For just the second time since the start of the New Year, the Chicago Blackhawks were on the wrong end of the final outcome on Monday against the Edmonton Oilers. Connor McDavid extended his point streak to 19 games with two assists to lead Edmonton to a 4-1 win at the United Center.
While the Oilers’ superstar had another impactful performance on Monday, on the other side of the matchup, the Blackhawks were without their best player once again. Shortly before pregame warmups, Connor Bedard was ruled out because of the flu, which has spread like wildfire throughout Chicago’s locker room in recent days. Spencer Knight, Arvid Soderblom, and Louis Crevier each missed both games over the weekend due to illness, and Ilya Mikheyev was also out on Friday. Even assistant coach Anders Sorensen wasn’t feeling well enough to be behind the bench for the matchup with the Washington Capitals.
Just when it appeared that the Blackhawks were finally getting back to full health, Bedard was announced as a late scratch, leaving his team with little to no time to prepare in his absence. The Hawks had a quiet offensive night sans Bedard, as they generated minimal offensive-zone time until a late third-period push that fell short.
Monday marked the second loss of 2026 for the Blackhawks, and both have now occurred since the flu/stomach bug ravaged the team over the last four days. None of the players is willing to make any excuses, but it’s hard to ignore how the recent illness has affected the group. Especially offensively.
Let’s get into the numbers from the 4-1 loss to the Oilers.
By The Numbers
1. Five Goals in Three Games — That’s how many times the Blackhawks have found the back of the net since the absences started to pile up, which includes rookie Ryan Greene’s empty-netter against the Nashville Predators. Chicago scored just once in Friday’s and Monday’s losses, and they totaled three goals in Saturday’s win over Nashville. Only one of their five tallies in the last three games has come at even strength.
After a seven-goal explosion over the St. Louis Blues last Wednesday, the Blackhawks’ offense has run dry. The timing is likely not a coincidence, as several players have been under the weather during the recent stretch. Even some of the guys who have been in the lineup are playing at less than 100 percent.
Now, with two days off before returning to play on Thursday, hopefully, the team can shake off the illness that’s been going around and get their legs back underneath them. The offense hasn’t had nearly enough juice in the last three games.
2. Bertuzzi Passes Previous Total — The lone goal of the game for the Blackhawks on Monday came from none other than Tyler Bertuzzi, who’s on pace for a career season. Bertuzzi scored at 14:46 of the third period to cut the Oilers’ lead to 2-1, marking his 24th tally of the year.
In just his 43rd game of 2025-26, Bertuzzi now has more goals than he totaled in all 82 games last year (23). Eight of his 24 goals have come in the past 10 games, as he’s been on an excellent run to lead Chicago to a 6-3-1 record out of the Christmas break.
Bertuzzi’s previous career-high in goals is 30, which came as a member of the Detroit Red Wings in the 2021-22 season. The 30-year-old forward, should he stay healthy, is on track to shatter that total. Bertuzzi is pushing for 40 goals as an NHLer for the first time, and with Bedard now back from his shoulder injury, that should only help him reach that total.
3. Knight Keeps Hawks Afloat — Had it not been for an incredible effort from goaltender Spencer Knight, the Blackhawks wouldn’t have had any chance for a late comeback against the Oilers. The tires were spinning in the mud for the home side in the first period on Monday, and the visitors were taking advantage. Edmonton had chance after chance to run away with the game in the early going, but Knight bailed his team out several times to keep the score from getting out of hand.
Through the first 25 minutes, the Oilers were credited with 21 shots on goal and 16 scoring chances. Thanks to Knight, the Hawks only trailed 2-0 at that point, even though they deserved to be down by more.
Knight was credited with 1.44 goals saved above expected, and most of that figure likely was racked up during the first half of the action. The 24-year-old also stopped nine of 11 high-danger shots faced on Monday.
4. Dach’s Noticeable Night — Colton Dach only played 11:40 on Monday, but he made the most of his ice time. Dach was credited with three individual scoring chances and two individual high-danger chances against Edmonton. He finished with the fifth-highest individual expected goals total, despite receiving the second-lowest ice time among all forwards. Dach’s best look came on the power play in the second period from the high slot, but Ingram got just enough of the shot to steer the puck wide.
Dach also led all Blackhawks forwards with three hits, and he now sits fifth in the NHL with 158 on the season. He currently paces all rookie skaters in the metric.
5. Levshunov’s Long Shift — Artyom Levshunov led all Blackhawks skaters with 24:43 of ice time versus Edmonton. It’s the third consecutive game in which he’s played over 23 minutes.
Part of the reason Levshunov received five more minutes of ice time than Alex Vlasic on Monday is that he logged a 5:33 shift late in the second period. Levshunov was on the ice for a full two-minute power play, then got trapped in the defensive zone while the Oilers pressured after killing off the penalty. The 2024 No. 2 overall pick looked exhausted as he finally hit the bench for a change. He spent over one quarter of the period on the ice for one shift!
Levshunov was just 29 seconds away from tying Jack Hughes’ 6:02 shift that set an NHL record in 2022.
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