The Chicago Blackhawks’ uneven start took another hit Thursday night, and the loss followed a familiar script. They opened with a spark against the Detroit Red Wings, got an early goal from Connor Bedard, and then watched the night slip away in a 4-1 defeat in the Motor City.
For a brief stretch, it looked like Chicago might have found something to build on after Tuesday’s 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings snapped a three-game skid. Instead, that momentum evaporated quickly.
Bedard’s backhand goal came just under six minutes into the game, and the Blackhawks had a few quality looks after that but couldn’t finish. Even early in the second period, the chances were there.
The finish wasn’t.
Once Viktor Arvidsson scored, the tone changed. By the time Lucas Raymond scored on the power play in the third period to make it 2-1, the game already felt like it was drifting out of reach. The Blackhawks never recovered.
That inability to cash in has become one of the season’s defining problems. Bedard has been productive since coming back from injury, with three goals and seven points in seven games, but the rest of the group is struggling to put the puck in the net.
Chicago sits 31st in the NHL with 2.08 goals per game, and its power play has been the league’s worst, clicking at just 10%. Getting outshot 31-19 only made the margin for error even thinner.
Patrick Kane leads the team with eight points through 13 games, though Bedard will likely move past him soon enough. Beyond that, the scoring depth just isn’t there.
Only seven players on the roster have multiple goals, and only Roman Kantserov has more than three. When the offense stalls like this, it swallows everything else.
The Blackhawks also continue to show how fragile they are once the game turns against them. They are one of the worst teams in the league when it comes to allowing high-danger chances, and Thursday’s third goal was another reminder of how quickly things can unravel. The first two Detroit goals came from long distance, but the third left Spencer Knight in a tough spot with the play right on top of him.
That’s been the pattern too often: a lead slips away, a deficit grows, and the team visibly tightens up. The good teams keep pushing. Chicago tends to sag.
And that’s where the growing pains come in. The Blackhawks are young, and that always brings its own rough edges.
It gets even harder when the organization has a generational talent in Bedard but still doesn’t have enough around him to make the whole thing hum. There’s still promise here, but the picture is getting harder to see clearly, especially with possible shakeups looming behind the bench and in the front office.
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