The 2026 Blackhawks have been fun to watch. Since the start of the year, Chicago is 4-0, including winning three straight one-goal games to kick things off. They started really having fun on Wednesday night, thumping the Blues 7-3. It was the second time this season that the Blackhawks decimated St. Louis on national TV, having beaten them 8-3 back in October.
But the best part of Wednesday’s blowout came near the end. The Blackhawks had put in their seventh goal of the game, making Team Canada goaltender Jordan Binnington look silly. Head coach Jim Montgomery motioned for Binnington to come off the ice and be replaced by Joel Hofer—not the first time this year that has happened. With Binnington in the middle of a rough campaign, he’s been yanked a few times already, and hasn’t been pleased each time. It looked like a similar situation was unfolding, with Binnington seemingly refusing to come off the ice.
But as Montgomery went to make the swap, his backup netminder was nowhere to be found. The cameras picked up Hofer hiding down the tunnel to the Blues’ locker room!
To be completely fair, the visitors’ backup often sits in the locker room or the tunnel because the benches are too small, but the backup also doesn’t usually hide from his head coach in situations like these.
It’s hard to blame Hofer, who already allowed eight goals to the Blackhawks earlier this year, for not wanting to come in to face a team that had already put seven in on the night. It’s an especially bad look for Montgomery, who may have his work cut out for him in order to not lose the locker room after a move like that.
The fact that the Blackhawks can make opposing goaltenders HIDE—without Connor Bedard in the lineup—is pretty exciting. The team seems to have figured out how to win without their young star, who might be returning to the ice as early as Friday. They’re three games out of a wild card spot, and while no one expects them to make a deep run, the rest of the season should be much more interesting than these months have been in previous years.
