3 Takeaways From Blackhawks’ 4-1 Loss to Canadiens

The Chicago Blackhawks played their first game since Oct. 17, a shutout loss to the Dallas Stars. The offense failed to back up Spencer Knight again on Friday as they lost to the Montreal Canadiens.

Here are three takeaways from Friday night’s loss.

Blackhawks Offense Struggles Again

Connor Bedard scored the lone goal in the first period on a great pass from Patrick Kane. However, the lead didn’t last long as Montreal scored four unanswered goals from that point on.

“We didn’t give up much, and we created more than they did. That’s the reality of the game: They outscored us. That’s a fact. And we out-chanced them,” Blashill said (from ‘Blashill believes despite Blackhawks’ poor start: ‘I still like our team a lot’’, New York Times, Oct. 24, 2026).

It’s clear that fans are frustrated with results as of late. The team can’t use the same excuse that there’s still a lot of season left. Chicago is now 3-7-0 on the season with just six points. The three wins were all at home, but they were low-scoring, leaving not a lot of breathing room for Knight.

“We’re not far off from playing the way we want to play at all,” Blashill said. “I think we’ve been very close to the way we want to play. It’ll be a broken record till we fix it. We have to continue in our maturity and not shoot ourselves in the foot.”

Kevin Korchinski Deserves Another Shot

Bowen Byram is still out with an upper-body injury, despite the long break between games. Ethan Del Mastro has replaced him in the lineup, but I think it might be time to give Kevin Korchinski another shot.

The 22-year-old defenseman has played just one game this season, a 4-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 3.

“I think he’s handled it really well. He’s (come) to the rink every day with a smile on his face and positive attitude,” Bedard said. “I think Korch is doing a great job of that, and I feel like that’s all you can do. When he gets his chance, he’ll be ready.”

Blashill, after that game against the Sabres, praised Del Mastro’s game more than Korchinski’s, but it looked to be the opposite result. Korchinski signed a two-year contract extension in late August and hasn’t had any chances outside of the game against the Sabres. It might be time for Chicago to shake things up against the Florida Panthers and Los Angeles Kings as their homestand is coming to a close.

Need Answers Quickly

This isn’t just about scoring more goals every game. This is more about keeping the puck out of the defensive zone and generating more chances offensively.

The Hawks have so much talent on their forward lines, especially their youth core, including Bedard, Frank Nazar, Anton Frondell, Roman Kantserov; the list goes on. In fact, all four lines have generated good chances in most of their games this season.

The chances quickly fade when the puck goes to Chicago’s end of the ice, and the team fails to play defense and back up Knight and Arvid Soderblom. Artyom Levshunov has come out and surprisingly is putting together a great season in the early going for Chicago, however.

It’s fairly clear that the Hawks’ defensemen have been the biggest letdown to start the season, which would explain the 3-7-0 record. Chicago missed Bedard’s offensive production, but now that he’s returned from injury, the Blackhawks can’t keep relying on him to be the lone source of offense.

Chicago has a Sunday matinee game against the Panthers, and it’s not going to be an easy game to keep up with Florida’s pace.