SUNRISE, Fla. — New Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill’s emphasis on minimizing valleys and maximizing peaks will apply not only on game-to-game but also on period-to-period and even shift-to-shift bases.
The Hawks will inevitably be inconsistent this season. Blashill’s biggest challenge will be keeping that inconsistency as manageable as possible.
There were plenty of peaks and valleys in the Hawks’ 3-2 season-opening loss to the Panthers on Tuesday. It was a respectable effort in a daunting matchup — facing the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions on their banner-raising night on national TV — but it was far from perfect.
“It is such an unforgiving league that you have to be on top of your game every night,” Blashill said. “You’re not going to be perfect — I get that — but you can’t let the lows be so low. Certainly, there’s some guys that need to take that lesson. That’s their takeaway.”
Sam Rinzel, ordained as the Hawks’ No. 1 defenseman entering this season after nine extremely impressive games last spring, didn’t control play the way he usually does.
Artyom Levshunov, whom everyone knew would be a work in progress this season, looked nervous and out of place in the first period before settling in as the game progressed.
Ethan Del Mastro, in the lineup despite a poor preseason because of Alex Vlasic’s injury, failed to break out of his slump. The Panthers kept catching him in no man’s land near the blue lines.
Connor Bedard flashed his brilliance a few times, ringing an early shot off the crossbar and schooling ex-Hawks defenseman Seth Jones to create another great look in the second period, but the Hawks still got outshot 15-2 during Bedard’s five-on-five ice time.
That prompted Blashill to shake up the top line, moving Ilya Mikheyev into Ryan Donato’s spot. Bedard also went 3-for-17 on faceoffs.
As a team, the Hawks were swamped in both the first and third periods, during which scoring chances favored the Panthers by a combined 33-11 margin. Those valleys looked too similar to the Hawks’ last visit to Florida back in January, a 5-1 loss in which they got totally dominated.
But they weren’t totally dominated Tuesday. The second period, in fact, was a peak. In it, they settled into the game and found their comfort zone, generating nine scoring chances while allowing only five.
Frank Nazar was another bright spot. He followed up his promising preseason with two points.
GOAL: Frank Nazar opens the scoring on a breakaway! pic.twitter.com/ubszqXayuA
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) October 7, 2025
Goalie Spencer Knight was excellent, too. He kept the score tied into the third period and — even after the Panthers took the lead with 10:20 left on a somewhat lucky goal — gave the Hawks an opportunity to push for an equalizer late.
“It’s bits and pieces,” Nazar said. “There’s parts in the game [where] we’re doing a really good job at it, and there’s parts where we slip up and they go down and Knight has to make a great save.”
Said Blashill: “I didn’t think it was a whole lot of system [breakdowns]. I don’t think we’re going to walk out of the game and have a big system meeting tomorrow. The [meeting] will be more on pure execution, probably. More on careless plays with the puck, being harder on the puck.”
The Hawks’ next six games will provide a better sense of how competitive they’ll be at their peaks this season — and how outmatched they’ll be in their valleys. None of the six opponents are projected Cup contenders, and after Thursday’s game in Boston, four of the next five will be at home.
