The Chicago Blackhawks and Utah Mammoth faced off at the United Center for their first meeting of the season.
This match was big for both sides. As division rivals, the Blackhawks were looking for their first win of the season after starting 0-2-1. Meanwhile, the Mammoth looked to maintain their winning streak against their division foes as they recently posted a 3-2 overtime win against the Nashville Predators.
The Blackhawks recorded their first win of the season, 3-1.
Summary of the game
The first period was not that entertaining for either side. Colton Dach made an early power play for the Blackhawks on Dmitri Simashev who killed Mammoth. The Mammoth also got a chance after Louis Crevier was assessed a tripping penalty on Clayton Keller. The Blackhawks stopped it. Chicago’s Teuvo Teräväinen then hit the post in what was probably the biggest moment of the period to the mini power outage at the United Center. Otherwise, the shots were even at 6-6 and both goaltenders, Spencer Knight and Vitek Vanecek, were not heavily tested.
For Utah, the second period was theirs. There was a long stretch where they kept the Blackhawks in their own zone, but the Mammoth couldn’t take advantage of it. They had a few scoring opportunities, including one by Nick Schmaltz that was stopped by Knight. But it was the Blackhawks who opened the scoring 1-0 with a goal from Ilya Mikheyev, and that was all they needed for this period. Utah defeated Chicago 13-3.
JJ Peterka tied the score at 1-1 in the third period, but the Blackhawks’ power play, which had had its fair share of problems, came through eleven minutes into the third period thanks to André Burakovsky’s goal. The Mammoth got another power play opportunity soon after from a Connor Bedard grab, but they failed to convert again as they went 0/3 on the power play. Then Mammoth’s John Marino took a high-stick penalty with three minutes left in the game that sealed their fate. With the net empty at the end, Ilya Mikheyev added another goal to his night for the Blackhawks’ 3-1 win.
It wasn’t a very exciting match. The Mammoth defeated the Blackhawks 23-14, and it was a close game, but Spencer Knight and the penalty came up big for Chicago, and Utah couldn’t solve it.
What’s next?
The Blackhawks hit the road on October 15 to take on one of their bigger rivals, the St. Louis Blues. Meanwhile, the Mammoth return home on October 15 to take on the Calgary Flames.
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