Red Wings forward Patrick Kane skated into the United Center on Saturday — after the Blackhawks’ latest centennial ceremony — with the attitude that it was his house and his party.
The Hawks, without their leader in Connor Bedard and their official captain in Nick Foligno, proved powerless to stop him in a 4-0 shutout loss.
Kane pushed the visiting Wings out to an early lead by assisting on a goal by Alex DeBrincat in the first minute and scoring his 498th career goal four minutes later before his defense and goalie John Gibson locked things down.
‘‘It’s definitely strange, but if you’re a guy that has had such an impact on a city like [Kane], he’s going to have those types of games where you hear cheers for him scoring,’’ Hawks forward Ryan Donato said. ‘‘[He’s] obviously a crazy talent, and it’s cool to play against him. At the same time, it’s something you want to see as little as possible on the other side.’’
It’s worth noting both early goals were rather soft and arguably should have been saved by Hawks backup goalie Arvid Soderblom, who has struggled in his last four starts (0-4-0 with an .830 save percentage).
Patrick Kane scores. 2-0 Red Wings pic.twitter.com/mr1swZBG9v
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) December 14, 2025
The Hawks unsurprisingly struggled to generate offense without Bedard. NHL debutant Nick Lardis took Bedard’s spot on the top power-play unit and ripped a shot off the crossbar in the third period, one of the Hawks’ few good chances.
Lardis took a team-high eight shots while skating on an all-rookie line with Oliver Moore and Ryan Greene. Head coach Jeff Blashill said he did that so Lardis wouldn’t feel compelled to defer to anyone.
The Hawks have won only three of their last 13 games, including none in six games in back-to-back sets. After another disappointing set this weekend, evidence continues to grow that those are a major Achilles’ heel.
‘‘When you lose some of that scoring punch that Connor gives us, it should heighten our awareness of how good we’re going to have to be defensively,’’ Blashill said.
Stadium tribute
The Hawks’ big pregame ceremony — their third of the centennial season — focused on the legacy of the old Chicago Stadium. A season-high, over-capacity crowd of 20,751 lapped it up, which was good because they got little else to cheer about.
Retired public-address announcer Harvey Wittenberg, organist Frank Pellico and soloist Wayne Messmer returned to re-create the atmosphere of the old venue. Former general manager Dale Tallon gave a short speech, and Jeremy Roenick, Chris Chelios and other players from that era joined the current Hawks on the ice for the national anthem.
Brossoit’s moment
Rehabbing veteran goalie Laurent Brossoit enjoyed a magical moment in his third conditioning start for Rockford on Saturday: an empty-net goal.
It took a truly impressive 190-foot shot to get it, too, sealing the IceHogs’ 5-3 victory against Milwaukee and making him the 25th goalie in AHL history to score a goal.
He is 2-1-0 with a .900 save percentage in three AHL starts on a conditioning stint that technically will end next week. Because of his prohibitive $3.3 million salary-cap hit, however, the Hawks probably could get him through waivers to extend it if they wanted.
They’ve been trying to find a new home for him via trade, but it’ll be interesting to see whether Soderblom’s recent struggles open their minds to a different outcome.
Canucks waive Reichel
The Canucks put former Hawks forward Lukas Reichel on waivers. He had one point (an assist) in 14 games with them.