The Chicago Blackhawks hosted the division rival Dallas Stars on Thursday, Jan. 1 for their second matchup of three for the season. The first game between these two clubs was a hard-fought 4-3 shootout win in Dallas on the first night after the holiday break (Dec. 27). It turns out the Blackhawks might have the Stars’ number right now, as they brought home another 4-3 win.
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Although, this one was in regulation time and really not as close as the score indicated. Let’s get to the takeaways of what was a solid 60-minute effort from the Blackhawks.
Levshunov Scores 2nd Goal of the Season
Artyom Levshunov got the scoring started for the Blackhawks with a power play goal in the first period. It was just his second goal of the season, but what gets lost in the shuffle is that the blueliner is second on the team in assists, with 17.
Artyom Levshunov picks the corner on the power play for his 2nd goal of the season. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/NsNMCBNQKe
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) January 2, 2026
Nine of Levshunov’s 17 helpers have been on the power play. He can now add a PP goal to that. The 20-year-old has played most of the season as the quarterback on the first power play unit, and now his efforts are starting to pay off. Head coach Jeff Blashill is certainly happy with his overall game.
Artie’s done a really good job on his five-on-five game, and that’s been mirrored in his power play game. He looks like he’s attacking the game offensively more, which is what we want out of him. And he’s showing that real good poise up in the blue line, and doing a good job of that.
On Levshunov shooting the puck, Blashill continued,
It’s something that we kind of focus on, continue to work with them on is, is his shot Mechanics. Because I think there’s things that could improve there that could help, you know, elevate his ability to shoot even to a higher level. He gets a lot of chances, and he’s had a lot of chances on those areas, so it’s great to see it go in. It’s a huge thing for confidence. And I think it kind of reinforces the way he’s been playing. When you get rewarded with points. It’s a good reinforcement.
Levshunov ended the night with a goal, two shots on net and seven shot attempts in 18:27 minutes of ice time. This is actually kind of low TOI for him; he’s been averaging closer to 22 minutes of ice time recently.
He seems to be putting all the pieces together, which is promising for the Blackhawks.
1st Line of Bertuzzi-Greene-Burakovsky Dominates
The Blackhawks’ current top line is thriving. In 10:09 minutes of ice time on 5-on-5 play, this line recorded 18 shots attempts for to 10 shot attempts against. They just seemed to be feeling it on this night, with the puck on their stick a lot.
Once it was all said and done, Tyler Bertuzzi recorded an assist on Teuvo Teravainen‘s power play goal, plus four shots on goal, 10! shot attempts and one takeaway in 18:58 minutes of ice time.
Andre Burakovsky was credited with two primary assists and three shot attempts. Blashill spoke about the chemistry that Bertuzzi and Burakovsky are building.
They’re both really smart players. Bert for kind of a north-south guy who’s really good at the net, he’s always had very good poise with the puck. So he can make a play to guys. And that’s kind of how Burky wants to play. He wants a little more puck control. So I think they kind of feed off each other well.
I thought that line was good tonight. They had some really, really good chances that they were a little bit snake bitten, but they had some good chances.
Not to be forgotten, rookie Ryan Greene registered three shots on goal, seven shots attempts, one takeaway and won 10-of-16 faceoffs for a 63% success rate. Not bad for a guy that’s been thrown into the top-line center role.
Mikheyev Scores Twice
Ilya Mikheyev is the kind of under-the-radar player that often gets taken for granted. But now in his second season with the Blackhawks, they are doing no such thing. Mikheyev is a solid two-way player with a lot of speed and a sneaky offensive upside. He showed as much with two goals on this night. The 31-year-old’s first goal was the most impressive; a power move through and through.
Ilya Mikheyev powers through and scores for his 7th goal of the season. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/pqmg7r2mRy
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) January 2, 2026
Mikheyev and his wife recently had their first baby, and it’s always been a running joke that new dad’s have a certain advantage. Said Blashill on the subject, “Yeah, it was fun for him. He’s enjoying his early experience as a new dad, and so it was great. He’s such a good person, so it’s fun whenever he has success. It’s fun to watch.”
Mikheyev almost recorded a hat trick; his shot on the empty net at the end of the game hit the crossbar. Teammate Ryan Donato, who tallied two assists of his own, said,
I was saying a little prayer for him…like it would be pretty cool to have a baby & get a hat trick. But he was saying he’s gonna save it for next time and get another one.
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All in all, this was a good team win for the Blackhawks. Said Blashill, “I loved the speed at which we played. I loved how connected we were. I loved that third period. You know, we’ve been in spots a few times this year where it’s a tough back-to-back for them (the other team) and we’ve let them off the hook. And we didn’t do that tonight. I thought we played the right way up to the point that they pulled their goalie.”
Before the Stars pulled their goalie, the Blackhawks were winning by a score of 4-1. It was a solid all-around effort by the Blackhawks. Hopefully one they can build on.
