Blackhawks Find A Way To Lose Again, Fall To Sabres 4-3

The Chicago Blackhawks came into Saturday night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres feeling down about themselves. They started the season 0-2-0 and were outscored 11-2 in those games. In this match against Buffalo, Chicago came in with a somewhat different look.

In addition to changing up the forward lines, Bowen Byram had to step away from the team to deal with a family matter. In his place, along with a healthy scratch for Sam Rinzel, Kevin Korchinski and Ethan Del Mastro stepped in. 

It started well on the scoreboard for the Blackhawks. Ryan Donato opened the scoring as he sniped one home after receiving a brilliant centering pass from Alex Vlasic. Under 5 minutes later, Tyler Bertuzzi made it 2-0.

The Bertuzzi goal was a tic-tac-toe play. Bertuzzi was the beneficiary of some magnificent passing from Anton Frondell and Teuvo Teravainen. Frondell, in particular, displayed some of the skill that made him a third overall pick. 

Although the Blackhawks had a 2-0 lead, it didn’t feel safe because of how things were going in their defensive zone. Some of the issues from the first two games were on display. 

Eventually, and you could feel it coming, Buffalo broke through. Jack Quinn beat Spencer Knight, who could only do so much while standing on his head. The Blackhawks took that 2-1 lead into the first intermission, but Buffalo came out hot again in the second. 

At 5:41 of the middle frame, Tage Thompson deflected a Louis Crevier shot to tie the game at 2. Crevier, a former Chicago Blackhawk, brought his ability to sneak shots of all kinds through traffic and onto the net. This one was a light wrist shot that Thompson was able to redirect. 

More than the other games, however, the Blackhawks continued to show some fight. Before the second period was over, Anton Frondell and Oliver Moore made a great play together to get the latter his first goal of the season. Once again, Frondell displayed some of his playmaking ability. Alex Vlasic also earned his second assist of the game on this goal. 

After going into the third period down 3-2, the Sabres were not going away without a push. It paid off for them at 6:10 of the third period when Peyton Krebs fed Rasmus Dahlin, who joined the rush from the back end and beat Spencer Knight with a snipe. 

At 13:20, Buffalo earned their first lead of the night when Jiri Kulich’s high-effort sequence led to his first goal of the season. It also stood as the game-winner as Buffalo skated away with the 4-3 victory. 

It was a slightly better offensive effort from the Blackhawks as they put up three goals and had some good chances, but they still managed to have just 15 shots on goal. That's not going to cut it. 

It's even worse knowing that they allowed 28 shots, with a lot of dangerous chances against Spencer Knight. The goalie would tell you he needs to be better, but that would be him saying the respectful thing. There is only so much he can do. 

Although it felt like a more competitive effort for the Blackhawks, none of their defensive woes were improved upon, and they did a lot of skating around their own zone. The goaltender is never going to have a great night in terms of keeping every puck out of the net when that's the case. 

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What’s Next For The Blackhawks?

The Chicago Blackhawks are now going to return to Chicago ahead of their 2026-27 home opener. Their opponent will be the St. Louis Blues. Of course, the story of the night will be Patrick Kane's first game back in Chicago as a member of the Blackhawks. 

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