The Chicago Blackhawks are back in action on Sunday night at the United Center with a 6 p.m. puck drop against the visiting Anaheim Ducks.
The biggest change in Anaheim since they somehow finished with 19 more points than the Blackhawks last season is the addition of Joel Quenneville behind the bench. We all still remember the hallmarks of the way Quenneville likes his teams to play — an aggressive, attacking, possession-based style built on a solid 200-foot defensive structure — and he’ll do his best to implement that with a roster of young, homegrown talent that’s looking to turn the corner and establish itself as a serious contender (sound familiar?). The admittedly very early returns have been mixed, as the Ducks are off to a 2-2 start. They’ve picked up losses against the Kraken and (the only real team they’ve seen so far) the Hurricanes, beaten the Penguins, and won a wild one against the Sharks where they put up a touchdown and squeaked by in OT.
A STELLAR FINISH TO A WILD CALI BATTLE! 🔥
Leo Carlsson SNIPED IN the game-winning goal in overtime to earn the Ducks their first win of the season, 7-6 over the Sharks!pic.twitter.com/iD3sK3HPUt
— BarDown (@BarDown) October 12, 2025
Anaheim’s bleeding chances right now (their 72 high-danger chances against lead the league), which is translating into a flurry of goals against, as they’re currently giving up four per game — only slightly better than the three worst teams in the league: the Flames, Sens, and Sharks. Some of that can still be attributed to the growing pains of the Ducks’ young D corps, but a significant chunk falls on their goaltending as well. After establishing himself as a top-20 starter in the league last season, Anaheim goaltender Lukas Dostal has gotten off to a much rougher start this year. Dostal shone with a 14.3 Goals Saved Above Expected number in 2024-25, but right now he’s at -0.2 through his first three starts. Backing up Dostal is our old buddy Petr Mrazek, whose lone start so far was that game against the Sharks, where San Jose hung six goals on him. No word as of early Sunday morning as to who will get the start — but Mrazek is currently listed as probable.
The good news for the Ducks is that they’re a top-ten team in scoring, averaging 3.25 goals per game, and they’re primarily being paced offensively by young players from what should be their core roster for years to come. Lucas Carlsson leads the way with six points (2 G, 4 A), followed by former Ranger Chris Kreider with five (4 G, 1 A), Mason MacTavish with four (all assists), Beckett Sennecke with four (2 G, 2 A), and shooting machine Cutter Gauthier with three (all goals).
This was the lineup Anaheim ran with during their practice on Saturday:
Ducks practice lines 10/18:
Kreider-Carlsson-Killorn
Gauthier-McTavish-Sennecke
Vatrano-Granlund-Terry
Johnston-Poehling-Colangelo
Nesterenko
(Harkins ⛑️)
LaCombe-Gudas
Zellweger-Trouba
Mintyukov-Helleson
Moore
Dostál-Mrázek#FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/RQEoNsJGEa
— Zach Cavanagh (@ZachCav) October 18, 2025
As for the Blackhawks, we’ve already seen a significant uptick in both the competitiveness and quality of early-season play under Coach Jeff Blashill, so the hope is that trend continues tonight.
The lines were certainly a bit blendy at practice on Saturday, thanks to the absence of Jason Dickinson:
#Blackhawks lineup at practice:
Bertuzzi-Bedard-Burakovsky
Teravainen-Nazar-Mikheyev
Slaggert-Donato-Reichel
Dach-Greene-Lafferty
Vlasic-Rinzel
Grzelcyk-Murphy
Kaiser-Levshunov
Crevier
Knight
Söderblom
Extra: Anderson (lower body)
Out: Foligno (personal reasons) and Dickinson
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 18, 2025
And Blashill confirmed during Sunday’s morning skate that Dickson is out for the game tonight:
Chicago head coach Jeff Blashill said he anticipates Tyler Bertuzzi playing tonight vs. Anaheim despite missing morning skate.
Jason Dickinson isn’t expected to play. With the next game on Thursday, gives him a few days to heal whatever injury is bothering him. #Blackhawks
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 19, 2025
Landon Slaggert appears ready to go for his first game action of the season, and it will be interesting to see not only what kind of energy he brings to his line with Ryan Donato and Lukas Reichel, but also whether Blashill uses them primarily in the checking role that Dickinson’s line is typically tasked with. And Tyler Bertuzzi will get another look on the top line with Connor Bedard and Andre Burakovsky after putting together one of his best games as a Blackhawk during Friday’s OT loss to the Canucks.
Spencer Knight has been fantastic so far, and he was in the starter’s net this morning:
Spencer Knight is warming up in the starter’s net this morning. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/SJqLDq8sIv
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 19, 2025
Love the earlier puck drops on a Sunday night. Let’s go Hawks!
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Ducks
44.09% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 45.9% (30th)
43.03% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 45.1% (30th)
2.73 (26th) — Goals per game — 2.65 (30th)
3.56 (31st) — Goals against per game — 3.18 (23rd)
44.8% (31st) — Faceoffs — 44.6% (32nd)
24.9% (7th) — Power play — 11.8% (32nd)
79.3% (14th) — Penalty kill — 74.2% (29th)
(All stats from last season)
How to Watch
When: 6:00 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: CHSN
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720