The Chicago Blackhawks are on their third losing streak of at least three games this season, and it’s been a tough stretch recently.
The Blackhawks will return home on Wednesday night to play the Boston Bruins after suffering back-to-back losses by three goals to the Columbus Blue Jackets and Toronto Maple Leafs.
On Monday, an empty-net goal late in the third period sealed a 4-1 victory for the Maple Leafs.
“Second and third period, we created chances,” said Chicago forward Lukas Reichel. “It wasn’t Grade A, but we were in the offensive zone buzzing, we went to the net, but unfortunately we didn’t get a good bounce to put (enough) in.
“We just have to find ways to win the game when it’s 2-1 or when we are down one goal. It’s pretty tough right now.”
Reichel scored the only goal for Chicago on Monday, cutting the deficit to 2-1 at 3:26 of the third period, but the Maple Leafs’ Fraser Minten answered just 21 seconds later, putting Toronto up by two goals again.
“We had some great chances. We worked them down low pretty good. That was the game plan,” said Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson. “Unfortunately, we just didn’t connect on a few of them. There were a couple loose pucks in there that we couldn’t get our hands on. … There were a couple tough bounces on us tonight.”
The Bruins will look to extend their winning streak to three games as they continue a busy stretch of playing three games in four days.
Boston defeated the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 on Tuesday, with Pavel Zacha scoring in overtime after a pass from David Pastrnak at 2:15.
“It’s really important,” said Zacha. “It’s one of those games where you have to win those if you want to have a good season. So that was something. We had a good penalty kill, something we can build on, and now we have to play better the next game.”
Boston improved to 5-2-0 since Joe Sacco became the interim coach after Jim Montgomery was fired last month. Zacha credited a shift in mindset for helping the Bruins build momentum.
“I think there’s been a little more shot volume, a little more structure in the defensive zone,” he said. “I think that has helped this team be really good defensively and then go from there. I think that’s working for us.”
Nikita Zadorov, who scored Boston’s first goal on Tuesday, added, “I think we’re playing with passion. I think we’re playing with pride. I think we’re playing for each other. I thought we were disconnected before. That’s what wasn’t working. I don’t think we fixed much Xs and Os.”
The Blackhawks’ leading scorer, Connor Bedard (19 points), saw his three-game point streak come to an end against the Maple Leafs.
Bedard scored one goal and had a minus-1 rating in two games against the Bruins last season.
