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Escape Artists Never Die: Oilers 3, Blackhawks 1
The Blackhawks were officially eliminated from playoff contention night on Thursday night in Edmonton after a 3-1 loss to the Oilers.
After a scoreless first period and with Spencer Knight bri...
The Blackhawks were officially eliminated from playoff contention night on Thursday night in Edmonton after a 3-1 loss to the Oilers.
After a scoreless first period and with Spencer Knight briefly in the locker room while dealing with an equipment issue, Adam Henrqiue scored the game’s first goal on a breakaway that he finished after Arvid Soderblom made the initial save.
Adam Henrique – Edmonton Oilers (3) pic.twitter.com/fxQKEhffrE— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) April 3, 2026
Near the middle of the second period, Edmonton went up 2-0 thanks to a power-play goal from Matt Savoie, who scored when his stuff attempt ricocheted off of Alex Vlasic and into the net.
Matt Savoie – Edmonton Oilers (15)Power Play Goal pic.twitter.com/zOYJzCtu1q— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) April 3, 2026
Savoie had a second goal overturned on a successful challenge for offsides. About five minutes into the third period, Nick Lardis made it a 2-1 Hawks deficit by scoring on this rebound from a Connor Bedard point shot:
we ❤️ Nick Lardis goals! pic.twitter.com/apQdTWuGRJ— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) April 3, 2026
Vasily Podkolzin added an empty-netter late in the third for the final goal of the evening.
Notes
The primary postgame concern was the health of Lardis, who appeared to take the brunt of this Teuvo one-timer on the palm of his left hand:
Nick Lardis to the locker room after getting drilled by this shot: pic.twitter.com/1t8bEB5NVr— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 3, 2026
The good news there is that it doesn’t appear to be anything serious:
Blashill didn’t have an update on Nick Lardis, but he didn’t look terribly concerned at least Teravainen: “He got a goal and then he got a puck. I feel bad about that.”— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 3, 2026
Hopefully Lardis is back in the lineup soon, as that’s now four goals in seven games for him since he was moved to the top of the lineup, and it seems like he’s capable of adding a few more before the season ends. Worth nothing that the one he scored tonight was the result of him working towards a tougher part of the ice to reach, leaving him in perfect position to hop on that rebound.
The lines saw some shuffling this evening and the the one that ended up being the best overall was the trio of Lardis, Bedard and Teuvo, which skated 6:58 together and had advantages of 10-4 in shot attempts, 6-3 in shots on goal, 7-3 in scoring chances and 3-2 in high-danger chances. It scored Chicago’s lone 5-on-5 goal and finished with an expected goal share of 58.66 percent. It seems like an awfully small line, but perhaps they’ve got the the skill and savvy to overcome that deficit for a brief spell. Certainly wouldn’t hurt to give it another look or two on Saturday night.
Frondell sure isn’t shy about firing the puck on net, is he? He had that quick wrister on net during his first shift that knocked Jarry’s mask off and then he clanked one off the post on that first-period power play. His shot was among the hallmarks of his game when drafted last summer and we’ve seen it aplenty at the start of this season.
Spencer Knight: still good!
Perhaps there’s confirmation bias in this observation but it sure seemed like the vast majority of Chicago’s turnovers in this game featured Ryan Donato or Andre Burakovsky — or both. That Henrique goal was just one of several examples. Burakovsky ended up on the fourth line by game’s end as a result.
Blashill said Burakovsky's turnover on the Oilers' first goal factored into his demotion to the 4th line."He’s not feeling it right now. Unfortunately, he’s trying hard, he cares, he wants to be a good player, it’s just not going right now… Sometimes my job as a coach is to…— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 3, 2026
There’s been a lot of talk about Frank Nazar’s offensive resurgence in the last few weeks, but that’s not the only part of the game where he’s feeling it. Right before Savoie’s PPG in the second, McDavid was doing his usual one-man zone entry at full speed before a well-timed poke check from Nazar disrupted the whole thing, leading to an easy clear. Nazar’s always been billed as more than just an offensive weapon, so it’s nice to see that swagger bleed over to other aspects of his game, too.
Chicago didn’t get run out of the building like it did during some of its road games last week, but this team still just doesn’t seem to generate enough offensive opportunities to be dangerous. Across all strengths, the Hawks were outshot a whopping 38-18 in this game. Blashill talked after the game about the team needing to shoot more, but that doesn’t feel like it’s going to cure all of the struggles on that end of the rink.
Blashill said the Blackhawks' internal analytics actually gave them a 7-6 edge in Grade A chances tonight."I wouldn’t say we didn’t have opportunities. I would say we need to shoot more."Postgame notebook from Edmonton: https://t.co/6VNahIIoax— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) April 3, 2026
Game Charts
Three Stars
Matt Savoie (EDM) — 1 goal
Nick Lardis (CHI) — 1 goal
Spencer Knight (CHI) — 31 saves on 32 shots
What’s Next
The Blackhawks head back south of the border for a game on Saturday night in Seattle against the Kraken at 8 p.m.
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