Blackhawks have a good chance with 8-Game Homestand – Hockey Writers – Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks recently endured the longest road trip of their 2025-26 season, a six-game tour through Western Canada, Seattle and Detroit. After losing their first three contests, they had a strong finish to the tour with three solid wins. A 3-2-1 record on a tough road trip for this young team is nothing to take lightly. It’s shown to compete and grow, and it shows the hockey world that the Blackhawks are ultimately better than the league’s underdogs.
Related – 5 Blackhawks Observations from six road trips
But it’s still early in the season, and this team must continue to build and grow (and succeed) to prove this successful road trip, and 8-5-4 to start the season, is not a pick. What better way to do that than to spend money on their current homestand? Starting with the new Demons Jersey on November 12 (4-3 loss), the Blackhawks are currently in the midst of hosting eight of the next nine games at the United Center. It’s a great opportunity to win hockey games, go to the stands and be a competitor instead of a player.
So, how can the blackhawks go about doing this?! Let’s take a look at players, coaches and some of the latest ways to create a path to more and more success.
Bedard leads the way
Anyone who doubted Connor Bedard didn’t do much in his third season in the league. The young superstar put to work in the offsuason and came to the training camp with more speed and explosion. He also learns how to use this on the ice and his particular elite talent.
The prices speak for themselves. Bedard is currently ninth in POINTS, registering eight goals, 11 assists and 19 points in that span. This includes him 50th The NHL goal that was part of his first Carm Trick, scored against the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 28. Scored 150 points in November.
Bedard made his defensive plays. It seems that he understands the attitude of being the head coach Jeff Blasill was trying to instill with the whole team. The coach said a lot about bedard behind his hat plan against those who sell.
Connor had a great start to the year. He did so many things the right way. He defends hard. Stops pucks. He does a lot of things that win hockey practices. I think he creates a lot of offense that doesn’t always end up in goals actually. Whether he is or, passing by, and never (ended in the goal), for whatever reason. There have certainly been opportunities for nights like this, so for him to get a reward that I think is great.
It’s good to see Connor have an offensive night as a pitcher tonight, getting rewarded for the great two-way play he had. Because what I don’t want is not being rewarded and suddenly you start cheating on your case. Because that will be equal and not victory. And so you did it right, and good for him, it was good.
In 17 games played, Bedard recorded seven multi-point games. His 10 goals lead the team, while his 16 assists and 26 points lead the rest of the team by a mile.
Related – Blackawks’ Bedard & Nazar Step Up to Roles as Leaders
Everything seems to be thrown together by the bedard, and it seems that he is just getting started.
Related pieces: bertuzz, Burakovsky
It can easily be argued that Bedard is flourishing this season because he finally has some pieces that match him, namely Andre Burakovsky and Tyler Bertuzz.
Burakovsky and Bedard have basically been joined at the hip on the front line since training camp. Blashill was shown as soon as he found burakovsky that he felt that the fake would be a suitable thing for bedard, because burakovsky has succeeded in playing with top players in the past. After all, he won two Stanley Cups (2018 with the Washington Capitals and 2022 with the Colorado Avalanche) while contributing very talented skills. Ahead of last week’s contest against the Seattle Kraken, Blashill expanded on this:
It’s a skill (playing with talented players). I think you have to know, first of all, you get to kind of get the feel of the player. You have to be a smart player. He (Burakovsky) is someone who knows when to give, and knows when not to. You know how to create space, you can play guys. His hockey is smart too, he’s a good thing with Connor (Bedard) too, because he’s a good mover of the puck. When I spoke to the Colorado Coaching staff, they told me right away that he is a good passer, which I thought would be a perfect fit for Connor.
I think there are times where he can shoot and attack a little bit, but he’s been a good fit there. What I liked the most is how hard he played this game, how hard he worked to win the fights, how tough he is at the back, because that’s the important part. So when you play with good players, you tend to go out there against good players. And you did a good job of that.
Another player who has had success with bedard (and vice versa) is Bertuzzi. They just focused on the power play, and Blashill just put Bertuzz on the front line with Bedard and Burakovsky. He had this trio on the front row for several races in mid-October. The coach gave his thoughts on this at the time:
Bert is another person to me that I think is very smart. So he can help you at your end. He gets Pucks right on the wall, then he gets a ton of fire and he’s on the set hard. I think about burky (Andre Burakovsky) and Connor (Bedard), they need someone to be in net for sure. And Dacher (Colton Dach) can do that too. But Bert has more experience, more time in the league. So I just thought it was a spark maybe, that we need the last night (comparing vancouver canucks). In the end, I think it would have served two purposes if they counted that one. So maybe we’ll look at that here in the next few games and see how it goes.
Burakovsky currently has five goals and 10 points in his last seven games played (he has not played the Devils due to illness), while Bertuzzi is in a four-point range with six goals and eight points. Both are second (bertuzzi) and third place (burakovsky) behind bedard in goals and places. Between the three of them, they give the blackhawks the most production, and they work together to do so.
Great Goalteing
It cannot be overstated the impact that both Spencer Knight and Backup GoalTender Arvid Soperverblom have had on this team to start the season. Both played solidly, covering defensive mistakes and giving the Blackhawks a chance to win every night.
During the season, the knight is good for 12 games with the blackhawks. The 24-year-old boasts a .923 save percentage and a 2.46 goals against average. His save percentage is currently 9th in the league. This is an accomplishment considering protecting the Blackhawks is a work in progress. Let’s face it, the Blackhawks wouldn’t be where they are today without Knight’s stellar play in the crease.
Soderblom, for his part, has played in five games and sports a .913 SV% and 2.63 Gaa. In his most recent contest against the Detroit Red Wings, the 26-year-old went a career-high 45-of-46 for a stellar .978 SV% in a 5-1 win.
Knight and Soperverblom put together an excellent tandem in the crease, which is what the young Blackhawks need to help build their confidence and lead to more success.
The Blackhawks’ drive for success; Blashill is pushing the right buttons
As mentioned above, the Blackhawks did not start the road trip off on the right foot. But they rallied and fought back, and ended the trip with three straight wins. The same can be said about the beginning of their home. They played a little flat against the Demons, but got a point with a 4-3 loss. Captain Nick Foligna spoke well when asked about their first game back at Ice Ace:
I think that’s the hard part for me, because like I told you, I don’t really like moral victories. But it’s hard not to say that yes, we have grown up. This is probably the last year I’ve been here, we would have lost three or four because it would have just been wasted on us. So I’m relieved about that, but I don’t want to be relieved that I didn’t win this game. And so that’s the message here, it’s like a good wrestling career, and we didn’t have our best, and maybe we’re missing some guys. But every team is missing players and every team is not good enough. But good teams find ways to win, and that’s the message. And maybe the bad taste in everyone’s mouth is, even though we didn’t have everything we could, we have to find a way to win. And we have to get to that, to be a team player, and that will be really exciting when we do.
It looks like the Blackhawks are starting to believe in each other, and that they have a chance to win every night.
Blashill’s Footprint trainer has been through all of this. I miss him a lot this season, because he seems to be pushing all the right buttons and getting the best out of his players. He preaches winning habits, and the Blackhawks want to get into a winning body. Blashill was asked about making good use of the house, and put it in a positive light:
It’s usually hard to win on the road. Not always, but usually that way. So you want to make the most of your home games, and it’s definitely a home that you’d like to use. But I think the good thing about this team is that we never get ahead of ourselves.
We will play tomorrow’s game and learn from that game. And that’s the kind of approach we’ve taken … It’s good to have the boys home after being away for so long. But from a hockey perspective, we don’t really think of it as a very long home run as far as the credibility of the next game. That may sound like coach-speak, but it’s true. And I think our team did a really good job of that.
So, the blackhawks are taking it day by day. They will regroup and do their best to win against the Toronto Maple Leafs this Saturday (Nov. 15). Then they’ll do it all again to get the Flames in Calgary on November 18th, and then the Seattle Kraken on November 20th…you get the idea.
Related – 3 Takeaways from Blackhawks’ 4-3 Overtime Loss to Demons
When all is said and done, we will see how many home games the blackhawks will win, and how much they have grown and improved. But there is no denying this person reveals a good opportunity in front of him.
