The Chicago Blackhawks had a promising start to their season but things haven’t been going well lately.
The Blackhawks followed a 2-2-1 start with four straight losses, including a loss to start a five-game road trip Saturday at Da;;as. That streak continues Monday in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche, who have won five in a row.
Chicago began a rebuild a few years ago and hasn’t won 30 games in the past three full seasons. The Blackhawks have assembled some young talent, led by 2023 draft pick Connor Bedard, but have yet to see results on the ice.
“We can’t focus on what’s going to happen; we have to focus on the process right now. I’m sick of losing,” forward Patrick Maroon told reporters after Chicago’s 4-2 loss in Dallas on Saturday.
Coach Luke Richardson has shuffled his lines but did not prevent defeat. The positives from Saturday night were the Blackhawks went three goals to one before the Stars scored an insurance goal with 18 seconds left to play.
It wasn’t much comfort to Bedard, however.
“We will not be happy that we stayed in the game,” he told the media. “We’re all NHL players; that’s not the goal. It’s frustrating. What are we, (2-6-1)? That’s too bad. Losing isn’t fun, so we’ve got to figure it out.”
Colorado seems to have found things after starting the season with four straight losses. The main reason is the play of goalkeeper Justus Annunen, who was in net during the 5-4 victory over Ottawa on Sunday night.
Annunen has started the last four games and allowed just four goals in the first three before the Senators slipped four pucks to him in the final 11:45 of the third period.
Coach Jared Bednar has publicly stated that Alexander Georgiev is the No. 1 player.
Georgiev is likely to start the second straight game on Monday, and a good performance could make for an exciting situation for the Avalanche. Georgiev has a 4.99 goals-against average over his five games this season, higher than his career average of 2.89.
Bednar didn’t panic when his team lost four in a row to start the season, and he’s not too disappointed after winning five in a row.
“We learned a lot from these four. It happens all the time. It’s not just us,” he said after Sunday’s win. “When you’re losing, you feel like you’re not playing well, and you start digging to start playing better, and the attention to detail and the buy-in, the commitment it takes to win, just doing it. It’s all hard and clean.
“You focus on every aspect of your game. So when you develop those habits, and they come to you, it gives them confidence and they tend to go that way.”
–Field Level Media
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