Blackhawks losing streak hits five against Predators as confidence continues to tumble

The Chicago Blackhawks reversal in mojo continued Friday night in a 4-3 loss the Nashville Predators. Their losing streak as hit a season-high five games after losing a winnable game to struggling team. A packed United Center on a holiday weekend while debuting the black alternative jerseys wasn’t enough for the Blackhawks to find an extra gear.

The Blackhawks got a late first-period goal from Ryan Donato, but they got outplayed in the second period. They allowed three goals, but Ryan Greene got one of them back on the power play. Both teams scored in the third period, with Teuvo Teravainen once again benefiting from a fortunate bounce to shoot into a wide-open cage.

The Predators were called out by the general manager and labeled the league's most toxic environment within the last week. But tonight, they looked like the hungrier team, winning puck races and one-on-one battles up and down the ice.

This is the most adversity this young Blackhawks team has faced this season, and it’s not going to get any easier any time soon. They need to figure out how to get it together, and soon. They were finding ways to win early in the season, and now they are finding ways to lose them. It’s gut check time in the locker room.

“You have to earn your own confidence, and you earn it by doing things right,” head coach Jeff Blashill said. “You do that with your compete and your work ethic. I think only the most mentally tough survive this league, so we’re going to have to be mentally tough and dig in.”

Andre Burakovsky Contributes in Return

Andre Burakovsky returned to the lineup tonight after missing the last two games with an upper-body injury. He hasn’t played since being hit in the head by Ryan Lindgren in last Thursday’s loss to the Seattle Kraken. While his acquisition in the offseason didn’t come with a lot of fanfare, he’s been a great addition to the Blackhawks’ lineup.

Burakovsky and Connor Bedard have formed great chemistry on the top line. Any line with the two of them on it has a 47.46 Corsi for percentage (CF%). Their line with Greene, who was with them tonight, came into the game with a 54.29 CF%. At 5v5, Burakovsky is fifth on the team with 30 individual scoring chances, and fourth with 14 high-danger scoring chances. He is also second on the team with three primary power-play assists.

Individually, Burakovsky had the secondary assist on Donato’s game-opening goal, as the second power-play unit was still on the ice. He had two shots on goal, four shot attempts, and a takeaway in 18:51 of ice time. He also had a telling quote about the outcome during his postgame scrum.

“The last few games, we played great, and we didn’t get the win,” he said. “Today, we just made it hard for ourselves. I think Nashville is a team that we should and can beat. We just mentally didn’t want it enough, I guess.”

While we know Greene isn’t a long-term fit on the top line, this trio had another good. They had a 60.0 Corsi for percentage (CF%) in 12:04 of 5-on-5 ice time. Shots on goal were even 6-6, while they had an 8-7 scoring-chance advantage. Greene scored on the power play and had four shots on goal with nine attempts. At 5-on-5, he created five individual scoring chances, more than anyone else in the game. If he starts cashing in on more of these chances, the noise around him playing on the top line will die down.

Frank Nazar Back in Successful Trio

With Burakovsky back, that allowed Blashill to put Frank Nazar back with Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi. In 12 games together this season, this line has a 50.72 CF% and outscored opponents 5-3.

 “I think if you look over the course of the last year and a half, when Frankie, Turbo, and Bert have played together, they’ve been a really dynamic line a lot of times,” he said. “Turbo and Bert do a really good job of getting pucks in the right spots for Frankie, and when Frankie gets in those spots with speed, he’s really, really dangerous.”

The Nazar line started the game and set the tone early with two shots on goal on the first shift. They were good at 5-on-5, with a 57.14 CF% and created five scoring chances. However, Nazar made a fatal mistake on the Predators' second goal of the game. At the end of a long shift, he turned over the puck in the neutral zone instead of getting the puck deep and getting off the ice. Seconds later, Steven Stamkos deposited the puck in behind Arvid Soderblom.

The Blackhawks need Nazar to find his scoring touch again. Bedard cannot be relied on to do it all every night. It’s speculated that Nazar hasn’t been playing at full strength since returning from an injury. He’s looked better the last couple of games, but he needs to start finishing his chances.

Nuggets & Tidbits

• The Blackhawks got essentially six straight minutes of power-play time in the first period and didn’t convert it into any goals. Donato cashed in shortly after a four-minute double minor expired, but not taking advantage of all that 5-on-4 time came back to haunt them. Getting at least one more goal in the opening frame could have changed the outcome.

• A poor second period is not anything new for this team. It’s habitual at this point. These guys know they have to play better in the middle frame, and yet they repeat the same patterns. I’m not sure what the solution is, aside from simply digging in and playing better. It would be great to see the Blackhawks come out and set the tone on the opening shift of the second period. Go out and finish a couple of checks, get in on the forecheck, and play with some energy.

• Nick Foligno is one of the guys on this team who can go out and be one of those tone setters. Unfortunately, he’s on the shelf for a few more weeks. It’s no coincidence that the team is 1-4-1 since he’s been out. He provides a lot to this team that doesn’t show up on a score sheet. He knows how to be in the right places and make the simple and correct plays. He’s a calming presence on this team and isn’t afraid to put somebody into the first row if he has to. They were missing that against the Predators.

• Sam Rinzel was not the reason the Blackhawks lost, despite a lot of noise on social media about him needing to go down to Rockford. He had the highest CF% on the team at 63.16 in 14:42 of 5-on-5 ice time. The Blackhawks had 24 shot attempts to 14 allowed. He took a bad penalty near the end of the game, but otherwise, he was solid. He was drafted for what he can do in the offensive zone. His defensive game is a work in progress, as it is with all rookie defenseman. He is not the liability some think he is.