The Chicago Blackhawks are in Western New York to take on the Buffalo Sabres in their third game of the season.
The Chicago Blackhawks are 0-2-0 coming into their third game of the season. This is the third and final game of the road trip that opens their 2026-27 season, and it is against the Buffalo Sabres.
The first two games were not just losses. The Blackhawks were blown out in both, with a combined score of 11-2. Both the Vegas Golden Knights and Utah Mammoth are good and will be playoff contenders, but they shouldn’t be able to toy with the Blackhawks the way that they did. Now, the Hawks have another opportunity to bounce back.
Scouting Buffalo
The Buffalo Sabres are coming off their most exciting year in decades. They ended a 14-year-long playoff drought, which is the longest in the history of the NHL. They didn’t just squeak into the playoffs, either. Buffalo went 50-23-9 for 109 points and won the loaded Atlantic Division.
Buffalo did lose some pieces, including Alex Tuch, who was one of the top free-agent forwards this past off-season. They also lost Bowen Byram, whom they traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in a deal that included the 4th overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and Louis Crevier.
Still, after ending the drought, Buffalo has more hype coming into the season than they’ve had in years. They had a tough road loss to a motivated Columbus Blue Jackets team to open their season, but now they will host the Blackhawks, hoping for their first win.
Norris-Thompson-Doan
Benson-Ostlund-Quinn
Krebs-McLeod-Helenius
Kulich-Carrick-Malenstyn
Samuelsson-Dahlin
Power-Crevier
Metsa-Gilbert/Grzelcyk
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is going to be Buffalo's starting goaltender. The third pair will be two of the three who rotated in and out during practice.
Buffalo has three outstanding defensemen in Rasmus Dahlin, Mattias Samuelsson, and Owen Power. Louis Crevier adds another layer of strength in place of Bowen Byram, who was expendable because of the talent they have at the top.
At forward, Tage Thompson drives the bus. He gets plenty of help from Josh Doan, Jack Quinn, Josh Norris, and Zach Benson, among others, throughout the lineup. For the Blackhawks, they have to use their speed to overcome a group like this and get to a much better forecheck with traffic in front of Luukkonen.
Projected Lines, Defense Pairs, & Goalie For Chicago
The Blackhawks are off to a rough start. It is a situation where they had higher expectations than in previous years and somehow managed to look worse over two games. Even without Connor Bedard, it has been disappointing. It’s one thing to lose; it’s another to be blown out.
Bowen Byram is going to miss the game against his former team as he addresses a family matter. Sam Rinzel is going to be a scratch as well. This means that both Kevin Korchinski and Ethan Del Mastro will be called up.
With that, it is unclear how the pairs will line up. However, the forward group is projected to look like this:
Kantserov-Nazar-Kane
Bertuzzi-Frondell-Teravainen
Donato-Moore-Lardis
Smith-Greene-Greenway
These are the lines that the Blackhawks had going during training camp, but then went away from them a day before the season started. Spencer Knight will start in goal.
Frank Nazar, Anton Frondell, Oliver Moore, and Ryan Greene have been projected to play center ever since Connor Bedard went down. One of them will move to the wing when he returns, but this is a bright young group in the meantime.
Greene’s 4th line with Cole Smith and Jordan Greenway has been the team’s best through 2 tough games. The top 9 are hoping to match that energy in Buffalo.
How To Watch
The game can be heard locally on AM 720 WGN in the Chicagoland area. For the first time this season, the Blackhawks can be seen locally on CHSN. Nationally, it can be streamed on ESPN+. The puck will drop shortly after 6:00 PM CT.
Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay up to date on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive, and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting on the article below on THN.com or by creating your own post in our community forum.
