The Chicago Blackhawks played their penultimate game of the 2025-26 season on Monday night when they host the Atlantic Division-leading Buffalo Sabres. The Blackhawks were coming off a 5-3 home loss to the St. Louis Blues and were looking to snap a three-game losing streak. The Hawks started Spencer Knight in goal against Buffalo’s Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
First period
With the Hawks shorthanded, Buffalo won the draw and Rasmus Dahlin’s pass attempt deflected to Ilya Mikheyev, who skated down the ice into the Sabres’ zone. Mikheyev made a perfect lead pass to Ryan Greene, who had a step on the Sabres’ defender and not much room to operate but it was enough to score his 11th top shelf to give Chicago a 1-0 lead at 3:58.
goals in back-to-back games for Greener✅ pic.twitter.com/AFm1BVHJ4Q
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) April 14, 2026
Late in the first, the Sabres tied it at 1-1 on a goal by Joshua Norris at 19:02. Josh Doan picked off a pass from Andre Burakovsky then fed Norris for his 12th of the season. The game was tied after one.
Second period
Buffalo took a 2-1 lead when Tage Thompson scored his 39th of the season. Louis Crevier fumbled the puck in the corner. Thompson retrieved it and skated in front and shot left for the unassisted goal at the 13:00 mark. The Sabres would take a one-goal lead into the locker room after two periods.
Third period
Buffalo took a 3-1 lead on Alex Tuch’s 32nd of the season. Shortly after the Hawks failed to convert on a 5-on-3 power play for over a minute, Dahlin found Tuch open at the blue line and he skated in alone and fired a wrist shot off Knight’s glove and into the net at 5:38.
Thompson notched his 40th of the season to give the Sabres a 4-1 lead. Jason Zucker quickly entered the zone and fed Dahlin, who found a wide-open Thompson, who fired a one-timer past Knight at 11:13.
With 1:25 left, the Sabres executed another highlight-reel passing play that was finished by Ryan McLeod, who scored his 14th of the season. Buffalo won it 5-1, and combined with Detroit’s 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay in overtime, the Sabres clinched the Atlantic Division crown.
Analysis
The trend continued for the Hawks as they played a solid first period followed by a subpar final 40 minutes. The second period saw the Hawks get dominated both physically and in offensive zone time but the Sabres only had a one-goal lead after two frames. The wheels came off in the third thanks to a terrible power play that did not shoot enough and failed to take advantage of a few opportunities while only trailing by a goal including a two-man advantage for 1:13. That failed opportunity seemingly deflated an already sagging Hawks team as the Sabres followed up with the next three tallies and came away with the win.
The Hawks will play their season finale on Wednesday night when they host the San Jose Sharks. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. CDT on CHSN with the radio call on WGN AM 720.