The Chicago Blackhawks recently completed the longest road trip of their 2025-2026 season, a six-game tour of Western Canada, Seattle and then ending in Detroit. After losing their first three games, they had a strong end to the trip with three solid wins. A 3-2-1 record on a rough road trip for this young team is nothing to take lightly. It showed competition and resilience, and showed the hockey world that the Blackhawks could finally be better than just a cellar dweller in the league.
Related – 5 Blackhawks observations during six-game road trip
But it’s still early in the season and this team must continue to build and grow (and win) to prove that this successful road trip, and an 8-5-4 start to the season, is no fluke. What better way to do that than taking advantage of their current homestand? Starting with the New Jersey Devils on November 12 (a 4-3 overtime loss), the Blackhawks are currently in the process of hosting eight of their next nine games at the United Center. It’s a perfect opportunity to win some hockey games, move up in the rankings and become a competitor instead of a pretender.
So, how can the Blackhawks do this?! Let’s look at the players, the coaches and some recent trends to chart a path for even greater success in the future.
Bedard shows the way
Anyone who doubted Connor Bedard no longer does so in his third season in the league. The young superstar put in the work in the offseason and came along to training camp more speed and explosiveness. He’s also learning how to apply this on the ice, along with his already elite talent.
The numbers speak for themselves. Bedard is currently on a nine-game winning streak with eight goals, eleven assists and nineteen points in that span. This includes his 50e NHL goal, which was part of his first career hat trick, scored against the Ottawa Senators on October 28. He scored 150 points on November 7 against the Calgary Flames, becoming the youngest player in franchise history to do so.
Bedard has also been committed to his defensive play. He seems to understand the mentality that head coach Jeff Blasill is trying to instill in the entire team. The coach said the same thing about Bedard after his hat trick against the Senators.
Connor’s has had a great start to the year. He did so many things the right way. He defends hard. He stops pucks. He does a lot of things that are winning hockey habits. I think he created a lot of attacks that didn’t always result in goals. Whether it’s him or a pass, and it just didn’t (end in a goal), for whatever reason. There have certainly been opportunities for nights like this, so for him to be rewarded for that is great.
It’s nice to see Connor have an offensive night like tonight, to be rewarded for the good two-way play he’s had. Because what I don’t want is for me to not be rewarded and for you to suddenly cheat for your transgression. Because that equals not winning. And so he did it the right way, and good for him, it was great.
In seventeen games played, the Bedard has played seven multi-point games. His ten goals top the team, while his sixteen assists and 26 points are ahead of the rest of the team.
Related – Blackhawks’ Bedard & Nazar embrace roles as leaders
Everything seems to be coming together for Bedard, and it looks like he’s just getting started.
The complementary pieces: Bertuzzi, Burakovsky
You could easily argue that Bedard is flourishing this season because he finally has some complementary pieces around him in Andre Burakovsky and Tyler Bertuzzi.
Burakovsky and Bedard have essentially been joined at the hip on the top line since training camp. Blashill indicated as soon as they acquired Burakovsky that he felt the veteran forward would be a good fit for Bedard because Burakovsky has had success playing with high-end players in the past. After all, he won two Stanley Cups (2018 with the Washington Capitals and 2022 with the Colorado Avalanche) while contributing with highly skilled linemates. Ahead of last week’s game against the Seattle Kraken, Blashill expanded on this:
It’s a skill (to play with very talented players). I think first you have to know that you have to get the feeling of the player. You have to be a smart player. He (Burakovsky) is someone who knows when to give it and knows when not to give it. He knows when to create space, can play guys off. He’s also smart in hockey, he also fits in well with Connor (Bedard) because he’s a good puck transporter. When I spoke to the Colorado coaching staff, they immediately told me that he is a good carry who I thought would be a good fit for Connor.
I think there are moments where he can shoot and attack a bit more, but he fits in very well there. What I’ve really appreciated about him is how hard he’s played the game, how hard he’s worked to win battles, how hard he’s bounced back because that’s an important part. So when you play with good players, you usually play against good players. And he did that well too.
Another player who is having success with Bedard (and vice versa) is Bertuzzi. They believed in the power play and Blashill recently moved Bertuzzi to the front row along with Bedard and Burakovsky. He also had this trio at the top for a few games in mid-October. Coach gave his reasoning for this at the time:
For me, Bert is someone who I think is defensively smart. So he can help you with your own goal. He gets the pucks on the wall pretty well, and then he’s on the puck a ton and he’s hard at the net. I think with Burky (Andre Burakovsky) and Connor (Bedard) they need someone who will definitely be on the net. And so can Dacher (Colton Dach). But Bert has more experience, more time in this competition. So I thought maybe it was a spark that we needed last night (against the Vancouver Canucks). And in the end I think it would have been two goals if they had counted that one. So we’ll probably look at that over the next few games and see how it goes.
Burakovsky currently has five goals and 10 points in his last seven games played (he did not play against the Devils due to illness), while Bertuzzi is on a four-game point streak that includes six goals and eight points. They rank both second (Bertuzzi) and third (Burakovsky) behind Bedard in goals and points. The three of them give the Blackhawks a lot of production, and they work together to do so.
Great goaltending
It cannot be overstated the impact both Spencer Knight and backup goaltender Arvid Soderblom have had on this team to start the season. Both have played strong, covering up defensive mistakes and giving the Blackhawks a chance to win every night.
This season, Knight has prepared for 12 games with the Blackhawks. The 24-year-old has a .923 save percentage and a 2.46 goals against average. That save percentage currently ranks ninth in the league. This is quite an achievement considering the Blackhawks’ defense is still a work in progress. Let’s be honest: the Blackhawks wouldn’t be where they are today without Knight’s stellar play.
Soderblom, for his part, has played in five games and has an SV% of .913 and a GAA of 2.63. In his most recent match vs. the Detroit Red Wingsthe 26-year-old made a career-high 45-of-46 saves for a stellar .978 SV% in a 5-1 victory.
Knight and Soderblom have formed an excellent tandem in the crease, something these young Blackhawks need to build their confidence and lead to more success.
Blackhawks’ drive for success; Blashill is pushing all the right buttons
As mentioned above, the Blackhawks did not start their road trip well. But they regrouped and fought back, finishing the trip with three straight wins. The same can be said about the beginning of their homestand. They played a little flat against the Devils, but still earned a point in a 4-3 OT loss. Team captain Nick Foligno said it well when asked about their first game on home ice:
I think that’s the hardest thing for me because, like I said, I don’t really like moral victories. But it’s hard not to say: yes, we have grown. This is a game that we probably would have lost by three or four years before I was here because it just came crashing down on us. So I’m encouraged by that, but I still don’t want to accept not winning this game. And that’s the message here: it’s like a good battle for the job, but we just didn’t have the best of ourselves, and maybe we’re missing a few guys. But every team is missing players and not every team is at its best. But the good teams find ways to win, and that’s the message. And maybe the bad taste in everyone’s mouth is that even if we didn’t have the best of ourselves, we still had to find a way to win. And that’s what we have to get to, to be that team, and that will be pretty exciting when we do that.
It seems like the Blackhawks are really starting to believe in each other and that they have a chance to win every night.
Coach Blashill’s footprint is everywhere here too. I’ve quoted him a lot in this piece because he seems to be pushing the right buttons and getting the best out of his players. He preaches the habit of winning, and the Blackhawks want to instill the habit of winning. Blashill was asked if he could take advantage of the homestand, and he put this into perspective:
In general, it’s harder to win on the road. Not always, but generally it is. So you want to take advantage of your home games, and you certainly want to take advantage of a homestand like this. But I think the good thing about this group is that we haven’t gotten too far ahead of ourselves.
We play tomorrow’s match and then learn from that match. And that’s kind of the approach we’ve taken: it’s nice for guys to be back home after being away for a long time. But from a hockey perspective, we don’t really look at it as a long homestand, but honestly as the next game. That may sound like coaching language, but that is the reality. And I think our team did that very well.
So the Blackhawks are taking it day by day. They will regroup and do what they can to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs next Saturday (November 15). Then they’ll do it all again for the Calgary Flames on November 18th, and then the Seattle Kraken on November 20th…you get the picture.
Related – 3 takeaways from the Blackhawks’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Devils
When it’s all said and done, we’ll see how many home games the Blackhawks will win, and how much they’ve grown and progressed. But there’s no denying that this homestand presents a great opportunity for them.
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