Losses and injuries are mounting for the Chicago Blackhawks, but with that reality comes a spike in self-awareness.
“Of course, it’s frustrating,” Chicago forward Ilya Mikheyev said. “But we need to learn how to play. Because the best teams play a whole 60 minutes. We’re growing up, and it takes time. I’ll say it again — it takes time. But we need more confidence that we can play hard and push back.”
The Blackhawks will aim to assert themselves and halt their second five-game losing streak of the season when they host the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.
Chicago will play three of its next four games at the United Center, where the team is over .500 (7-6-3).
Saturday’s 6-4 loss in Ottawa not only sent the Blackhawks hobbling home from a winless three-game Canadian road trip, it saw the latest injury to a young center away from home.
Frank Nazar took a shot to the face from the Senators’ Jordan Spence in the first period and will be out for an estimated four weeks.
Chicago has been outscored 17-7 in four games since leading scorer Connor Bedard sustained an upper-body injury in the last second of a Dec. 12 loss in St. Louis. The club will re-evaluate Bedard in January.
“One of the things that leads to consistency is depth, and so our depth is getting tested,” Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “So guys in those roles have to ultimately play at a higher level. As you play more minutes in more important roles, you’ve got to play that much better. And it’s a challenge. And it’s not easy.
“As a group, we need to get more out of more guys. We’ve talked about that, and we’ll continue to talk about that.”
Philadelphia, meanwhile, is coming off Monday’s 5-2 victory against the Vancouver Canucks, the Flyers’ lone home game around nine on the road.
Tuesday will mark the start of a five-game trip for the Flyers, who have registered points in 18 of their past 23 games, going 12-5-6 in that span to vault into second place in the Metropolitan Division.
“We’ve got to earn what we earn,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. “We’re not a perfect team, but there’s a lot of fight. … You’ve got to give these guys credit; they don’t give up.”
Nikita Grebenkin collected a goal and an assist for the Flyers, who excelled behind a revamped fourth line that also featured Carl Grundstrom (goal) and Rodrigo Abols (two assists).
Teammate Christian Dvorak marveled at Grebenkin’s effort.
“He was flying around, he was everywhere, making great plays,” Dvorak said. “That’s huge for the team.”
The Flyers hope to be getting healthy for their trip. Dvorak, who missed Saturday’s 5-4 shootout loss to the New York Rangers due to an upper-body injury, scored in his return to the lineup.
Philadelphia’s Trevor Zegras enters Tuesday’s matchup on an eight-game point streak (five goals, five assists) after recording an assist on the Dvorak goal.
–Field Level Media
