“Just kind of giving ourselves a chance to get some frustration out,” Blackhawks captain Connor Bedard said. “There’s a lot of belief and a lot of love for each other. (It’s) a very tight-knit group. It’s been a tough start. Obviously it’s not what we expected. Every guy knows that we’ve got a little more.”
The Blackhawks trailed 7-0 through two periods before Roman Kantserov and Bedard scored in the third period.
“It’s a hard pill to swallow. At the end of the day we got our butts kicked,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said. “We’ve got to make this kind of a bottom point in the year. We have to find a way to claw our way out of this.”
The Blackhawks have lost five straight (0-4-1) and eight of their past nine (1-7-1). They are 4-13-1, last in the Central Division. Only the Vancouver Canucks (3-15-1, seven points) have fewer points than Chicago’s nine.
"There's frustration,” Bedard said. “When you're waking up and going to bed, you're thinking about the record. I think what we've been able to do really well is every practice, every pregame skate, every lunch, dinner, every time we hang out, we still have that camaraderie and that joy to be at the rink. But at the end of the day, we've got to be better.”
Bedard missed Chicago’s first six games before making his season debut on Oct. 13. He underwent surgery on his left shoulder in July after he was injured during an offseason training session in Vancouver on July 2.
He has played just one game with defenseman Bowen Byram, who has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to Oct. 15 after last playing in a 5-3 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 13. Byram was acquired in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres on June 23 for the No. 4 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
The No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and the 2023-24 Calder Trophy winner, Bedard leads the Blackhawks with 14 points (five goals, nine assists). But only he and Kantserov (nine goals, two assists) have more than 10 points through Chicago’s first 18 games. The Blackhawks are tied for last in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers averaging 2.17 goals per game.
Chicago has four days off before beginning a four-game homestand against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.
"It's not rocket science,” Bedard said. “It’s not good enough. We know that. We've got a few days of practice to get better. Try to just wipe this and start 0-0 and start winning some games.
"There's belief in the room. There's belief in everyone from players, coaches, management. We believe in what everyone is trying to do."
