The Chicago Blackhawks’ third losing streak of at least three games this season has been lopsided of late.
The Blackhawks will return home Wednesday night to face the Boston Bruins on the heels of consecutive three-goal losses against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Toronto Maple Leafs.
An empty-net goal late in the third period Monday sealed a 4-1 victory for the Maple Leafs.
“Second and third period, we created chances,” Chicago forward Lukas Reichel said. “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 lone goal for Chicago on Monday, trimming the deficit to 2-1 at 3:26 of the third period. The Maple Leafs’ Fraser Minten regained a two-goal advantage for his team just 21 seconds later.
“We had some great chances. We worked them down low pretty good. That was the game plan,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. “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.”
Boston will aim to stretch its winning streak to a season-best three games as it continues a run of three games in four days.
The Bruins defeated the visiting Detroit Red Wings 3-2 on Tuesday after Pavel Zacha scored on a return feed from David Pastrnak at 2:15 in overtime.
“It’s really important,” Zacha said. “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 took over as interim coach after Jim Montgomery was fired last month. Zacha credited a shift in mindset for helping the Bruins build and sustain 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.”
Added Nikita Zadorov, who scored Boston’s first goal Tuesday: “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.”
Blackhawks leading scorer Connor Bedard (19 points) saw his three-game point streak end against the Maple Leafs.
Bedard recorded one goal and a minus-1 rating in two games against the Bruins last season.
–Field Level Media
