The Connor Bedard era in Chicago has already had its share of rough nights, but Saturday’s 9-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes landed right near the top of the list. The Blackhawks were buried by the reigning Stanley Cup champions, and it marked the fourth time in this stretch that Chicago has lost by seven goals.
That kind of result is hard to ignore, especially in the fourth season since the Blackhawks drafted Bedard. Chicago is still leaning heavily on young talent, so a blowout like this was always going to show up eventually. Still, nights like this do little to calm a fanbase waiting for signs that the rebuild is truly turning a corner.
The Hurricanes game also fit a pattern that has started to stand out. It was the second time in the past three seasons that the Blackhawks have given up a touchdown and a two-point conversion. And with that, the list of the worst losses of the Bedard era got another entry.
One of the earliest came on Oct. 30, 2023, when Chicago went to Arizona and got rolled 8-1. Bedard opened the scoring just 28 seconds into the game, but the Coyotes answered two minutes later with Michael Carcone’s first of three goals on the way to his first and only NHL hat trick. From there, Arizona strung together eight straight goals in a runaway win.
That game also featured a pair of fights, with Nick Foligno dropping the gloves against Liam O’Brien and Jarred Tinordi squaring off with Jack McBain. Arvid Söderblom took the loss, allowing seven goals in 35:26.
A couple of months later, the Blackhawks ran into another wall in Dallas. On Dec. 31, 2023, the Stars handed Chicago another 8-1 defeat. Dallas jumped ahead 3-0 in the first period and carried a 5-0 lead into the third before Philipp Kurashev finally got Chicago on the board with a power-play goal early in the final frame.
The Stars weren’t done. They added three more goals, and Mason Marchment finished off his second career hat trick with two of them.
The game was surprisingly clean by penalty standards, with only six minor penalties called. Petr Mrázek was charged with the loss after allowing six goals in 44:46.
The next major blowout on the list came much later, on Nov. 21, 2025, when Buffalo put up nine on Chicago in a 9-3 Sabres win. The Blackhawks were already down 3-0 before Tyler Bertuzzi scored at the end of the first period, but Buffalo answered with two more in the second to make it 5-1.
Alex Vlasic briefly trimmed it to 5-2, only for the Sabres to close the period ahead 6-2. Bertuzzi scored again just 24 seconds into the third, this time on the power play, but Buffalo kept piling on and finished with its largest victory over the Original Six club.
Alex Tuch led the Sabres with four assists, and no Buffalo player recorded a hat trick. Söderblom stayed in the net the whole way and gave up a career-high nine goals on 31 shots.
Saturday’s loss to Carolina was the latest and perhaps the ugliest of the bunch. Chicago was down 4-0 after the first period and trailed 7-0 heading into the third before rookie Roman Kantserov scored his ninth of the year to open the final frame. Bedard then made it 7-2, but the Hurricanes answered with two more to close it out.
Frank Nazar took the only penalty in the game, Spencer Knight was tagged with the official loss after allowing six goals in 30:36, and Söderblom finished the night in relief, surrendering three more.
The shot total told its own story. Chicago managed only 20 shots on goal against Carolina, well below its 22.9 average, which ranks 31st in the league.
That was the lowest shot total the Blackhawks have posted in a blowout loss during this stretch. The other big defeats came with 30 shots against Arizona, 24 in Dallas, and 23 against Buffalo.
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