With the Chicago Blackhawks fully embracing the youth moment, the roster has 11 players who are 23 years old and under. The Colorado Avalanche came into town with the league leader in Nathan MacKinnon and stud defenseman Cale Makar.
The Hawks rolled out these lines:
#Blackhawks lineup vs. Colorado:
Donato-Bedard-Mikheyev
Teravainen-Nazar-Bertuzzi
Slaggert-Moore-Reichel
Maroon-Veleno-FolignoVlasic-Rinzel
Del Mastro-Murphy
Kaiser-LevshunovKnight
SöderblomExtras: Kurashev, Brodie, Crevier, Korchinski
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) April 3, 2025
Kevin Korchinski was the odd man out on the blue line, while Ethan Del Mastro was back in the lineup. Oliver Moore and Sam Rinzel appeared in the second games of their careers.
First period
In the period, Colorado appeared to have taken an early lead. The “goal” was overturned on video review due to offside. Aside from the phantom goal, Spencer Knight shut out the Avalanche in the first period.
On the other side of the ice, the Avs’ goalie, Scott Wedgewood, seems to have his best games against the Blackhawks. Early in the first period, Wedgewood denied Wyatt Kaiser at the doorstep.
Chicago finally broke through with a shorthanded goal from Ilya Mikheyev. That was his third shorthanded goal of the season.
Ilya Mikheyev scores his 3rd shorthanded goal of the season and 18th total. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/9c7yD6gaHH
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) April 3, 2025
The Hawks led 1–0 after the first period.
Second period
The second period had Knight and Wedgewood stonewalling the opposing offenses. The Hawks once again broke through with a goal from Connor Murphy. An unlikely goal scorer, Murphy was set up by Connor Bedard at the end of a strong offensive-zone shift from the home team.
Connor Bedard sets up Connor Murphy, who blasts home his 2nd goal of the season. What a rip. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/zKitrry4ju
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) April 3, 2025
Knight held the rest of the period with an impressive performance.
Third period
Knight had been impressive for two periods against Colorado. With the Hawks being the only team in the NHL without a shutout, all eyes were on Knight. Sadly, the Avalanche were too much, and Makar broke up the shutout with a goal in the third.
Colorado shot themselves in the foot with a late penalty, but the Hawks did not capitalize. The Hawks’ failure on the power play came back to bite them, as Martin Necas tied the game with 9.8 seconds left. The Hawks’ two-goal lead evaporated to force overtime.
Overtime
In overtime, the Hawks’ youth was on full display. Moore, Rinzel and Artyom Levshunov got time, in addition to a healthy dose of Bedard. Knight came up with another huge save to keep the game going. Levshunov had one last chance before OT ended, and Wedgewood bested him again.
Shootout
The late game in Chicago got even longer. In the shootout, Ryan Donato got stopped on the first attempt. Brock Nelson was stopped on his attempt. Bedard rang a shot off the post to miss on his attempt. MacKinnon deked out Knight and snuck it by his skate for the goal. Teuvo Teravainen scored to keep the shootout going, but Artturi Lehkonen beat Knight for the game-winner.
Colorado won 3–2.
Analysis
Knight had a great game against a very potent Colorado offense. The defense was fun to watch, with Levshunov and Rinzel garnering praise.
Rinzel has been impressive in his two games. He uses his reach and stick well. He made certain plays look easy. Fans should temper their expectations about the young defenseman, but it will be hard.
The third line of Moore, Lukas Reichel and Landon Slaggert was fun to watch, but they did experience some growing pains against the MacKinnon line.
With seven games remaining, the most important aspect is getting their young prospects NHL experience.
The Hawks’ next game is Friday against the Washington Capitals.