For the sake of their sanity and satisfaction, not just the standings, the Blackhawks really wanted a victory Wednesday.
“Obviously it wasn’t great what happened these last two games, and guys obviously aren’t excited about it,” forward Ryan Donato said Wednesday morning. “But if you’re playing that way, you’re going to feel sorry for yourself, and you’re going to have a tough night every night. So I think guys are just hungry to get back in the win column.”
A motivated, consistent, hard-working team effort earned the victory they sought — a 3-0 shutout over the Rangers.
The Hawks are now a respectable 3-2-1 in their last six games, even including the 6-0 and 7-1 losses against the Kings and Ducks, respectively.
It’s actually strange how it’s possible in the NHL for a team to flip from atrocious to stout from one game to the next, but that’s hockey. And the Hawks made it happen by powering through an intense, training camp-like practice Tuesday and an efficient morning skate Wednesday.
“I’ll give this team a lot of credit,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “When we either practice stuff or go through stuff on video, they have done an excellent job of applying. It doesn’t mean that, at some point, it doesn’t leak out of your game…but they apply it.
“I thought our gaps were the best of the year, to be honest, whether it was on our neutral-zone forecheck or backtrack. [That was] something we had talked about. I thought we defended pretty well. We stopped on pucks. We angled. We did those things better, for sure. We’ve done it at other times through the year, too, but we refocused yesterday and we did a good job.”
Scoring from defensemen has been a weakness for the Hawks this season. The unit entered the day with just seven total goals, tied for second-fewest in the league.
Louis Crevier tallied their eighth — and broke open a goalless game in the second period — with a shocking and silky shorthanded breakaway goal on superstar Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin.
GOAL: Louis Crevier HOW DO YOU DO! Wow! pic.twitter.com/WVTrpoV45A
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) December 11, 2025
Crevier is an unlikely candidate to now lead Hawks defensemen with three goals, but he has been a major bright spot this season. Still, the entire unit needs to keep chipping away and firing more rubber toward the net.
“We played a complete 60 [minutes],” Crevier said. “It wasn’t perfect, but compared to the last two games, it was a different level.”
Connor Bedard helped the Hawks extend the lead with a goal and an assist, increasing his point total to 42 through 30 games, and those insurance markers allowed the Hawks to enjoy perhaps their most comfortable third period of the season. There was no stress and no drama as they methodically ran the clock down.
Spencer Knight made 21 saves, including a pair of consecutive grade-A stops on Rangers forward Noah Laba halfway through the final frame, to earn his second shutout of the season — and the first of his career at the United Center.
Frank Nazar didn’t get on the score sheet, meaning his goal drought extended to 18 games, but the Hawks made sure to praise his efforts, too. Blashill called Nazar’s play “excellent” in response to a question, and defenseman Matt Grzelcyk brought him up unprompted.
“We’ve done well bouncing back when we need to, showing maturity that way,” Grzelcyk said. “The young guys did a great job — Frank in particular. [He was] really skating and moving his legs in the ‘D’-zone and coming through the neutral zone with a ton of speed. I know, as a defenseman, that’s really hard to play against.”