The Chicago Blackhawks dropped the front end of their weekend back-to-back, losing 3-2 to the rival St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Friday night.
While the Blues were on the back end of their own back-to-back, getting waxed 7-2 by the Predators in Nashville on Thursday, the Blackhawks failed to capitalize on some tired legs and couldn’t muster up much offense.
Coming into Friday, the Blues had allowed 12 goals in their past two contests and ranked 30th in the NHL in goals against per game. Defense and goaltending have not been strong suits for St. Louis this season, yet the Blackhawks made it feel that way in the second of four meetings in 2025-26.
Given the circumstances, it was completely unacceptable for Chicago to have only seven high-danger chances in all situations in 60 minutes. After an emphatic 3-0 victory over the New York Rangers in their previous outing, the Blackhawks couldn’t carry over any momentum and fell flat offensively in enemy territory.
“They played way harder than us, especially early.” Head coach Jeff Blashill said after the game. “[St. Louis] obviously had a tough night the night before… they came out super ready, and we came out to just play a hockey game. We weren’t as competitive as you need to be.”
The Blackhawks also had a few clear-cut defensive breakdowns, which proved costly in a low-event matchup. On each of the Blues’ three tallies, the eventual goal-scorer was given far too much time and space to work with in front of goaltender Spencer Knight. The two teams were nearly deadlocked in most statistics, but the Blackhawks made the bigger mistakes.
To make matters worse, star forward Connor Bedard also suffered an injury in the final second (literally) of the game, getting cross-checked by Blues forward Brayden Schenn as the two players battled for the puck before the final horn sounded.
Bedard’s right arm appeared to get awkwardly tangled during the sequence, and he was clearly in serious pain while exiting the ice immediately. Blashill already ruled Bedard out for Saturday’s game against Detroit, while adding that the team won’t know more until after this weekend. No bueno.
“He won’t play tomorrow,” Blashill said. “At some point through the weekend, I’ll know more. I’ll probably have more info come Monday… I think it’s a freak accident.”
Here are the highlights from a frustrating 3-2 loss to the Blues, dropping the Blackhawks’ record to 13-12-6 through 31 games.
FIRST PERIOD
Despite playing for the second time in as many nights, the Blues were the more energized team in the early going, which was rather disappointing. St. Louis opened the scoring less than four minutes into the game, while the Blackhawks didn’t record a shot on goal until the eight-minute mark.
A sloppy defensive lapse from Frank Nazar led to Logan Mailloux tallying his first goal as a member of the Blues. First, Nazar committed a tripping penalty in the defensive zone, and he immediately threw his arms up in disagreement with the call. That’s fine, but Nazar’s lackluster effort in transition isn’t, as he didn’t hustle to get back into the play. Mailloux was wide open on the left flank and rifled a shot through Louis Crevier’s wickets to make it 1-0.
Scoring first has been crucial for both teams this year. Entering Friday, the Blackhawks were 1-7-3 when their opponent scored first, while the Blues were 2-9-1 when falling behind 1-0.
The Blackhawks’ shoddy start continued past the halfway mark of the period, as Matt Luff was left all alone in the slot to make it 2-0. The story of the night defensively — Luff had way too much open ice while skating right down Broadway, especially on a 3-on-3 rush.
The final five minutes of the frame are when the Blackhawks finally started to wake up. Wyatt Kaiser cut the deficit in half off a feed from Andre Burakovsky, sniping a shot over Joel Hofer’s blocker for his second goal of the season. It’s also Kaiser’s second goal in the last five games. Beautiful zone entry by Bedard, who now has points in six of seven games and in 11 of the past 12 road contests.
Connor Bedard➡️Andre Burakovsky➡️Wyatt Kaiser🚨
Burakovsky feeds Kaiser for his 2nd goal of the season & 2nd in the past 5 games to cut the #Blackhawks deficit to 2-1. Bedard now has points in 6 of the last 7 games & in 11 of the last 12 road contests.pic.twitter.com/ICMVhDupwt
— Talkin’ Hawkey (@TalkinHawkey) December 13, 2025
Colton Dach also helped give the visitors some mojo before heading into the intermission. The big power forward dropped the gloves with Mailloux and landed a few strong shots before getting the takedown.
A late rally helped the period not feel quite as poor, but it still wasn’t the start the Blackhawks were looking for. The Blues led 17-10 in shot attempts, 9-6 in shots on goal, 7-3 in scoring chances, and 3-0 in high-danger chances at even strength through 20 minutes.
SECOND PERIOD
If you’ve watched the Blackhawks consistently this season, then you know the second period has been their worst of the three quite regularly. Believe it or not, there’s actually another team that’s been worse than Chicago in the second stanza, and it was their opponent. Through 32 games, the Blues had been outscored 45-27 in the second period. That makes the Blackhawks’ minus-11 second-period goal differential feel like a drop in the bucket.
So, in saying that, it was disheartening to see the Blues get the better of the Blackhawks in the second stanza on Friday. The Hawks didn’t roll over any of the steam generated in the final minutes of the first period, and St. Louis added to its lead near the midway point of the game.
After a turnover by Alex Vlasic, Ryan Greene lost Justin Faulk in coverage, which gave him plenty of separation to drive in tight on Knight. Faulk somehow snuck a shot short side to put the Blues back ahead by two.
With the Blackhawks not showing many signs of life, with only 15 shots through 35 minutes, Connor Murphy tried to provide a spark by dropping the gloves with Dylan Holloway. However, neither Murphy nor Holloway appeared to land the punch, and the scrap turned into a bit of a pillow fight. No offense, Murph.
Faulk’s tally was the only goal of the period for either side, putting the Blackhawks behind by a pair with 20 minutes to go. Through two periods, the Blues led 17-14 in scoring chances and 7-3 in high-danger chances. There wasn’t a lot going on, but the home side pounced on Chicago’s errors.
THIRD PERIOD
The Blackhawks needed to show a sense of urgency right from the jump in the final frame, and they had a quality chance to cut into their deficit in the first two minutes. Greene hopped on a loose puck and made a centering feed to Oliver Moore, but Hofer got a piece of his shot to steer it wide.
After the Blues rang a shot off the crossbar from Oskar Sundqvist, the Blackhawks came down on the other end and found iron themselves. Once again, Greene sent a sensational pass over the right circle, but Crevier’s wrister clanged off the post.
With just under six minutes to play, the Blackhawks made things interesting and cut their deficit to one. Bedard made the play happen with an incredible effort to force a turnover, and his kick-pass found Burakovsky at the far post for his eighth goal of the season. Suddenly, the Blues’ lead was only 3-2 with still plenty of time on the clock.
However, when the Blackhawks pulled Knight for the extra attacker just three minutes later, they struggled immensely to get set up in the offensive zone. St. Louis clogged up center ice and made Chicago dump in the puck, only for Hofer to steer it out of harm’s way for a clear time and time again.
With 0.8 seconds left, Kaiser hustled to get an icing call before the game came to an end. In hindsight, he might have wished he hadn’t. Because on the ensuing faceoff, Bedard was checked by Schenn and injured his right arm/shoulder. The cherry on top of an already putrid night, Bedard suffers a freak accident on a meaningless faceoff with the game already decided. You’ve got to be kidding me.
Bedard rushed off the ice and down the tunnel while holding his right arm. Hopefully, it’s not as bad as it looked.
Say your prayers to the Hockey Gods, Blackhawks fans.
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