Soderblom's First Career Shutout Leads Blackhawks Past Utah 4-0 to Close Post-Olympic Road Trip

Game Summary

The Chicago Blackhawks closed out their post-Olympic road trip on a high note Sunday, shutting out the Utah Mammoth 4-0 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City to snap a three-game losing streak. Teuvo Teravainen scored twice, Nick Foligno and Landon Slaggert also found the back of the net, and Arvid Soderblom turned away all 22 shots he faced to earn the first shutout of his NHL career in his 104th game at the league level. Chicago improves to 23-28-9, while the Mammoth fall to 31-25-4.

Teravainen opened the scoring with 55 seconds left in the first period on the power play, collecting a rebound off a blocked shot and snapping it around Karel Vejmelka's blocker side with Tyler Bertuzzi drawing the assist. It was a sequence built more on persistence than flash, but it was also exactly the kind of goal this team has been missing — a power play that capitalizes when the opportunity is there. The Blackhawks entered the night having converted just once on the man advantage in their previous two games.

Foligno made it 2-0 at 11:38 of the second with an unassisted backhander — his 250th career NHL goal. He caught Vejmelka out of position, picked up a loose puck in front, and beat the Utah netminder with a deke. "What a great number for him, man," coach Jeff Blashill said. "He's got great hands around the net. That's a great job." Slaggert added a third just 89 seconds later, ripping a wrist shot from the slot that deflected off Vejmelka's glove and into the net, with assists going to Oliver Moore and Artyom Levshunov. That two-goal burst inside two minutes was the kind of second-period surge the Blackhawks have been unable to produce for most of the season.

Teravainen put it away at 1:25 of the third with a short-handed goal — taking a feed from Alex Vlasic, he sent a wrist shot past Vejmelka to make it 4-0 and put the result beyond any doubt. Soderblom did the rest. Chicago out-shot Utah 28-22, though the game was closer in terms of territorial play than the score suggested — the Mammoth won 66.1% of faceoffs and out-hit the Blackhawks 21-10. But Soderblom was there every time Utah generated a clean look, and Chicago's defensive structure held firm all night. "I thought we played our defensive system flawlessly," Soderblom said. "The guys did a great job in front today. It was really good."

Three Stars

Three Games Back from the Break

The Blackhawks went 1-2 across their three-game post-Olympic road trip, but the trajectory across those three games is worth noting. It started with a 4-2 loss in Nashville on February 26 in which Chicago led heading into the final 20 minutes before the Predators scored three unanswered in the third. Then came a 3-1 defeat in Colorado on February 28 — a game in which the Blackhawks managed just nine shots in the first 40 minutes against the NHL's best team, a performance that Blashill himself acknowledged was too dependent on Bedard to generate offense. Sunday in Salt Lake City was something different. Chicago controlled the structure of the game for 60 minutes, generated contributions across four different scorers, held Utah — a team sitting fourth in the Central Division — without a goal, and gave their backup goaltender a performance worth celebrating.

The biggest story of the road trip, in the end, may be what Sunday revealed rather than what the previous two games obscured. In Nashville and Colorado, the offense beyond Bedard was largely absent. Against Utah, it showed up: Teravainen with two goals, Foligno with his 250th, Slaggert with a goal, Moore and Levshunov with assists. That is the kind of depth production this team needs if it's going to be competitive the rest of the way. Blashill pointed to the breakout as the key difference: "The difference probably tonight was we broke the puck out really, really, really well, so then you don't have to defend as much." It was a clean, disciplined performance that will be remembered for Soderblom's shutout — but the more important signal may be how broadly it was shared.

Looking Ahead

The Blackhawks return home briefly before heading back on the road Tuesday night, when they travel to Winnipeg for a 7:00 p.m. CT puck drop on ESPN+. The Jets enter at 23-26-10 with 56 points — one point ahead of Chicago in the Central Division standings. That one-point gap makes Tuesday's game as close to a must-win as any on the remaining schedule: a Blackhawks victory would pull them even with Winnipeg, while a loss would push them two points behind with the playoff picture continuing to narrow.

The timing of Sunday's win couldn't be better. Chicago heads into Winnipeg having just put together their most complete team effort since before the break — secondary scoring, a clean defensive structure, and a goaltender who has every reason to be riding some confidence. Soderblom was playing for the first time since January 29, a 6-2 loss in Pittsburgh that hadn't been his finest night. "It's been a long time coming and a lot of ups and downs," Soderblom said after the shutout. "But to finally get it done felt great." Whether it's Soderblom or Petr Mrazek between the pipes Tuesday, Chicago will need to carry the same commitment that made Sunday work into a game where the stakes are this clear.