Blackhawks start road trip with a reunion in Edmonton

Chicago Blackhawks (27-34-14, 68 pts) @ Edmonton Oilers (38-28-9, 85 pts)
8 pm CT – Rogers Place
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Konroyd)

The Chicago Blackhawks begin a three-game road trip against the Edmonton Oilers. They look to avoid the sweep in their three-game season series. The first meeting in Edmonton went to overtime, as the Blackhawks played a solid 5-on-5 game. The rematch at the United Center didn’t go great as Connor Bedard was a late scratch due to illness.

The Blackhawks have points in back-to-back trips to Rogers Place, with a regulation win and that overtime loss. Tyler Bertuzzi, fresh off his two-goal against the Winnipeg Jets, has a goal in both games against the Oilers this season. We’ve been waiting for Andre Burakovsky to break out of his funk, and tonight could be as good a chance as any. He has three goals and five points in his last three contests against Edmonton. He’s a point-per-game player at Rogers Place, with six goals and 13 points in 13 career games.

This is the final road trip of the 2025-26 season, but head coach Jeff Blashill is approaching it as any other trip.

“We have a chance to play Edmonton, let’s go play the best game we can and then learn from the positives and the negatives and move on to Seattle,” he said. “That’s just the way we approach it, the way we’ll continue to approach it the rest of the year. We know how important these games are for us. We know that the growth that we’re going to have is critical, and we’d rather have as much growth happen right now and not at the start of next year. Let’s have this growth now and build from it next year instead of vice versa.”

Hello Old Friends

The Blackhawks will see at least two former teammates tonight, as Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson will be in the Oilers lineup. Murphy, who played 547 games for the Blackhawks, has been paired with Darnell Nurse on Edmonton’s “shutdown” pairing. In 13 games, he has a goal, an assist, 13 hits, 35 blocked shots, and is a minus-4 while averaging 20:24 per game. That’s nearly four minutes more a night than he was averaging with the Blackhawks.

Dickinson also has a goal and an assist in his 13 games since the trade deadline. He’s played the physical style of hockey we saw over 266 games in Chicago, dishing out nearly three hits a night. He’s anchored the Oilers’ third line, winning 48.7% of his faceoffs.

Colton Dach was injured in his third game with the Oilers and hasn’t played since March 10. He has been skating, but his playing status remains uncertain. Zach Hyman is a game-time decision tonight, and Dach skated in his place at Wednesday's practice.

No. 1 vs No. 1

You don’t get to see this very often, but tonight we will have the league’s top power play versus the best penalty kill. The Oilers have converted on 30% of their power plays this season, and that’s even without Leon Draisaitl for the last few games. Their 60 power-play goals are only second to the Dallas Stars, who have 66.

The Blackhawks allowed two power-play goals in the first meeting of the season. That was the difference in a 3-2 overtime loss, as the Oilers did not score at 5-on-5. January’s rematch at the United Center saw the Blackhawks not give up a single shot on goal in four minutes of shorthanded time. Still, staying out of the penalty box is the best way to keep Edmonton off the scoreboard.

Find a Way to Shoot

The Blackhawks have had issues generating offense all season long. They have the fewest shots on goal (1,838) and shot attempts (3,820) in the NHL. A big reason for the low numbers is that they spent far too much time defending. But even when they do have the puck, it’s a lot of cycling and passing instead of getting the puck towards the net.

With Tristan Jarry in goal tonight, the Blackhawks can’t look for the perfect play. Just fire early and fire often to add to his season-long struggles between the pipes. One surprising stat on Jarry is that he is eighth in 5-on-5 high-danger save percentage (HDSV%) at .853. However, his 4.01 goals against average (GAA) and .856 save percentage (SV%) since arriving in Edmonton show you don’t need to be dangerous to get the puck past him.

Season Series

11/1 @ EDM, 2-3 (OT)
1/12 vs EDM, 1-4
4/2 @ EDM

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Tyler Bertuzzi (31)
A-Bedard (38)
P-Bedard (68)
PPG-Tyler Bertuzzi (11)
GWG-Bedard (5)
SOG-Bedard (205)
PIM-Louis Crevier (59)

Oilers Team Leaders

G-Connor McDavid (43)
A-McDavid (82)
P-McDavid (125)
PPG-Leon Draisaitl (16)
GWG-Vasily Podkolzin/Evan Bouchard (5)
SOG-McDavid (272)
PIM-Darnell Nurse (104)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.56 (30th)
GA/G-3.24 (25th)
PP%-17.7 (25th)
PK%-83.9 (1st)
SOG/G-24.5 (32nd)
SA/G-30.3 (31st)
FO%-46.0 (31st)
PIM/G-9:07 (19th)

Oilers Team Stats

GF/G-3.48 (5th)
GA/G-3.31 (26th)
PP%-30.0 (1st)
PK%-77.7 (24th)
SOG/G-29.6 (5th)
SA/G-27.1 (10th)
FO%-52.6 (6th)
PIM/G-9:21 (21st)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

Forwards

Ryan Greene-Connor Bedard-Nick Lardis
Tyler Bertuzzi-Anton Frondell-Ilya Mikheyev
Ryan Donato-Frank Nazar-Andre Burakovsky
Teuvo Teravainen-Sacha Boisvert-Landon Slaggert

Defensemen

Alex Vlasic-Louis Crevier
Wyatt Kaiser-Sam Rinzel
Kevin Korchinski-Ethan Del Mastro

Scratched

F-Sam Lafferty, F-Dominic Toninato

Injured

F-Oliver Moore (lower body), F-Andre Mangiapane (lower body), D-Matt Grzelcyk (upper body), D-Artyom Levshunov (hand)

Oilers Probable Lines

Forwards

Vasily Podkolzin-Connor McDavid-Matthew Savoie
Zach Hyman-Ryan Nugent-Hopkins-Jack Roslovic
Adam Henrique-Jason Dickinson-Kasperi Kapanen
Trent Frederic-Josh Samanski-Curtis Lazar