Given how much the Blackhawks have struggled to cleanly exit their defensive zone this season, the defending champion Hurricanes seemed like they would pose a particularly brutal matchup Saturday.
That’s exactly how things played out in a 5-2 Hawks loss.
Every time a young Hawks defenseman circled deep into his zone to retrieve a puck, he was swarmed instantly by Hurricanes forecheckers, who have mastered their signature man-on-man system. And when the Hawks did get some space to move the puck, those passes didn’t find teammates frequently enough.
With Connor Bedard recovering from surgery and Frank Nazar serving the first half of his two-game suspension, there’s no doubt the Hawks’ forward corps are handicapped. But they aren’t providing enough puck support for the defensemen, either.
“There are times, especially [facing] this team, where you have to live to fight another day,” defenseman Alex Vlasic said. “[You] check your shoulder and if the rim is there, use it. But if it’s not — which, a lot of times, it’s not — you’re going to have to maybe absorb the hit and just chip it into space, get it out of the zone.
“We didn’t do that as well as we probably could have, and they just kept it in our zone and kept tiring us out [by] cycling it low-to-high.”
The Hurricanes broke the game open with three goals in less than five minutes of game time straddling the first intermission.
The first goal exposed another instance where the Hawks lost their “F3” (high forward) and conceded a transition attack. The second exposed the Hawks’ mightily struggling power play — and an untimely broken stick for Bowen Byram. The third exposed another Hawks weakness: defensive sorting.
“We’re not mirroring [the Hurricanes’] systems, but in terms of pressure and things like that, that’s how we want to play,” Hawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “So it’s a good lesson for our guys.”
Roman Kantserov’s first career NHL goal provided very short-lived happiness to a United Center crowd of 18,120 — a somewhat disappointing number for the first weekend home game of the season.
GOAL: Roman Kantserov scores his FIRST NHL GOAL on a breakaway! pic.twitter.com/XspQsbWnu1
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) October 11, 2026
The Hawks are now 1-5-0 with a minus-14 goal differential after two weeks of regular-season action during which not much has gone right. They desperately need to change their trajectory next week as they enter the thick of this seven-game home stand.
Blashill admitted, after Patrick Kane did the same, that some frustration is gradually seeping into the Hawks’ locker room. But he followed that comment up with an emphatic statement of long-term belief.
“This group is going to win,” Blashill said. “I can’t tell you if we’re going to start winning Tuesday, next week, a year from now. I have no idea when it’s going to be. But this group’s going to win, 100%.”
Nazar’s view
On Saturday morning, Nazar shared his viewpoint on his Thursday hit on Islanders forward Bo Horvat that prompted the NHL discipline.
“They block a shot, and I just see the Islanders player going to make an attempt for the empty net,” Nazar said. “[I was] on the other side of him, so the best I can do is try to apply pressure so he doesn’t score. I kept my shoulders in, kept my elbow in, didn’t lunge or reach or anything. Just skated right through.”
Nazar added that he was still “going over everything” regarding the suspension and that he had texted Horvat to check in; Horvat responded that he was doing well.
“I don’t want to let my team down and not be able to play, so that part sucks,” Nazar said.
Teuvo Teravainen recovered faster than expected from his lower-body injury and was able to play Saturday, so the Hawks avoided having to call up another forward to replace Nazar.
Olczyk returns
Beloved former Hawks player and broadcaster Eddie Olczyk has returned to the organization after four seasons with the Kraken, the Hawks announced Saturday.
Olczyk will serve as a team ambassador — joining Denis Savard, Chris Chelios, Jeremy Roenick and Pat Foley in that role — and as a studio analyst on select Chicago Sports Network broadcasts, particularly on Saturdays.
He still works as a broadcaster for TNT, whose main NHL package airs on Wednesdays.
“To come home and represent the Blackhawks as an ambassador means more to me than I can put into words,” Olczyk said in a statement. “Chicago is my home, the Blackhawks are my team, and my family and I are thrilled to be back with our fans.”