3 Takeaways from Blackhawks’ Blowout Loss Versus the Mammoth

“I have tons of belief in these guys. I said it when I took the job: ‘Stay steady on the rudder,'” he told Ben Pope. “Man, this is two games. It’s neither more nor less… We have urgency to go play a good hockey game on Saturday. But my focus is on us continuing to get better as a group.”

The problem wasn’t one bad turnover; it was the accumulation of them. Chicago struggled to exit their own zone, struggled to win battles and that allowed Utah to find dangerous spots on the ice.

“There are going to be ups and downs through the course of the season. We would have preferred not to start down,” defenseman Ian Cole said. “But I think there’s a reality where, if we can steel ourselves and we can get our mind right in how we approach games, in the long run over the course of 84 games, we could look back at this an say, ‘Hey, this could’ve been good for us,'” (from Blackhawks’ abysmal start threatens to wipe out summer of optimism, New York Times, Oct. 2, 2026).

“Obviously, [we] haven’t seen our best hockey yet, by far,” Blackhawks forward Frank Nazar said. “So [we’ll] continue to focus on the process and keep working towards that, because you know it’s going to come,” (from Blackhawks already facing adversity after blowout loss to Mammoth, Chicago Sun Times, Oct. 2, 2026).

The Hawks spent basically all of the preseason playing the same lines, which worked for the majority of their games. Blashill jumbled the lines in their season opener against Vegas and did the same thing against Utah.

With Alex Vlasic and Bowen Byram as the top pairing on 5-on-5, the Mammoth:

• 23-1 in shot attempts
• 11-0 in shots on goal
• 14-0 on scoring chances
• 1-0 in goals

Arvid Soderblom gave up six goals. You combine that with the rough defensive structure, it’s not surprising the scoreline ended the way it did. When the Hawks did recover possession, Utah’s pressure often prevented clean exits.

Kevin Korchinski and Ethan Del Mastro, who signed contract extensions this offseason, have yet to see ice time in the first two games. It might be time to consider mixing things up on the defensive end.

“I’m not there, probably. We’ll see. We consider everything, so we’ll look at it and see if we think the two other options are better than the options that played. We’ll look at it, for sure,” Blashill told Mark Lazerus.

Chicago’s Offense Never Really Arrived

A team can survive a bad defensive game if it can create offense. Chicago had a bad defensive night, but had no offense to back that up.

Patrick Kane and Jordan Greenway were the lone goal scorers in the season opener. The Hawks had nine shots through two periods, eventually with 15 for the whole game.

Utah plays a very aggressive game, and it was also their home opener so the buzz in the building might have been enough to rattle the Hawks on the ice.

One thing I noticed was how disconnected the team looked throughout the night. Players weren’t supporting each other and if a breakout chance happened, it would die quickly before it would become a meaningful attack.

They did generate a few good chances, including Artyom Levshunov having a promising opportunity on a toe drag shot that just missed.

Besides that, there were a lot of isolated moments where offense failed to establish itself. That distinction matters. One or two good shifts don’t change the overall story of a game in which your opponent controls the puck and the chances for long stretches.

Chicago Needs to Find Consistency Quickly

The 0-2-0 record isn’t the most concerning part to start the season. The Hawks were outscored 11-2 in their first two games and both games exposed the same problem: lack of consistency.

The Hawks were supposed to be entering this season with aspirations of taking another step toward becoming a legitimate playoff contender. Instead, the opening road trip has produced two games in which Chicago has struggled to consistently control the puck, generate offense or defend its own zone.

The final stats of the loss aren’t that great either.

Those numbers tell the story of a team that wasn’t simply unlucky. Chicago was outplayed for long stretches of the game. Saturday’s game in Buffalo will be crucial for this team as it’s the last game of the season-opening three-game road trip before returning to Chicago. The Hawks can’t spend the rest of this season trying to fix the same problems they have shown in the first two games.