Sliding Chicago Blackhawks seek a salve in struggling Canadiens

Trying to win games without injured star Connor Bedard has proved a difficult challenge for the Blackhawks.

Looking to avoid a fourth straight defeat, the visiting Blackhawks also will be trying to reverse their recent fortunes against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.

Competitive out of the gate, the young Blackhawks were dealt a serious blow Friday when Bedard, among the NHL's best with 44 points, injured his shoulder late in a 3-2 loss Dec. 12 at St. Louis. Bedard will miss the rest of December, and Chicago totaled two goals in losing its first two games without its superstar in the lineup.

"You have to understand process," Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said. "You're gonna have to go back at it. We're gonna have to do a good job of having a short-term memory.

"They are all learning lessons," the coach added. "We'll learn from it and move on."

The reality is that the Blackhawks are 3-9-2 since Nov. 20, but have even less margin for error without Bedard because he leads the club with 19 goals, 25 assists and a plus-8 rating. It hasn't helped that budding star Frank Nazar has not tallied any of his 20 points in the last six games -- and has not scored a goal since Oct. 28.

After blowing a 2-0 lead in Tuesday's 3-2 loss at Toronto, Chicago has managed just five goals during a four-game road losing streak that began Dec. 6.

The Blackhawks also are mired in a 2-4-1 rut against Montreal, which spoiled their 2025-26 home opener with a 3-2 victory on Oct. 11. Canadiens stars Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki combined for five points in that contest.

Caufield is second on the team with 33 points, but he was blanked in each of the team's last two games.

After totaling 12 goals during a 2-0-1 stretch, the Canadiens followed with a 4-1 home loss to Philadelphia on Tuesday. Alexandre Texier, who has recorded all three of his goals this season in the last four games, provided the only scoring for Montreal.

The Canadiens also have allowed 37 goals while amid a 4-5-1 stretch.

"Frustrating," Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson said. "We've got to try to stack a couple wins here."

Montreal rookie Jacob Fowler stopped 17 of 20 shots on Tuesday in his third career start. He'll continue to back up Jakub Dobes with the struggling Sam Montembeault on a conditioning assignment with AHL Laval.

Dobes has a 5-4-0 record and 3.27 goals-against average at home this season.

Spencer Knight made 24 saves on Tuesday for the Blackhawks and has yielded 12 goals while losing three consecutive road starts. Meanwhile, backup Arvid Soderblom sports a hefty 5.81 GAA during his four-start losing streak that began Nov. 21.

In addition to Nazar's struggles, Chicago veteran Tyler Bertuzzi has failed to record a point in three straight contests. He does have three goals with three assists in his last eight games versus Montreal.

Talented Blackhawks defenseman Artyom Levshunov, among the team's top performers with 14 points in 31 games, could be back in the lineup after he was a healthy scratch for, reportedly, arriving late to a recent practice.

Meanwhile, veteran Canadiens blueliner Mike Matheson could miss a second straight contest due to an upper-body injury.

Suzuki has seven points in 10 career games versus Chicago, but none have come in the five meetings he has played at home.

--Field Level Media