Just when it seemed like the Chicago Blackhawks had shed the flu/stomach bug that’s been going around, they were dealt another brutal blow shortly before puck drop against the Edmonton Oilers.
Star forward Connor Bedard, who just returned from a shoulder injury on Friday, was ruled out due to an illness for Monday’s meeting with Connor McDavid and the Oilers at the United Center. The announcement came roughly 10 minutes before pre-game warmups began, leaving the team with little time to prepare for his absence.
Connor Bedard will not play tonight (illness).
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 13, 2026
Without Bedard, the Blackhawks offense struggled to establish much offensive-zone time until the final half of the third period, when they made a late charge to erase a 2-0 deficit. Tyler Bertuzzi scored his team-leading 24th goal of the season with just over five minutes remaining to offer some hope, but that was all the scoring the Hawks could generate in a 4-1 loss on Monday.
“You have to win puck battles, puck races to have any chance and we just didn’t do that early,” head coach Jeff Blashill said after the game. “You’re going to have zero identity when you don’t do that… Because of that, we didn’t spend any time in the O-zone.”
The shaky offensive outing was also aided by Teuvo Teravainen being forced to leave early due to an injury. Teravainen exited in the latter stages of the first period and didn’t return, which put the Blackhawks down yet another key forward. After the game, head coach Jeff Blashill didn’t have much of an update on Teravainen’s status, saying he’ll know more in the coming days. Blashill did say it’s an upper-body injury that Teravainen is dealing with.
“He could be OK. I just don’t know yet for sure. He couldn’t finish the game, we’ll go under evaluation here tomorrow and it might be something where he’s ok, [it] might not be. I’ll let you know on Wednesday.”
It’s also worth pointing out that the only reason Chicago even had an opportunity to comeback on Monday was due to an extraordinary effort from goaltender Spencer Knight, who did everything in his power to prevent the Oilers from running away with the game. Edmonton had all the momentum in the first period and were firing on all cylinders as the Blackhawks tires sputtered early. Knight stood tall to keep his team from falling into a deeper deficit, and he remained sturdy throughout the rest of the night.
Knight ended up stopping 33 of 36 shots faced against Edmonton and was credited with 1.44 goals-saved above expected. It was his first game back from his own illness, which kept him out of the lineup on Friday and Saturday. Safe to say the 24-year-old is feeling better. Hopefully, Bedard will too before the Hawks return to play next on Thursday.
Here are the highlights from the Blackhawks’ 4-1 loss to the Oilers, dropping their record to 19-20-7 through 46 games.
FIRST PERIOD
The Blackhawks were playing with fire in the early going on Monday, as the Oilers were getting chance after chance to open the scoring. Kasperi Kapanen had two or three quality looks himself, including one from right in the slot near the midway point of the period. Knight somehow came up with a remarkable glove save while sprawling to the ice to keep the game scoreless.
Knight stopped each of the Oilers’ first seven shots on goal, but he could only keep the visitors off the board for so long. While tangled with Hawks defenseman Alex Vlasic out in front of Knight, Zach Hyman somehow found a way to take in a pass from Evan Bouchard and stuff home a shot to put the visitors ahead 1-0 at 14:41.
Connor McDavid registered the secondary assist on the goal, extending his point streak to 19 games.
Thanks to an incredible effort by Knight in net, the Blackhawks trailed by only one goal going into the intermission. The score easily could have been worse, as the Oilers led 10-5 in shots on goal, 17-8 in scoring chances, and 11-2 in high-danger chances in the period.
SECOND PERIOD
Just 16 seconds into the second period, the Oilers struck again to add to their lead. Bouchard was the recipient of a fortunate bounce, as his centering feed from below the goal line banked in off Knight and trickled into the net. 2-0, Edmonton.
On their lone power play of the night, the Blackhawks had several prime-time opportunities to cut the deficit in half. The best chance came off rookie Ryan Greene’s stick from point blank, but Ingram made a lofty right-pad stop to keep Edmonton ahead 2-0.
Chicago remained without a goal through 40 minutes and trailed by a pair entering the second intermission. The Oilers led 2-0 and were ahead 3.34-1.76 in expected goals at even strength.
THIRD PERIOD
To their credit, the Blackhawks never gave up and made things interesting with a strong push in the third period. Shortly after an unsuccessful power play, they finally got the puck behind Ingram and cut the deficit in half.
Wyatt Kaiser fired the puck on net from the slot, and Bertuzzi scooped up the rebound for his 24th goal of the season, which eclipses his total from last season in 82 games played. Tonight was his 43rd game of the 2025-26 campaign.
Wyatt Kaiser➡️Tyler Bertuzzi🚨
Bertuzzi puts home his 24th goal of the season to cut the #Blackhawks deficit to 2-1 with just over 5 minutes remaining. Bertuzzi now has 5 goals in the last 5 games.pic.twitter.com/tAv79SS7yp
— Talkin’ Hawkey (@TalkinHawkey) January 13, 2026
Knight hit the bench for the extra attacker with 1:19 remaining, but the Blackhawks never got a chance to cycle the puck with a man advantage to tie the score. Off an offensive-zone draw, the puck was worked back to Bouchard, and he launched a shot from the corner and into the empty net to seal the deal. 3-1, Edmonton.
To add insult to injury, Leon Draisaitl scored just eight seconds after Bouchard’s empty netter for good measure. Make it 4-1, Oilers. Kaiser gift-wrapped that one for Draisaitl.
The final horn sounded at the United Center, sending the Blackhawks to their second defeat of 2026. Both have come with a shorthanded group due to illness.
We’ll see if the Hawks will get Bedard and/or Teravainen back for Thursday’s game against the Calgary Flames. Bedard has crushed the Flames throughout his young career, with 12 points (6G, 6A) in six games. He’s recorded at least three points in each of his two games versus Calgary this season.
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