Wyatt Kaiser's game-winning goal Tuesday for the Blackhawks was actually a deja vu moment.
Kaiser slipped down the left side, received a pass from Frank Nazar in the slot and ripped a shot through Kings goalie Anton Forsberg's five-hole to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead with less than 13 minutes to play. They ultimately hung on for a much-needed victory.
The play was almost an exact replica of Kaiser's goal last December in Los Angeles, which also ended up being the game-winning marker in a 2-1 Hawks win. That coincidence wasn't lost on either the scorer or the passer.
"I was laughing; Frank was laughing," Kaiser said, adding that five-hole has become his preferred shooting target in the NHL.
GOAL: Wyatt Kaiser goes five-hole on a shot from the circle to give the Blackhawks the lead. pic.twitter.com/k4RbeSp0Bj
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) October 28, 2026
That goal last December sparked a quietly impressive stretch in which Kaiser scored five times in a six-week span — a veritable hot streak for a Hawks defenseman, considering how little they've contributed offensively as a group in recent seasons.
Kaiser will hope for another pattern repeat now. His game has quietly improved as this season has progressed, and he's at a point now where a hot streak — or at least a stretch of lock-down defensive play — seems possible.
When he's dialed in, his lateral quickness and agility allow him to close off and suffocate opposing forwards in a unique and (for them) frustrating way.
His gap control tends to make or break his game, and it made it Tuesday. He made a crucial play at the defensive blue line about two minutes after his goal, for example, to deny a potential Kings breakaway.
"Kaiser was excellent tonight," coach Jeff Blashill said. "His compete was unreal. He’s played a number of good games in a row now.
"[To] start the year, didn’t have his A-game by any stretch. I think he’s gotten back to being smart and efficient with the puck and competing. When he does that, he’s a really good player."
For not only Kaiser but also the entire Hawks roster, the compete level Tuesday was the highest it has been all season. It was consistently high, too, outside of the first five minutes.
"We've talked a lot about the mentality of, 'Hey, the systems can be the systems. But if we’re not winning battles and out-competing the other team and wanting it more, it doesn’t really matter,'" Kaiser said.
"So we've been really trying to emphasize, 'Win your battles, compete, beat the other guys.' You saw a little bit of that tonight. Hopefully [we'll] continue to build off that."
Even Connor Bedard embodied that with an essentially game-clinching play with 20 seconds left. He aggressively blocked a shot to clear the defensive zone, then got to the puck first and drew a penalty.
"[Bedard] gets knocked about defense more than he should," Blashill said. "There’s a reason why he’s out there at the end of the game. Because when the game is on the line, he is hyper-competitive. He's a hyper-competitive player, man. I'll go to war with that kid anytime. And that block is indicative of that."
Blashill dramatically shuffled the forward lines, which yielded one trio that particularly clicked: Nazar centering Oliver Moore and Patrick Kane. The Hawks outshot the Kings 10-1 with them on the ice.
Flipping Kane and Bedard to opposite sides of the power play ignited that unit, as well. They broke a long power-play drought with Roman Kantserov's tying goal late in the second period.
