The Blackhawks didn’t just lose Thursday night in Salt Lake City. They were outclassed from the opening shift on and walked out of Delta Center with a 6-0 loss to the Utah Mammoth, dropping to 0-2-0 after a 5-2 defeat in their opener at Vegas.
Utah controlled the game in every visible way. At one point, the Mammoth were ahead 20-3 in scoring chances, and the final shot count landed 32-15. Chicago never found a foothold, never settled the pace, and never generated much of anything to push back.
The damage started early and kept coming. Dylan Guenther scored on the power play at 16:41 of the first period, finishing a sequence set up by Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller. Just 40 seconds later, Michael Carcone struck off a Kevin Stenlund feed to make it 2-0 before the first intermission.
Utah kept pressing in the second. Nick Schmaltz and Anders Lee pushed the lead to 4-0, and after Chicago took overlapping minors from Frank Nazar and Oliver Moore, Guenther tipped in his second goal of the night on the carryover power play to make it 5-0. Daniil But finished the scoring in the third with a tip-in, with Carcone getting the assist.
If the Blackhawks were hoping the Mammoth would be a softer matchup than they looked a year ago, that idea got shredded quickly. Chicago had owned the series in 2025-26, scoring at least three goals in every meeting and blanking Utah on March 1. Much of that success had come after the trade deadline, with the Blackhawks’ young players driving the results.
That same group couldn’t answer Thursday. Through two games, Jordan Greenway and Patrick Kane are the only Hawks with goals, and neither is under 28.
Anton Frondell and Nazar have either looked flat or been put in difficult spots. And with Connor Bedard sidelined for shoulder rehab and Andrew Mangiapane also out, the roster doesn’t feel just thin.
It feels stuck.
No player has had a rougher start than Sam Rinzel. The former Hobey Baker finalist was expected to settle in as a top-four defenseman, but the first two games have been a mess.
Against Vegas, he lost his man at the back post and grabbed a teammate’s stick along the way, helping open the door for Trevor Connelly’s tap-in. Thursday was even uglier: behind his own net, Rinzel whiffed on a rim around the boards, Stenlund picked it off, and Carcone buried the puck for Utah’s second goal.
Rinzel isn’t the only Chicago defenseman off to a shaky start. Bowen Byram has struggled too, and the Alex Vlasic-Byram pairing was overwhelmed Thursday, outchanced 14-0 and outshot 11-0, according to Scott Powers.
But Rinzel still has an option the others don’t. He can go to the AHL, and that’s the move he needs right now.
Kevin Korchinski should get the look in the meantime, after being Chicago’s best defenseman in all but one game during the last stretch, aside from the Byram preseason hat-trick game.
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The Blackhawks arrive with a chance to catch a team still searching for answers, but Buffalo will be looking to sharpen the areas that let them down and get more out of the players expected to drive the offense. For Chicago, it is the sort of early-season test that can turn into an opportunity if the Sabres are still sorting out their structure and trying to settle into a better rhythm. [Read more 🡒]