For the third time in six days, the Chicago Blackhawks suffered a one-goal defeat to a Central Division opponent on home ice. The NHL’s last-place club, the Nashville Predators, came into Chicago and beat the Blackhawks 4-3 at the United Center on Friday night. The Blackhawks have now lost five consecutive games, and their first three during the current four-game homestand.
“It’s an everyday league,” head coach Jeff Blashill said after the game. “You can’t walk out and not be as prepared to play… You’re not going to bring your A-game every night, but your next game has to be a B-game, not a C-game. We had too many guys probably at their C-game.”
After being ahead 1-0 going into the first intermission, the Blackhawks were plagued by yet another sloppy second period that flipped the momentum in the other direction. Sound familiar? Nashville outscored the home squad 3-1 and led 13-7 in scoring chances at even strength in the middle frame. Coming into the game, the Predators had scored just 15 goals on the season in the second period. They picked up 20 percent of that total on Friday.
“If we had an answer, we would’ve corrected it,” Andre Burakovsky said with frustration about the lackluster second periods. “It’s got to be a mentality thing, I don’t know. We talk about it, we come out, it happens again. We talk about it, we come out, it happens again. We’ve got to figure it out, and we’ve got to figure it out now.”
Despite being the highest scoring team in the third period this season, the Blackhawks haven’t been the better team late in games during their losing streak. Seattle and Minnesota both clawed their way back from behind in the final stanza, and Nashville added to their lead in this one. Captain Ryan O’Reilly scored a key insurance goal, which ended up being the game winner, to put the Blackhawks down by two with under 13 minutes remaining. That essentially sealed their fate.
I” think the last few games, we played great and didn’t get the win,” Burakovsky said.
“Today, we just made it hard for ourselves. I think Nashville is a team that we should and can beat. We just mentally didn’t want it enough today.”
Here are the highlights from the Blackhawks fifth straight loss, which drops their record to 10-9-5 through 24 games.
FIRST PERIOD
The loss overshadowed the return of the black alternate sweaters, which were worn for the first time since 2009. The Blackhawks will wear them six more times this season. Here’s the first look at Connor Bedard during pregame warmups.
Bedard was aggressive in the early going on Friday, as he danced through a few defenders to rifle a shot on net in the opening moments. Bedard finished the frame with three shots on goal and three individual scoring chances in all situations.
Nashville spent the second half of the period in penalty trouble, as defenseman Nick Perbix first sat for holding Ryan Greene’s stick. Then, just after Perbix’s penalty expired, defenseman Brady Skjei was whistled for a double-minor high-sticking penalty against Ryan Donato. That gave the Blackhawks six minutes of power play time to work with, but they were unable to take advantage of the Predators’ lack of discipline.
However, just seconds after Skjei stepped out of the penalty box, Donato skated into the offensive zone and sniped home his eighth goal of the season to put the Blackhawks ahead 1-0. That was a massive goal for Chicago just before the intermission, as it would have stung to come out of the period tied after having so much time on the power play. The Blackhawks have now scored first in 17 of 24 games.
Sam Rinzel➡️Ryan Donato🚨
Donato snaps home his 8th goal of the season to put the #Blackhawks ahead 1-0 late in the 1st period! Rinzel now has 5 assists in the last 6 games. Massive goal before the intermission.pic.twitter.com/c8TBTJkfBq
— Talkin’ Hawkey (@TalkinHawkey) November 29, 2025
By keeping the Predators off the scoreboard, the Blackhawks still have only surrendered one goal in the first period during 13 home games on the season. Getting off to strong starts remains a strength for this team.
SECOND PERIOD
Unfortunately, the second period remains a major weakness for the Blackhawks. Less than two minutes into the period, Matthew Wood got behind Wyatt Kaiser and Artyom Levshunov for a breakaway opportunity. Wood roofed a wrist shot over Arvid Soderblom’s glove to tie the game 1-1.
Less than 30 seconds after Wood’s goal, the Predators nearly took the lead off a one-timer from Ozzy Wiesblatt. Soderblom made a miraculous right-pad stop to keep the game tied. Suddenly, Nashville was surging and had some wind in their sails.
The Blackhawks seemingly couldn’t get the puck past center ice in the opening 10 minutes, and it came back to bite them. After a Frank Nazar turnover in the neutral zone, Steven Stamkos put home a feed from Nick Blankenburg on a 2-on-1 to give the Predators a 2-1 advantage. Not the best defensive sequence for Kaiser and Sam Rinzel here. They were parted like the Red Sea.
The only trio that was effective for Chicago in the period was the top line, and Ryan Greene and Bedard both came close to tying the score off a turnover. Greene hit the post with the itinial opportunity.
After finding their footing a bit in the latter stages of the period, Oliver Moore drew a penalty that sent his team to a powerplay. Fittingly, Moore went on to set up Greene in the slot to tie the game 2-2. Greene has been getting SO many chances recently, and it must have felt great to see one finally go in. This was his third goal of the season.
Andre Burakovsky➡️Oliver Moore➡️Ryan Greene🚨
Moore makes a great pass to find Greene in the slot for his 3rd goal of the season to tie the game 2-2 on the power play. 2nd assist of the game for Burakovsky. #Blackhawkspic.twitter.com/Z53oU3oWjd
— Talkin’ Hawkey (@TalkinHawkey) November 29, 2025
But just over one minute later, the Predators answered right back to spoil the party. Blashill threw his best defensive line, the Donato, Jason Dickinson, and Ilya Mikheyev grouping, out on the ice after tying the game. But they ended up having a shaky shift and were hemmed in the defensive zone, which led to a tally for Luke Evangelista. Blashill needs that trio to be better in a pivotal moment of the game.
The second period continues to haunt Chicago. Nashville led 11-6 in shots, 14-10 in scoring chances, and 3-1 in goals in all situations during the frame.
THIRD PERIOD
The Blackhawks couldn’t muster up much offensive out of the second intermission, and it was their opponent who found the back of the net first in the third period. Matt Grzlecyk and Louis Crevier made two ineffective pinches, which left O’Reilly all alone for a breakaway to make it a two-goal game.
With the crowd on tap at the United Center getting restless and frustrated, the Blackhawks received a fortunate bounce to give them some life with just under 10 minutes to play. Wyatt Kaiser’s dump in attempt drew Juuse Saros out of the Predators’ net, but the puck took a crazy bounce right out to Teuvo Teravainen in front. Teravainen tossed the biscuit into the yawning cage for his sixth goal of the season to suddenly make it a one-goal game.
Frank Nazar➡️Wyatt Kaiser➡️Teuvo Teravainen🚨
Teravainen takes advantage of a fortuitous bounce off Kaiser’s dump in to cut the #Blackhawks deficit to 4-3! Teravainen picks up his 6th goal of the season.pic.twitter.com/ONweA1F78f
— Talkin’ Hawkey (@TalkinHawkey) November 29, 2025
But from that moment on, the Blackhawks offense went dry. It didn’t help that Rinzel was whistled for interference with 3:28 left in the period. That kept the extra attacker on the bench until there was only 60 seconds left, and there wasn’t much of a charge made to tie the game.
The final horn sounded, and the Blackhawks were on the wrong end of the outcome once again. 4-3 final at the United Center. They return to action next on Sunday against Joel Quenneville and the Anaheim Ducks.
Everyone stay safe during the snow storm tomorrow.
For more Blackhawks news, visit Chicago Hockey Now and like our Facebook Page.
Follow us on X: