The Chicago Blackhawks hosted the Edmonton Oilers on Monday, Jan. 12 at the United Center. A nasty flu bug has been running through the Blackhawks’ locker room, and the latest victim was Connor Bedard. He wasn’t able to suit up on this night, so there was no Connor versus Connor (McDavid) matchup. This obviously left the Blackhawks with a disadvantage right from the start.
A slow start (of which the team is notorious for) put the nail in the coffin. Despite being down just 2-1 in the third period, Chicago just wasn’t able to overcome the high-octane Oilers. Once it was all said and done, they fell by a score of 4-1. Here are some key takeaways from this contest.
Blackhawks Lines & Pairings vs. Oilers
Tyler Bertuzzi – Ryan Greene – Andre Burakovsky
Landon Slaggert – Jason Dickinson – Ilya Mikheyev
Teuvo Teravainen – Oliver Moore – Nick Lardis
Ryan Donato – Nick Foligno – Colton Dach
Alex Vlasic – Louis Crevier
Wyatt Kaiser – Artyom Levshunov
Matt Grzelcyk – Connor Murphy
Spence Knight/ Arvid Soderblom
Scratched: Sam Lafferty, Connor Bedard (flu)
Injured Reserve: Frank Nazar (Face)
Related – Blackhawks’ Lardis & Moore’s Bond Translating On & Off the Ice
Without Bedard, Tyler Bertuzzi moved up to the top line. Landon Slaggert slotted in on “second” line, which is essentially the Blackhawks’ shutdown line. Colton Dach, who was a healthy scratch for the last contest versus the Nashville Predators, drew in on the fourth line.
Blackhawks Down 2 Important Forwards
As mentioned above, Bedard wasn’t able to go for this one due to illness. On top of that, Teuvo Teravainen played only 5:27 minutes in the first period, but didn’t come back out on the ice for the second period and never returned for the rest of the game.
There was some question whether Teravainen left because he came down with the bug going around the team, or because of an injury. But after the game head coach Jeff Blashill confirmed it was an upper body injury.
Being down your most dynamic forward in Bedard (not to mention Frank Nazar being on injured reserve), plus losing one of your best two-way forwards is not a good recipe for success. Especially against a team that’s currently second-place in the Pacific Division.
The Blackhawks will not hold practice on Tuesday, so we won’t have an update on Teravainen until Wednesday. I would assume Bedard will be feeling better by then as well. Hopefully no other players will come down with the flu bug.
Bertuzzi Scores 24th Goal of the Season
Tyler Bertuzzi scored the lone goal for the Blackhawks in the third period of this contest, to cut the Oiler’s lead to 2-1. It was a typical Bertuzzi goal, scored right in front of the crease.
big fans of this⬇️🙂↕️ pic.twitter.com/KEiY67x1Et
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 13, 2026
Defenseman Wyatt Kaiser made a head’s up play to chase down the puck and make a shot, and then Bertuzzi put it away.
This was Bertuzzi’s 24th goal of the season, his second-highest since scoring 30 goals under Coach Blashill with the Detroit Red Wings in the 2021-22 season. The odds are certainly in his favor to exceed 30 goals for a new career-high this season; he’s playing some terrific hockey.
“Bert” leads the team in goals, with Bedard being in second place with 19 tallies. However, Bedard has played in just 33 games to Bertuzzi’s 43. It could be a race to the finish for the team-lead in goals down the stretch.
The Story of the Knight
The Blackhawks continue to struggle with inconsistency and putting together a full 60-minute effort. This game would’ve gotten away from them much faster if it wasn’t for the Herculean efforts of goaltender Spencer Knight. In the first period alone, he faced 11 high danger chances, yet only allowed one goal. Here’s just one of the 24-year-old’s spectacular saves.
What a save by Spencer Knight. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/gVvqdiWtr5
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) January 13, 2026
All in all, Knight faced 24 high danger chances to the Blackhawks’ 15. For his final numbers he stopped 33-of-36 shots for a .917 save percentage. Considering he was just a few days removed from having the flu, his performance was really something.
Knight continues to be a big story, night after night.
Other Notes From Blackhawks vs. Oilers
- Kudos to the Blackhawks for winning 50% of their faceoffs against the Oilers, who rank fourth in the league in faceoffs with a 52.5% success rate. In this contest, rookie Oliver Moore won 8-of-13 draws for 62%. Another rookie, Ryan Greene, won 7-of-14 faceoffs for 50%, as did Jason Dickinson.
- Shout out to defenseman Artyom Levshunov, who finished the night with the highest ice time on the team (24:33 minutes). At one point logged a 5:33 minute shift; a full two-minutes on the power player and then the Blackhawks couldn’t control the puck long enough for him to make a safe change afterwards. He also contributed three shots on goal, six shot attempts, one blocked shot and a team-leading six hits!
- Three different players registered four shots on goal: Bertuzzi, Andre Burakovsky and defenseman Alex Vlasic. Lardis logged three shots on goal.
Related – Blackhawks’ Center “Dilemma”: Who Fits Best Down the Middle?
The Blackhawks didn’t play a horrible game. Coach Blashill said he really liked the team’s response in the second period and their push for the equalizer in the third. But again, they have to put in a consistent, full 60-minute effort if they want to win games. As defenseman Kaiser said postgame, “We’ll look at it, learn from it and keep growing.”
The Blackhawks have a few days off before hosting the Calgary Flames on Thursday (Jan. 15) and the Boston Bruins on Saturday (Jan. 17).
