The first period came and went without a score. After taking their bucketless rookie laps before the game, Oliver Moore and Sam Rinzel took the ice and looked as comfortable as possible playing in their first NHL games. Rinzel was on the second power play unit (with Kevin Korchinski). At the end of 20 minutes, they were each credited with two shots on goal — tied for the team high.
It took more than eight minutes into the second period for either team to score, and it was Utah that got on the board first. That lead lasted less than three minutes before the Blackhawks tied the game. Chicago took a 2-1 lead but then allowed two goals in 31 seconds late in the period to find themselves chasing again.
Utah extended their lead to two 11 minutes into the third period. Two minutes later they scored again and it was a three-goal deficit with seven minutes to play.
Star 1: Sam Rinzel
Rinzel led all defenseman, skating 13:47 thru two periods with a team-high four shots on net and two hits. During many of his shifts, Rinzel was arguably the dangerous offensive threat on the ice in red. He was really impressive this evening.
What a sequence for Sam Rinzel. The spin move at the blue line!? Two high quality shots!! pic.twitter.com/7X8Y5YzJ3k
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) March 30, 2025
Star 2: Frank Nazar
Nazar was once again buzzing all over the ice. He had a breakaway change get rejected and had a couple other good looks at the net. He attacked as frequently as any Blackhawks forward in the game and won better than half of his faceoff attempts.
Star 3: Ryan Donato
Donato scored his 29th goal of the year cleaning up the loose change left behind on a really good attack from Connor Bedard. He continues to be in the right place at the right time and make it count.
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) March 30, 2025
Key Takeaways
- Way too much passing from the established NHL guys — including Bedard. Creating chances like the one Donato cashed in aren’t hard when you have as much speed and skill as the Blackhawks do right now… unless you don’t shoot the puck.
- Here’s Joe Veleno‘s goal from the second period (assists to Artyom Levshunov and Nick Foligno):
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) March 30, 2025#Blackhawks tie the game at one
🚨 Joe Veleno
🍎 Artyom Levshunov, Nick Foligno
- Four Blackhawks put a team-high two shots on goal in the first period: Moore, Rinzel, Nazar and Bedard. The three Blackhawks tied for the team lead with four shots on goal after two periods: Bedard, Nazar and Rinzel.
- Moore skated 4:35 with two shots on goal in the first period. Rinzel skated 6:26 with two shots on goal and one hit in the first. They were two of four Blackhawks skaters with Corsi For and Shots For percentages over 50 percent in the first period at 5-on-5 (per Natural Stat Trick). They did not look overwhelmed, scared or in any way worried. The other two skaters over 50 percent in both: Bedard and Wyatt Kaiser.
- I thought Landon Slaggert had a very good game. He was always around the puck. The numbers for his line were ugly at 5-on-5 but I liked his game.
- In the middle stages of the second period, Alex Vlasic went into the boards hard and appeared to be in a lot of pain on the ice. He hopped to his feet and was able to get to the room and returned before the end of the period, however.
- Arvid Söderblom wasn’t great.
- With all of the new speed and skill on the roster, I noted in the middle of the third period that Lukas Reichel was a ghost. For most of his career in Chicago he’s been the best/fastest skater. That isn’t the case any more, and there really doesn’t appear to be anything special happening there. Reichel put one shot on net and didn’t mark anything else in the box score except going 0-1 in the faceoff circle. His best moment came on a power play rush with two minutes left in regulation and the Hawks chasing three goals.
- Jack McBain got all of Rinzel behind the Blackhawks’ net late in the second period and then got a big piece of Kaiser a second later. So Pat Maroon turned on the dance music and dropped his gloves. Here’s the fight.
Jack McBain puts a big hit on Sam Rinzel so Pat Maroon jumps in and drops the gloves pic.twitter.com/wC489zkF08
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) March 30, 2025
written by
Tab Bamford
Tab Bamford has been writing about the Chicago Blackhawks for almost two decades. He joined Bleacher Nation as the lead Blackhawks writer in May 2022. Tab is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and is the author of three books about the Blackhawks: "The Future: Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks' New Era,"(Triumph Books),"100 Things Blackhawks Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die" (Triumph Books) and "Chicago Blackhawks: An Illustrated Timeline" (Reedy Press, 2021). Find him on Twitter/X/Instagram/Threads at @The1Tab
