. It’s true that other teams focus on Bedard, so he and his line might have the hardest time breaking through. Something to watch moving forward.
Blackhawks Forcing Things, Not Trusting the Process
Over the past few contests, the Blackhawks have certainly had a hard time generating offense. They’ve also played some extremely talented teams, so this doesn’t really come as a surprise. But this team is young, and when they don’t see the results they tend to try to force things a little bit, instead of being patient and trusting themselves to let the play come to them. Captain Nick Foligno knows that can be a struggle.
I think we just need to understand that stick-with-it a little bit more. Sometimes, as a young player, and even us as older players, you just get a little bored with it. Because it’s not breaking, it’s not happening, and you don’t trust that it’s gonna happen. And I think that’s just because we don’t have that experience where a team like Florida, they have that. They have the results to back it up. And we need to trust this process a little bit more and realize that it’s going to help us succeed. And it has. And that’s just the stubbornness of youth, and it’s like telling your kids over and over, right? But I think for us, it’s a good lesson going into a tough little road trip.
The Blackhawks have integrated A LOT of young players into the lineup this season. When they’re playing well, it’s easy to think they’re an experienced, resilient team that can roll with the punches. But the fact remains they’re still learning how to do that. Contests like these are a reminder of that.
Other Notes From Blackhawks vs. Panthers
- The line of Bertuzzi, Jason Dickinson and Ilya Mikheyev was by far the best line on the ice for the Blackhawks in this game. According to Natural Stat Trick, they generated 10 shots to the Panthers’ one, and led 18-5 in shot attempts. Said Blashill, I’ve talked about predictability in the O-zone. They did that. They were fast with it. Their puck speed was great. They knew where each other were, and they did a really good job of that.”
- As referenced a few times above, coach Blashill admitted his line blending might have been a little too much. “Probably over searching, trying to find the right combination. Again, I think sometimes you do that, it hurts your team. So something to look at and kind of decide, okay, what are we going with and just stay with that.”
- The Blackhawks’ power play continues to struggle. It’s now 0-for-17 in the last seven games. Blashill mentioned the need to probably tweak the units a little bit moving forward.
- Conversely, the penalty kill continues to be a strength. The Blackhawk only had to kill one penalty against the Panthers, but they did so. They’ve now killed 11 straight in the last four games, and lead the league in this department with an 85.5% success rate.
Related – Blackhawks Notebook: Catching Up on Youngsters Slaggert, Moore, Lardis, Crevier
No rest for the weary, as the Blackhawks head out on the road to face their division rival Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, Jan. 27, and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday, Jan. 29. Then they’ll turn right back around to host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday, Jan. 30.
