Patrick Kane’s return to the United Center had the kind of buildup that can swallow a night whole. The introductions were loud, the building was ready, and the Blackhawks made sure the game itself kept pace.
Chicago beat the Blues 4-2 on Tuesday, Oct. 6, picking up its first win of the season in Kane’s first home game in a Blackhawks sweater since Feb. 22, 2023.
The start had some edge to it right away. The Blackhawks got the game’s first power play just 1:23 in after Jonaton Berggren was called for tripping, and while Chicago didn’t score, the whistles brought plenty of pushing and shoving.
Kane then went to the box for interference, but St. Louis couldn’t cash in, and Frank Nazar nearly flipped the script with a shorthanded breakaway.
The Blues grabbed the first goal after a turnover by Nick Lardis led to Jason McTavish scoring for a 1-0 lead. Lardis has had a rough start to the season.
Chicago finished the opening period down a goal, though Tyler Bertuzzi, Anton Frondell and Teuvo Teravainen spent real time pressing in the offensive zone late in the frame. Shots were even at 7-6 for the Blackhawks.
The second period brought a brief scare when Kantserov and Nazar collided at the blue line and Connor McMichael scored, but Chicago challenged for offside and wiped the goal away. That kept it 1-0, and the Blackhawks finally found their footing on the power play a few minutes later.
The first unit drew boos for leaning on the drop pass and struggling to connect once it entered the zone, but the second unit delivered. Nazar drove the net, Joel Hofer stopped the shot, and Sam Rinzel buried the rebound for his first goal of the season and a 1-1 tie. Nazar and Oliver Moore got the assists.
Chicago kept rolling from there. Exactly two minutes later, Artyom Levshunov set up Frondell for a goal, with Teravainen picking up the secondary assist. The Blackhawks carried a 2-1 lead into the third, along with a 17-14 edge in shots.
Teravainen did not return after the second period, leaving Chicago with 11 forwards for the final 20 minutes. Afterward, Jeff Blashill said Teravainen will not travel with the team to play the New York Islanders on Thursday, Oct. 8.
Spencer Knight had to earn this one the hard way in the third. St. Louis pressed hard and fired plenty on net, but Knight stood up to it, finishing with 26 saves on 28 shots for a .929 save percentage.
The Blackhawks added insurance late. Cole Smith scored shorthanded after Kantserov was called for a questionable tripping penalty with 2:23 left, and then Nazar sealed it with an empty-net goal. Connor McMichael scored in between, but it didn’t change the outcome.
Nazar finished with a goal, an assist and three shots on goal in 19:35 of ice time. Bertuzzi and Frondell assisted on his empty-netter, and Frondell ended the night with two points.
Rinzel liked what he saw from the back end. “I felt like everyone was just kind of moving their legs and holding on to the pucks we needed to and making space plays.
I thought we had a mature game.” On playing with Kaiser, “It feels good to play with him; he obviously talks a lot, so it's good playing with him, for sure.”
Knight echoed that feeling. “Overall I thought everyone battled, top to bottom.
We played a selfless game. We played with discipline, we made the right plays at the right time.”
Kane called the night special, and a little bittersweet, especially with Jonathan Toews in attendance. “It's kind of crazy how fast it goes by. I mean, just thinking about like being in rookie camp together and being roommates and hanging out and kind of developing something here was so special.”
Blashill said the group’s overall process was the best it had been through the first four games. “Regardless of the outcome, I thought there was large parts of the game tonight that our process was the best it's been in the four games played ... being on top of people, D-gaps, ending plays early, our forward reloads. I thought that's much more how we want to play.”
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The setting adds even more weight, with the comeback coming against the rival St. Louis Blues in front of a crowd that remembers exactly what Kane meant to this franchise for so long. Chicago signed him to a two-year, $16 million deal in late July, and now the challenge is seeing whether his presence can help steady a team trying to keep early-season frustration from turning into something worse. [Read more 🡒]