BLACKHAWKS

RECAPS: Sharks 3, Blackhawks 2 (SCH) (Sun-Times) (Tribune)

Anton Frondell “living the dream” after two weeks in NHL (Sun-Times)

Bedard reflects on the Blackhawks season that was, not what might have been (Athletic)

Analyzing where Artyom Levshunov stands after chaotic Blackhawks rookie season (Sun-Times)

Blackhawks’ new generation embracing challenge of conquering NHL together (Sun-Times)

RECAPS: Blackhawks 4, Kraken 2 (SCH) (Sun-Times) (Athletic) (Fels)

Who will step up and become the Blackhawks’ next defensive stopper? (Athletic)

Lardis’ confidence surging with Blackhawks as he learns how to score in the NHL (Sun-Times)

RECAPS: Oilers 3, Blackhawks 1 (SCH) (Sun-Times) (Tribune)

Breaking down Anton Frondell’s best NHL performance so far (Sun-Times)

Blackhawks’ Bedard, Frondell, Nazar pack a 1-2-3 center punch (Athletic)

RECAPS: Jets 4, Blackhawks 3 (SCH) (Sun-Times) (Tribune) (Fels)

The Great Levshunov Review (Fels)

Fighting, hitting, defending teammates: Young Blackhawks learning NHL’s physical game (Athletic)

Why did the Blackhawks practice fighting? To “learn how to protect ourselves” (Sun-Times)

Jeff Blashill is right to use Blackhawks’ final games for experimentation (Sun-Times)

Why Bedard’s offensive growth with Blackhawks stems from him creating more space (Sun-Times)

RECAPS: Devils 5, Blackhawks 3 (SCH) (Sun-Times) (Tribune) (Fels)

NHL GAME RECAPS

Sabres 4, Lightning 2 (NHL)

Jets 6, Kraken 2 (NHL)

Kings 3, Predators 2 (NHL)

NHL NEWS

Draisaitl may not be ready for start of playoffs (NHL)

Fitzgerald fired as Devils general manager (NHL)

Cooper irked as penalty box injury sparks probe (ESPN)

Roy fired as Islanders coach, replaced by DeBoer (NHL)

Jackets’ Severson has season-ending surgery (ESPN)

Makar to “miss some time” for Avalanche with injury (NHL)

Maple Leafs must “adapt quicker” in robust Atlantic (NHL)

Ovechkin extends record with 20th 30-goal season (ESPN)

Shesterkin, Markstrom delight in rare goalie fight (ESPN)

Sabres’ Carrick injures arm in fight with Isles’ Lee (ESPN)

Stars GM Nill earns two-year contract extension (ESPN)

Treliving fired as Maple Leafs general manager (NHL)

Tight playoff races dominating stretch run of season (NHL)

Makar injured in Avalanche win (NHL)

Golden Knights embrace late switch to Tortorella (NHL)

Tortorella replaces Cassidy as Golden Knights coach (NHL)

Martone signs entry-level contract with Flyers (NHL)

HOCKEY WORLD

Pro women’s hockey shines bright at Madison Square Garden (The Ice Garden)

Minnesota Frost clinch third straight playoff berth (The Ice Garden)

Boston Fleet clinch first 2026 PWHL playoff berth (The Ice Garden)

The Hawks scored first just a power play expired about nine minutes into the game, when some nifty puck movement resulted in a one-timer for Frank Nazar, with the resultant rebound leading to an easy tap-in for Ryan Donato:

GOAL: Ryan Donato buries a rebound as the power play expires to open the scoring. pic.twitter.com/69k4nTzlKh

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 7, 2026

San Jose tied the game seven minutes into the second when a bad Chicago turnover led to a William Eklund breakaway:

Eklund picks off Kaiser's pass and scores. pic.twitter.com/TbCFtHuFhy

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 7, 2026

The Sharks took the lead about eight minutes later on this one-timer from Kiefer Sherwood:

Sherwood scores. pic.twitter.com/ANZz15Euli

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 7, 2026

And then San Jose doubled its advantage at the 3:28 mark of the third when Collin Graf found Will Smith open in the low slot:

Pretty pass by Graf to find Smith who scores. pic.twitter.com/rBYAmGuJwe

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 7, 2026

It became a one-goal game again about three minutes later, when a long stretch of sustained pressure from Chicago’s top power-play unit culminated in this Frank Nazar PPG:

GOAL: Frank Nazar caps off another fantastic power play to record his 15th goal of the season. pic.twitter.com/rCI8eXnJz2

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 7, 2026

The Hawks had some good looks down the stretch, including this one for Anton Frondell with about 80 seconds remaining:

Frondell gets a great look to tie it: pic.twitter.com/0pI6AKIH4J

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 7, 2026

And this one for Nazar:

Ohhh man what a look for Frank Nazar: pic.twitter.com/cmFYZceNYl

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 7, 2026

But that third Chicago goal never did materialize.

Notes

Continuing a theme of the last few weeks: another solid outing for Kevin Korchinski. He had the best expected goal share on the team at 70.63 percent despite not having the most generous deployment, starting in the offensive zone just 33.3 percent of the time — second lowest among Hawks blue-liners. No points, but his 15:38 of ice time was a season-high. Below is the kind of thing he’s made routine recently: a crisp 100-foot pass that surpasses three defenders and sends Chicago into the offensive zone with numbers:

https://t.co/jTwD0Ge0sJ pic.twitter.com/4Juzoe0zMC

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 7, 2026

Speaking of routine occurrences — this of the season-long variety — here’s another sample of candiates for Spencer Knight’s highlight reel:

Fantastic save by Knight on Toffoli: pic.twitter.com/7YiLT3tnZ1

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 7, 2026

Big save by Spencer Knight on Celebrini: pic.twitter.com/NrLKzHRGg9

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 7, 2026

Another: https://t.co/eaPXnVPdEx pic.twitter.com/T7dgMUJzTi

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 7, 2026

Not sure what speed it would take to fire a hockey puck *through* a post but Frondell seemed to be approaching it with this missile:

Now this one dents the post: https://t.co/YK3AfJTIIj pic.twitter.com/GpT3yQYu6D

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 7, 2026

Speaking of that top power-play unit, here’s a 55-second clip of them generating a flurry of chances in the second period without scoring, including the Frondell chance above. The movement of the puck and the players is the key to the generation of scoring chances here, and hopefully that becomes the norm among this quintet if it’s kept together:

#Blackhawks generated 11 shot attempts on this power play. They did everything but score. pic.twitter.com/gKmFJIoOvB

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) April 7, 2026

Blashill seemed to enjoy what he was seeing from that group, too:

Blashill on the 5F PP1: "They’re definitely catching some confidence and swagger. Bedsy up top is real dangerous, he’s a great distributor. …I think they’ve looked good every time they’ve been together, to be honest with you, and tonight was probably the best we’ve looked."

— Mark Lazerus (@marklazerus.bsky.social) April 7, 2026 at 12:01 AM

Asked Jeff Blashill if he'll consider sticking with five-forward PP next season:

"I’d have to be crazy not to. I have no issue with five forwards. It doesn’t matter if it’s a forward or D back there; that doesn’t dictate whether or not you give up shorthanded chances. To me,…

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 7, 2026

If there’s a general theme from this game, it’s that the Hawks didn’t do enough at 5-on-5 to earn the win. Chicago did end with a 29-23 advantage in shots on goal overall, but was outshot 20-16 during the 48:53 in 5-on-5 play during this game. San Jose also had the advantage in shot attempts (44-20) and scoring chances (20-11) and high-danger chances (12-5), resulting in an expected goal share of 56.91 percent for the home side. Not a huge number, but enough to make the difference in this game.

Four more back at 1901 W. Madison and then we’re all done ’til October. The Hawks are currently 31st in the league standings, with 70 points in 78 games. The only team they can realistically “catch” in the standings is Calgary, which is currently at 72 points in just 76 games. Seems like the No. 2 draft lottery odds are damn near certain at this point.

Game Charts

Three Stars

1. William Eklund (SJ) — 1 goal, 1 assist
2. Frank Nazar (CHI) — 1 goal, 1 assist
3. Will Smith (SJ) — 1 goal

What’s Next

The Blackhawks are back at the United Center for the rest of the season, starting with Thurdsay’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes at 7:30 p.m.

Game Preview

A quick glance at the standings suggests that San Jose is the superior team, as a win in this game would insert the Sharks into a three-way tie for the second wild card spot with Nashville and Los Angeles, which already have 81 points in 76 games and San Jose at 79 in 75. But the minus-36 goal differential is just one of several signs that this San Jose side has been more fortunate than anything else this season. The Sharks have 10 wins in OT and two more in the shootout, which certainly helps — the Hawks have four and three, respectively, for comparison. The possession metrics offer additional clues, as San Jose is down by Chicago in key 5-on-5 categories like shot attempt share (46.65 percent, 29th) and expected goal share (46.33 percent, 28th), which means it doesn’t possess the puck well or do much with it during those increasingly rare moments of sustained possession. Neither San Jose special teams unit is worth a soliloquy, and neither Sharks goalie (the duo of Alex Nedeljkovic and Yaroslav Askarov) can be pointed to as the reason this team seems inexplicably alive in the playoff chase. Perhaps it’s all just indicative of a weak Pacific Division in a top-heavy Western Conference dominated by the teams leading the Central.

What San Jose does have is one the game’s brightest young stars in 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini, the top pick from the 2024 NHL Draft who’s at a blistering pace of 1.41 points per game this season with 106 (41 G, 65 A) in 75 games. Behind him is 2023 No. 4 overall pick Will Smith at 54 (22 G, 32 A) in 62 and veteran Alex Wennberg at 52 (18 G, 34 A) in 74. Three other forwards have eclipsed the 40-point plateau in Tyler Toffoli, William Eklund and Collin Graf, so there’s decent depth scoring here. There’s also 2025 No. 2 overall pick Michael Misa here, who’s been limited to just 38 games because of injuries and only has 17 points (7 G, 10 A) as he adapts to life in the NHL. The blue line is much more experienced, featuring players like Dmitry Orlov, Mario Ferraro, John Klingberg and Timothy Liljegren. We also have several old friend alerts for this game, with Nick Leddy, Phil Kurashev and Adam Gaudette all on the San Jose roster this season.

Still, comparisons between the Hawks and this Sharks side will persist because each team is led by No. 1 picks from consecutive drafts, who also happen to be close friends:

TRY NOT TO SAY FAMILY CHALLENGE pic.twitter.com/dncra2Uo2U

— gab (@whatthegraf) April 6, 2026

While Celebrini and his Sharks may have the edge right now in a lot of ways, future seasons will be better indicators of how well these front offices have completed their rebuilds.

San Jose’s expected lines are below, with Celebrini’s absence chalked up to “maintenance” and his inclusion in the lineup likely coming in that 1C spot occupied by Kurashev at the morning skate.

As for the Hawks, the morning skate confirmed that Spencer Knight will be the starter in net, with the rest of the lineup almost certainly being what defeated Seattle on Saturday night during one of Chicago’s better collective performances this season. A similar result is possible here because of all the flaws in San Jose’s game which means the nine-point gap between them and Chicago isn’t quite as large as it may initially appear.

Blackhawks lines in warmups at Kraken:

Teravainen-Bedard-Lardis
Bertuzzi-Frondell-Mikheyev
Donato-Nazar-Greene
Slaggert-Boisvert-Burakovsky

Kaiser-Crevier
Vlasic-Rinzel
Korchinski-Del Mastro

Soderblom

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 5, 2026

There could be a small lineup change occurring this evening, one that will likely be well-received by this corner of the internet:

Looks like Andrew Mangiapane is back in the lineup tonight. André Burakovsky could be the odd man out, but Blashill wouldn't reveal his lineup.

— Mark Lazerus (@marklazerus.bsky.social) April 6, 2026 at 2:14 PM

Last (road) game of the year, Brent. Can’t hold anything back now!

Let’s go Hawks.

Tale of the Tape

Blackhawks — Statistic — Sharks
45.66% (30th) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 46.56% (29th)
42.40% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 46.33% (28th)
2.56 (32nd) — Goals per game — 3.05 (t-17th)
3.22 (25th) — Goals against per game — 3.55 (31st)
46.1% (31st) — Faceoffs — 47.6% (t-26th)
17.8% (24th) — Power play — 20.7% (t-16th)
83.8% (2nd) — Penalty kill — 77.9% (t-20th)
(All stats from this season)

How to watch

When: 9 p.m. CT
Where: SAP Center, San Jose
TV: CHSN
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720

BLACKHAWKS

Analyzing where Artyom Levshunov stands after chaotic Blackhawks rookie season (Sun-Times)

Blackhawks’ new generation embracing challenge of conquering NHL together (Sun-Times)

RECAPS: Blackhawks 4, Kraken 2 (SCH) (Sun-Times) (Athletic)

Who will step up and become the Blackhawks’ next defensive stopper? (Athletic)

Lardis’ confidence surging with Blackhawks as he learns how to score in the NHL (Sun-Times)

RECAPS: Oilers 3, Blackhawks 1 (SCH) (Sun-Times) (Tribune)

Breaking down Anton Frondell’s best NHL performance so far (Sun-Times)

Blackhawks’ Bedard, Frondell, Nazar pack a 1-2-3 center punch (Athletic)

RECAPS: Jets 4, Blackhawks 3 (SCH) (Sun-Times) (Tribune) (Fels)

The Great Levshunov Review (Fels)

Fighting, hitting, defending teammates: Young Blackhawks learning NHL’s physical game (Athletic)

Why did the Blackhawks practice fighting? To “learn how to protect ourselves” (Sun-Times)

Jeff Blashill is right to use Blackhawks’ final games for experimentation (Sun-Times)

Why Bedard’s offensive growth with Blackhawks stems from him creating more space (Sun-Times)

RECAPS: Devils 5, Blackhawks 3 (SCH) (Sun-Times) (Tribune) (Fels)

NHL GAME RECAPS

Wild 5, Red Wings 4 (NHL)

Penguins 5, Panthers 2 (NHL)

Flyers 2, Bruins 1 (NHL)

Senators 6, Hurricanes 3 (NHL)

Devils 3, Canadiens 0 (NHL)

Rangers 8, Capitals 1 (NHL)

Blues 3, Avalanche 2 (NHL)

NHL NEWS

Roy fired as Islanders coach, replaced by DeBoer (NHL)

Jackets’ Severson has season-ending surgery (ESPN)

Makar to “miss some time” for Avalanche with injury (NHL)

Maple Leafs must “adapt quicker” in robust Atlantic (NHL)

Ovechkin extends record with 20th 30-goal season (ESPN)

Shesterkin, Markstrom delight in rare goalie fight (ESPN)

Sabres’ Carrick injures arm in fight with Isles’ Lee (ESPN)

Stars GM Nill earns two-year contract extension (ESPN)

Treliving fired as Maple Leafs general manager (NHL)

Tight playoff races dominating stretch run of season (NHL)

Makar injured in Avalanche win (NHL)

Golden Knights embrace late switch to Tortorella (NHL)

Tortorella replaces Cassidy as Golden Knights coach (NHL)

Martone signs entry-level contract with Flyers (NHL)

Crosby leaves with lower-body injury in Penguins win (NHL)

Senators’ Chabot could miss 2 months with broken arm (ESPN)

Panthers’ Maurice honored for coaching 2,000 NHL regular season games (NHL)

Hedman takes temporary personal leave from Lightning (NHL)

Panthers’ Lundell out 2-6 weeks with rib injury (Daily Faceoff)

McDavid scores 400th NHL goal for Oilers (NHL)

HOCKEY WORLD

Boston Fleet clinch first 2026 PWHL playoff berth (The Ice Garden)

2026 NCAA men’s hockey tournament: Schedule, results (ESPN) (NCAA)

The fight to bring college women’s hockey to Michigan (The Ice Garden)

Inside the impact of NIL and revenue sharing on college hockey (ESPN)

Neither team scored in the first, but it took Teuvo Teravainen to score on an otherwise sloppy power play 9:15 into the second period.

GOAL: Teuvo Teravainen drives to the net and jams in a power-play goal. pic.twitter.com/PP3o2L96aF

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 5, 2026

With under a minute remaining in the second, Tyler Bertuzzi scored his 32nd goal of the season. This was a solid offensive zone entry that was initiated in the Hawks’ end.

GOAL: Tyler Bertuzzi buries his 32nd goal of the season with 22.2 seconds left in the period. pic.twitter.com/zDH9sZw3vy

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 5, 2026

Jaden Schwartz scored 10:48 into the third period to cut the lead down to 2-1. Eeli Tolvanen caught the Hawks on a line change and pulled Ethan Del Mastro to the outside to create space for Schwartz.

a Schwartzy goal to cleanse your timeline 🕯️ pic.twitter.com/tqbnX3HwKF

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) April 5, 2026

With 6:52 remaining in the third, Sacha Boisvert scored his first goal in the NHL to give the Hawks a 3-1 lead.

GOAL: Sacha Boisvert nets his first NHL goal off a feed from Kevin Korchinski to extend the lead. pic.twitter.com/C6DSyUi7Bf

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 5, 2026

Kaapo Kakko scored just over a minute later to cut the lead to 3-2. Schwartz found Berkly Catton, whose rebound was collected and shot in by Kakko.

hey Alexa, play the Kaapo Kakko song 😏 pic.twitter.com/qnE3Tnr7yV

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) April 5, 2026

With 1:12 remaining in the game, Ilya Mikheyev sealed it with an empty-net goal for a 4-2 Hawks win.

Notes

This was a mostly complete effort from the Blackhawks and certainly their best out of their recent games. The Hawks finished with a 50.51 percent shot attempt share and a 50.63 percent expected goals share (both at 5-on-5), and their strongest efforts were in the first two periods. Chicago had the advantage in 5-on-5 scoring chances through the first two at 19-16. Both teams had moments of sloppy mistakes, which led to turnovers. Seattle just ended up being more sloppy, and Chicago being a lot faster. In fact, I think this game speaks more about the Kraken.

The third period started off with a solid penalty kill from Chicago, but Seattle applied the pressure at 5-on-5. The Kraken had a 69.13 percent expected goal share at 5-on-5 and led in high danger chances 6-1. I wouldn’t blame this on the Hawks totally turtling it in, Wyatt Kaiser did make a nice play at his blue line to steal the puck from Seattle and drive through the neutral zone. But the Hawks did suffer from defensive zone breakdowns: that second goal was due to exposed coverage and possible miscommunication between Louis Crevier and Ryan Greene. Below is a screenshot of the passing lane created from that lapse in coverage.

Wyatt Kaiser had a strong night. I mentioned the play he made by standing up the blue line already. Below is a clip of him walking the line. This opens up space on the weak side of the ice. Although ideally you would have Crevier drive forward and the F3 replace Kaiser’s position. That said, Kaiser didn’t have a perfect night; both his 5-on-5 shot attempt share and expected goals share were below 50 percent, and he was on the ice for both goals against — although I don’t pin them on him. But I thought both of those plays were worth mentioning.

I have to add this “clip” to the mix: https://t.co/j5KP9xpGyf pic.twitter.com/CxjD1tl0Bj

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 5, 2026

Jeff Blashill seems to think so as well:

Blashill said Wyatt Kaiser has been the Blackhawks' best D lately and he wants him taking the hardest matchups moving forward.

He also praised Korchinski: "He's not over-complicating it. He's using his feet to beat pressure, then he's moving the puck to the open people. When he…

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 5, 2026

Kevin Korchinski has impressed me in his recent call-up. His first pass on the breakout has been solid, and he was rewarded for his tendency (a good one) to pinch in the offensive zone. Sure, he needs to work on that physicality on defense. But it’s his skating and offensive instinct that gives me hope that he’ll figure it out. He led the Hawks in 5-on-5 expected goals share at 72.44 percent. But that also came with 11:19 of ice time, and half of his shifts were started in the offensive zone.

Kevin Korchinski led the Blackhawks with a 72.44 on-ice 5v5 expected goals percentage tonight, according to Natural Stat Trick.

In the four games since being recalled, he has a 52.81 expected goals percentage and has been on the ice for one goal for and zero against in 5v5.

— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) April 5, 2026

Despite putting up two points to reach 71 points on the season, Connor Bedard didn’t have his best night. It started on the Blackhawks’ first power play with two giveaways. At 5-on-5, Bedard only had two shot attempts and one shot on goal. However, both his 5-on-5 shot attempt share and expected goal share were north of 60 percent. Oh, and I think I’m good with seeing Bedard run the point on the power play.

Considering the last time I did one of these, I pulled the Negative Nancy card and needed a shoulder to cry on. Let’s end on a positive note. The Sam Rinzel and Alex Vlasic pairing wasn’t perfect, but I liked what I saw. Rinzel had a couple of shifts where he was stuck in his end for some time, and even was out there for over three minutes. Rinzel still put up over 50 percent in both shot attempt share and expected goals share at 5-on-5. Together, Vlasic and Rinzel had a 56 percent expected goals share and shot attempt share. I’d love to see this pair for the rest of the season.

Game Charts

#NHL Game Score Impact Card for Chicago Blackhawks on 2026-04-04: #Blackhawks

[image or embed]

— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards.com) April 4, 2026 at 9:46 PM

Three Stars

1. Jaden Schwartz (SEA) — 1 goal, 1 assist
2. Sacha Boisvert (CHI) — 1 goal
3. Tyler Bertuzzi (CHI) — 1 goal

What’s Next

The Blackhawks play their final road game of the season on Monday with another late start against the San Jose Sharks at 9 p.m.

Game Preview

The Kraken sit four points out of the second wild card spot with 75 points. Four teams stand between Seattle and the San Jose Sharks and, boy, Seattle isn’t quite the analytics darling. The Kraken sit in 31st in 5-on-5 shot attempt share (one spot below Chicago) and 31st in 5-on-5 expected goals share (one spot above Chicago). Add on their minus-25 goal differential, and it’s all making the postseason is looking unlikely for Seattle.

Not helping the Kraken’s playoff dreams is their two-game losing streak and their 3-5-2 performance over their last 10 games. This is a team that’s built to thrive in the muddy middle of not being good enough for serious contention, and not bad enough to bottom out for high draft picks. The players Seattle has drafted haven’t quite reached their potential. Matty Beniers is second in scoring with 45 points (19 G, 26 A), Shane Wright is 10th in scoring through 72 games with 26 points (11 G, 15 A) and Berkly Catton has 15 points (6 G, 9 A) through 58 games in his first NHL season. Kaapo Kakko is another young forward with high potential who was acquired from the New York Rangers in December 2024. But Kakko only has 35 points (12 G, 23 A) in 57 games.

The young players seem to be the crux of Seattle’s problems because their veteran core isn’t horrible, despite being locked down with term. Jordan Eberle leads the team in scoring with 52 points (24 G, 28 A), but is 35 years old and is signed until the 2027 season. Center Chandler Stephenson is third in scoring with 45 points (15 G, 30 A), but the 31-year-old has some of the worst 5-on-5 analytics in the league and is signed at $6.25 million until 2030. However, it’s the blueline that truly exposes Seattle’s contractual obligations.

Vince Dunn leads Kraken defensemen with 41 points (11 G, 30 A) and is signed for one more year at $7.35 million. Brandon Montour has 31 points (10 G, 21 A) and, at 31 years old, is signed until the 2029 season with a $7.14 million cap hit. Adam Larsson (5 G, 17 A) is 33 and has a contract that expires in 2029, costing the Kraken $5.25 million to the cap. Ryan Lindgren, who’s 28, has a $4.5M cap hit until his contract is up in 2029. Seattle has a few difficult-to-move contracts on their blue line and desperately need their young forwards to take a big step in development.

While there’s no official word on who’ll be in net, starter Joey Daccord has an .899 save percentage through 44 games and played in the Kraken’s 6-2 loss to the Utah Mammoth on Thursday. Philipp Grubauer has a .911 save percentage through 30 games. Injuries are as follows: Wright is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, forward Ryan Winterton is day-to-day for personal reasons, and forward Max McCormick is out for the season. Starting lineup is below.

SEA: McCann-Beniers-Eberle
McMann-Stephenson-Kakko
Schwartz-Catton-Tolvanen
Meyers-Eberle8-Gaudreau
(Melanson/Winterton/Wright-red)

Dunn-Larsson
Lindgren-Montour
Evans-Oleksiak https://t.co/jSQF37AohY

— Game Day Lines (@GameDayLines) April 4, 2026

The Chicago Blackhawks are 2-5-3 in their last 10 games and have lost five straight. Nick Lardis was on the ice for the morning skate (along with Andrew Mangiapane), which is a good sign after he took a puck to the hand in Chicago’s 3-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. Ever since Lardis has been moved into the top six, he’s been scoring. In his last seven games, Lardis has six points (4 G, 2 A). Another young Hawk that has been interesting to watch is Anton Frondell. Through his first six NHL games, Frondell has five points (1 G, 4 A). While watching him create plays in the offensive zone is exciting, observing Frondell’s awareness in his own end is extremely intriguing. The sample size is too small to look at analytics, but watching his two-way play is a reason for hope.

The Blackhawks didn’t run line rushes this morning, so no lineups until the pregame warm-up. Even though last game saw some mid-game blending, that lineup is below.

Blackhawks lines in warmups at Oilers:

Greene-Bedard-Lardis
Bertuzzi-Frondell-Mikheyev
Donato-Nazar-Burakovsky
Teravainen-Boisvert-Slaggert

Vlasic-Crevier
Kaiser-Rinzel
Korchinski-Del Mastro

Knight

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 3, 2026

The only line-up change to report is the d-pairing getting a new look. Sam Rinzel is now on the top pair with Alex Vlasic.

Arvid Soderblom is in the Blackhawks’ starter’s crease in Seattle.

No forward line rushes today, but Rinzel/Crevier switched places in the D pairs:
Vlasic-Rinzel
Kaiser-Crevier
Korchinski-Del Mastro

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 4, 2026

Let’s see a good game from the kids and hopefully a win.

Let’s go Hawks.

Tale of the Tape

Blackhawks — Statistic — Kraken
45.59% (30th) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 45.04% (31st)
42.29% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 44.64% (31st)
2.54 (31st) — Goals per game — 2.80 (26th)
3.24 (25th) — Goals against per game — 3.07 (18th)
46.1% (31st) — Faceoffs — 47.8% (25th)
17.6% (27th) — Power play — 20.1% (19th)
83.6% (1st) — Penalty kill — 72.9% (31st)
(All stats from this season)

How to watch

When: 9:00 p.m. CT
Where: Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle
TV: CHSN
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720

After a scoreless first period and with Spencer Knight briefly in the locker room while dealing with an equipment issue, Adam Henrqiue scored the game’s first goal on a breakaway that he finished after Arvid Soderblom made the initial save.

Adam Henrique – Edmonton Oilers (3) pic.twitter.com/fxQKEhffrE

— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) April 3, 2026

Near the middle of the second period, Edmonton went up 2-0 thanks to a power-play goal from Matt Savoie, who scored when his stuff attempt ricocheted off of Alex Vlasic and into the net.

Matt Savoie – Edmonton Oilers (15)
Power Play Goal pic.twitter.com/zOYJzCtu1q

— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) April 3, 2026

Savoie had a second goal overturned on a successful challenge for offsides. About five minutes into the third period, Nick Lardis made it a 2-1 Hawks deficit by scoring on this rebound from a Connor Bedard point shot:

we ❤️ Nick Lardis goals! pic.twitter.com/apQdTWuGRJ

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) April 3, 2026

Vasily Podkolzin added an empty-netter late in the third for the final goal of the evening.

Notes

The primary postgame concern was the health of Lardis, who appeared to take the brunt of this Teuvo one-timer on the palm of his left hand:

Nick Lardis to the locker room after getting drilled by this shot: pic.twitter.com/1t8bEB5NVr

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 3, 2026

The good news there is that it doesn’t appear to be anything serious:

Blashill didn’t have an update on Nick Lardis, but he didn’t look terribly concerned at least

Teravainen: “He got a goal and then he got a puck. I feel bad about that.”

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 3, 2026

Hopefully Lardis is back in the lineup soon, as that’s now four goals in seven games for him since he was moved to the top of the lineup, and it seems like he’s capable of adding a few more before the season ends. Worth nothing that the one he scored tonight was the result of him working towards a tougher part of the ice to reach, leaving him in perfect position to hop on that rebound.

The lines saw some shuffling this evening and the the one that ended up being the best overall was the trio of Lardis, Bedard and Teuvo, which skated 6:58 together and had advantages of 10-4 in shot attempts, 6-3 in shots on goal, 7-3 in scoring chances and 3-2 in high-danger chances. It scored Chicago’s lone 5-on-5 goal and finished with an expected goal share of 58.66 percent. It seems like an awfully small line, but perhaps they’ve got the the skill and savvy to overcome that deficit for a brief spell. Certainly wouldn’t hurt to give it another look or two on Saturday night.

Frondell sure isn’t shy about firing the puck on net, is he? He had that quick wrister on net during his first shift that knocked Jarry’s mask off and then he clanked one off the post on that first-period power play. His shot was among the hallmarks of his game when drafted last summer and we’ve seen it aplenty at the start of this season.

Spencer Knight: still good!

Perhaps there’s confirmation bias in this observation but it sure seemed like the vast majority of Chicago’s turnovers in this game featured Ryan Donato or Andre Burakovsky — or both. That Henrique goal was just one of several examples. Burakovsky ended up on the fourth line by game’s end as a result.

Blashill said Burakovsky's turnover on the Oilers' first goal factored into his demotion to the 4th line.

"He’s not feeling it right now. Unfortunately, he’s trying hard, he cares, he wants to be a good player, it’s just not going right now… Sometimes my job as a coach is to…

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 3, 2026

There’s been a lot of talk about Frank Nazar’s offensive resurgence in the last few weeks, but that’s not the only part of the game where he’s feeling it. Right before Savoie’s PPG in the second, McDavid was doing his usual one-man zone entry at full speed before a well-timed poke check from Nazar disrupted the whole thing, leading to an easy clear. Nazar’s always been billed as more than just an offensive weapon, so it’s nice to see that swagger bleed over to other aspects of his game, too.

Chicago didn’t get run out of the building like it did during some of its road games last week, but this team still just doesn’t seem to generate enough offensive opportunities to be dangerous. Across all strengths, the Hawks were outshot a whopping 38-18 in this game. Blashill talked after the game about the team needing to shoot more, but that doesn’t feel like it’s going to cure all of the struggles on that end of the rink.

Blashill said the Blackhawks' internal analytics actually gave them a 7-6 edge in Grade A chances tonight.

"I wouldn’t say we didn’t have opportunities. I would say we need to shoot more."

Postgame notebook from Edmonton: https://t.co/6VNahIIoax

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 3, 2026

Game Charts

Three Stars

1. Matt Savoie (EDM) — 1 goal
2. Nick Lardis (CHI) — 1 goal
3. Spencer Knight (CHI) — 31 saves on 32 shots

What’s Next

The Blackhawks head back south of the border for a game on Saturday night in Seattle against the Kraken at 8 p.m.