Bedard Wins it in OT Again, Blackhawks Sweep Season Series With Utah 4-0

Game Summary

The Blackhawks did it again. Connor Bedard scored at 3:57 of overtime — picking off the rebound of an Alex Vlasic shot that rattled off the post — to give Chicago a 3-2 win at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday night. It was the second straight overtime win over Utah in four days, and it capped a perfect 4-0-0 season series against the Mammoth. The Blackhawks improve to 25-29-11.

Utah controlled most of the puck possession. Dylan Guenther opened the scoring at 5:47 of the second period, burying a Cooley feed off the rush after a Burakovsky turnover. Chicago answered early in the third when Tyler Bertuzzi redirected a Bedard pass on a 4-on-3 power play to tie it 1-1 at 2:18. Frank Nazar gave the Hawks the lead at 9:17, sweeping in a loose rebound from the left post after Bertuzzi and Teravainen created the scramble. JJ Peterka tied it again at 13:45 — stripping Vlasic in the offensive zone and burying it through Knight's pads. Then Bedard finished it in overtime.

Spencer Knight made his return after missing three games with illness and was excellent — 29 saves on 31 shots (.935). Chicago was outshot, outhit badly, and lost the faceoff battle, but went a perfect 1-for-1 on the power play and bent without breaking every time Utah generated pressure. The 4-on-3 advantage came from back-to-back third-period penalties: offsetting roughing calls on McBain and Mikheyev at 0:19, followed by a Clayton Keller high-sticking at 1:34 — leaving Utah a man short and Chicago with the leverage they needed to get back in the game.

Three Stars

The New-Look Roster

This game was another useful data point on where this roster actually stands. The Blackhawks were the inferior team for large stretches — Utah outshot them 31-23, won over half the faceoffs, and threw 35 hits to Chicago's 15 — and still found a way to win. That's the product of two things: Bedard being Bedard in overtime, and a group that has shown enough resolve in the back half of this season to stay in games they're being outplayed in.

Tyler Bertuzzi was the difference-maker Thursday. His 4-on-3 redirection tied the game when Chicago needed it most, and he picked up a second assist on Nazar's go-ahead goal — a Bertuzzi shot that bounced off Vejmelka into the chaos that Nazar finished. Two points, two critical plays. Now in his second season as a Blackhawk, Bertuzzi has settled into exactly the role this team needs him in: net-front presence, willingness to get to the dirty areas, and a knack for showing up in big moments. Thursday was one of his better performances of the season.

Nazar logged 16:48, won 9 of 12 faceoffs (75%), and was involved in two of the three Chicago goals. The 22-year-old center has been one of the more consistent pieces of this lineup down the stretch, and Thursday was another solid showing — the kind of quiet, complete game that doesn't always show up in a box score but matters in a road win. Knight's return was a relief too — not because Commesso wasn't up to the task last Monday, but because having your starter healthy and at .935 in a road game in a tight building matters.

Looking Ahead

Chicago heads to Vegas on Saturday for a 9:00 p.m. CT tilt against the Golden Knights on ESPN+. The Blackhawks have now won two straight and three of their last four after a rough stretch that included the Vancouver loss and the Dallas overtime defeat. At 25-29-11 and 61 points, they're still last in the Central Division — but the games in this final stretch of the season are meaningful reps for a young core that is figuring out how to win in different ways. Utah, for its part, has now lost three in a row and falls to 34-26-6 — dropping to 74 points as the playoff race in the Central tightens behind Colorado and Dallas.