Chicago out-possessed Philadelphia but couldn’t generate enough offense without Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar, extending their losing streak to six games.

The Chicago Blackhawks fell 3-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers, bringing their losing streak to six games. Without their two best players, Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar, the Blackhawks’ lack of offensive depth continued to be a problem.

Game Summary: Flyers 3 – Blackhawks 1

The Philadelphia Flyers’ first goal came just as the Blackhawks’ first power play ended — a power play that only had two shot attempts and one shot on goal. Trevor Zegras fed Travis Konecny a pass in the low slot. The Flyers scored their second goal in the second period on the power play. Noah Cates was unbothered by Alex Vlasic’s defending and put Philadelphia up 2-0. At the end of the second, Ryan Donato scored with a nice wrist shot while both teams were 4-on-4. This was Donato’s ninth goal of the season, his first in 11 games. The final goal was an empty-netter scored by Carol Grundstrum. This was particularly frustrating because some miscommunication caused the net to be empty while the Flyers had possession of the puck. Head coach Jeff Blashill took ownership of the error.

Observations

The line with the best analytics was the top line: Tyler Bertuzzi-Jason Dickinson-Ilya Mikheyev. They had an 87.50% Corsi and a 94.51 xG% at 5-on-5. The Blackhawks owned possession with a 52.78% Corsi and a 56.67% xG% over the Flyers. The Flyers weren’t playing their best hockey as they were on the back end of a back-to-back. With some real talent on this team, Chicago puts this one in the win column.

Without Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar, this team has zero offensive punch. And that worries me… only a little. The players that are here who will stay with Chicago when winning matters are still young. Nick Lardis, an offensive player, is only in his fifth NHL game. Oliver Moore looks like he’ll be a fast forechecker, but I’m not really convinced how effective he’ll be in winning puck battles. Ryan Greene played on the third line tonight (Lardis-Greene-Moore only played 4:46), and he looks like he’ll be an effective bottom-six center—those are important.

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What’s On Tap Next?

The Blackhawks are inactive thanks to the Christmas break until Saturday. Saturday’s puck drop on the road against the Dallas Stars is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CT.

Happy Holidays, Hawks fans!