The Blackhawks lost 4-3 in a shootout in Minnesota on Tuesday night. In the game, the Blackhawks took a 2-0 lead in the first period and ultimately had a three-goal lead before the Wild scored three unanswered — two coming in the third period — to force the game to overtime and, ultimately, a shootout.
The Blackhawks were 0-for their last 17 on the power play coming into last night’s game, so the coaches reconfigured the two units on Monday. The result: 0-for-5 last night. And they shuffled the personnel a little during the game last night to try to make something click.
Connor Bedard still has only scored one goal — into an empty — in now nine games since returning from his shoulder injury. Some Blackhawks fans will look at the zero in the G column of the box score and tell you he’s still broken.
Indeed, ff you read the comments on social media, you might think the Blackhawks game played out like this:
But… then you hear the comments from the Blackhawks players and coaches after the game.
“I don’t think we got away from our game,” Frank Nazar said after the game. “[There was] some sloppiness with the puck or some [bad] decisions. But really, honestly, I thought we played a great game.”
and
“When you take the emotion out of it — which is, obviously, we’re frustrated — the chances we [tallied] were 23-14 [in our favor],” Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill said. “You’re going to win that game 98% of the time. We just didn’t win it tonight. I thought that’s the best we’ve played in a while, to be honest.”
I think we need to have a conversation about losses with some perspective.
Good Blackhawks Losses?
Let’s get the Bedard subject out of the way first. If you watched last night’s game and your takeaway was “this kid isn’t good” or “this kid is still hurt,” I’m not sure what to tell you. He played 23:50 and was credited with two hits and one takeaway. His eight shots on net are the second-most in a game in his career. He was active, he was physical and he was trying. And he’s frustrated the puck hasn’t gone in.
Connor Bedard's 8 shots on goal tonight were the second-most of his career. More games like this and the dam will inevitably break soonpic.twitter.com/W6Q7nyUkUu
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 28, 2026Bedard, individually, had a 1.22 expected goals for score last night. He attempted 11 shots. He personally had four high danger chances. He’s going thru one right now. When it clicks, he’ll probably go on a heater we talk about for a while. But his struggles to score are not because he isn’t working.
Now, on the comments from the head coach and Nazar after the game and the idea of “good” losses.
According to Natural Stat Trick, last night the Blackhawks out-performed the Wild in the following areas:
61-47 shot attempts 32-23 shots on net 35-27 scoring chances 15-8 high danger chances 4.44 expected goals for vs. 2.53 against (63.71%)If you look at those numbers without the final score, you would be led to believe the Blackhawks probably won the game. Heck, we can’t even complain about the Blackhawks shooting the puck because it was the Blackhawks who attempted 61 shots on Tuesday night!
When the Wild erased a two-goal deficit in the third period, did they overwhelm the Blackhawks? No. The Blackhawks actually had more shot attempts (14-11), shots on net (7-6), scoring chances (9-8) and high danger chances (5-4) in the third period. Minnesota simply made a couple of theirs count. And sometimes it’s just the smallest miss that impacts the outcome. Nazar beat Jesper Wallstedt with his shootout attempt, but the puck slid just wide of the net.
Nazar slides it through the five-hole but it still goes wide pic.twitter.com/07xD4d521d
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) January 28, 2026Sometimes, the better team is the better team because they do the things the Wild did last night to win the game. And a young team like the Blackhawks learns from the loss because they’re still young and they’re still working through things and growing as NHL players.
Consider the Blackhawks’ loss on Sunday. They were tied at one heading to the third period against the Florida Panthers and lost 5-1. After that game, Blashill was far less accepting of the third period. He pointed to young mistakes that cost the Blackhawks a game he thought they played well enough to win for 40 minutes. But… the better team imposed their will and it cost the Blackhawks four goals in an ugly third period.
In Sunday’s loss, the Panthers only had 1.68 expected goals for in the game. They put five on the board (including one into an empty net). The Blackhawks played a good game — for 40 minutes.
On Tuesday night, the Blackhawks played well for 65 minutes. They just didn’t come away with a win.
Matt Krohn-Imagn ImagesBlackhawks Learning Curve
Over the span of six nights, the Blackhawks played the Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning (back-to-back with travel between), the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers and the Minnesota Wild. Waking up on Wednesday morning, they rank second (Carolina), third (Tampa) and fifth (Minnesota) in the NHL in point percentage. And the Panthers, again, are two-time defending Stanley Cup champions for reasons.
There are encouraging signs from the Blackhawks. We should be excited about those signs. And not lose sight of the purpose of the 2025-26 season: improvement.
We are seeing the improvement we’ve all been desperately waiting for the last two years.
Are there areas where the Blackhawks still need to get better? Absolutely. Are there areas where consistency is needed? Sure. But I think, after losses like last night — and the game against Tampa — that we should exhale a bit and employ some perspective. Because the Blackhawks have gone toe-to-toe with four really good teams in a short period of time and come away with points in three of the four games.
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