The Chicago Blackhawks’ season has started rough. They had a couple of moments in their first game versus the Vegas Golden Knights, but overall, they did not look like a team that has much figured out yet. They struggled defensively to clear the front of the net, and could not get much going on the offensive end of the ice. The team would look to rebound on Thursday night against the Utah Mammoth for that team’s opening game of the season. The biggest change for this game is that Arvid Soderblom got his first start of the season, replacing Spencer Knight between the pipes. Here were the lines for this matchup:
New Blackhawks lines in practice:
Bertuzzi-Frondell-Kane
Teravainen-Kantserov-Lardis
Donato-Nazar-Moore
Smith-Greene-GreenwayVlasic-Byram
Kaiser-Levshunov
Cole-Rinzel
Korchinski-Del Mastro— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) September 30, 2026
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First period
After a few good stops by Soderblom, the Blackhawks were still tied through the first 15 minutes of the game. Artyom Levshunov took a penalty for holding at the 15:53 mark of the period. It was all downhill after that. On the ensuing power play, Dylan Guenther took a great feed into the zone. He used Alex Vlasic as a shield, firing the puck past Soderblom, 1-0 Utah.
Under a minute later, Michael Carcone took a feed out in front and put it past Soderblom as well, 2-0 Mammoth. Ryan Donato whiffed on a clearing attempt in behind the net to set them up for the goal. The Blackhawks only managed seven shots on goal in the first, with the Mammoth leading 2-0 going into the second period.
Second period
In the second, things went from bad to worse. Just under 10 minutes into the frame, Mikhail Sergachev put the puck toward the net. It was easily knocked out of the middle of the ice, right to Vincent Trochek. He fed former Blackhawk forward Nick Schmaltz, who was uncovered at the side of the net, 3-0 Utah. A few minutes later, Bowen Byram had a terrible miscue at the blue line and gave the puck up to Lawson Crouse. He got going on the breakaway, but was stopped by Soderblom to keep it a three-goal lead.
Then, Andrew Peeke put a shot right into traffic in front of the net. Anders Lee got his first as a Mammoth on the tip past Soderblom, 4-0 Utah. A minute and a half later, the Mammoth had a power play, after a 4-on-4 had expired. Clayton Keller had a beautiful pass right to Guenther, who potted his second of the game. The Mammoth would carry that 5-0 lead into the intermission.
Third period
The Blackhawks finally tried to go back to lines that had worked before in training camp in the third. It was, by far, their best period of the night.
The top line in the third period has been Kantserov-Nazar-Kane, which was the first line all of training camp. #Blackhawks
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 2, 2026
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The Mammoth got one more from Daniil But on a tip out in front for the 6-0 victory.
Analysis
Not much went right in this game from the Blackhawks’ perspective. The team played horrible defensively, did not get out of the defensive zone, could not get anything going on offense and seemed like they gave up trying at points. They could have iced the Rockford IceHogs’ roster and likely have gotten the same result. After a couple of years of not comprehending why Soderblom is still on the roster, I watch games like this and understand that he just gets hung out to dry a lot. He made some great stops, but when the entire team plays so bad in front of you, there is only so much that you are able to do.
“Arvid Soderblom is so bad, how does he have a job”
Average Arvid Soderblom start: #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/wp4Cf8j4Aw
— The Blackhawks Cowboy (@CowboyNHL) October 2, 2026
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The Blackhawks’ next game is on Saturday night in New York versus the Buffalo Sabres. That game will be at 6 p.m. CDT on CHSN.