The Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues have encountered hardship earlier than either would have hoped but will continue to work toward overcoming it when the rivals meet Tuesday night in Chicago’s home opener.
The Blackhawks have opened their season on a three-game losing streak that continued with a 4-3 defeat at Buffalo on Saturday.
Chicago grabbed a 2-0 lead on first-period goals from Ryan Donato and Tyler Bertuzzi before the Sabres tied it early in the second period. The Blackhawks’ Oliver Moore scored a go-ahead goal late in the second period before the advantage vanished in the third.
The one-goal loss followed defeats at Vegas and Utah by a combined score of 11-2.
“I thought our compete and our kind of swagger was way better,” Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said of the loss to the Sabres. “That’s more the standard that we want to play with. Obviously, you’re going to make mistakes, and you want to learn and grow, and that’s what we’ll focus on.”
St. Louis can attest. The Blues rolled past the Dallas Stars 4-0 in Friday’s season opener, fueled by a 25-save shutout from Joel Hofer and a Mason McTavish goal just 1:34 into his club debut.
One day later, the Colorado Avalanche humbled the visiting Blues 6-1 in Denver, tallying the first six goals before Dalibor Dvorsky scored at 2:34 of the third period for his second goal in as many games.
“We’re trying to become a consistent team in a lot of things that we want to be good at — aggression, taking away time and space — and we just didn’t accomplish that,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “So it starts with our preparation mentally, and that’s on everyone. Because the way (the Avalanche) started the game, the way we started the game, there was a significant difference.”
The Blues were outshot 36-26 in the defeat.
“Now, it’s early in the year, and you’re going to have a lot of inconsistency,” Montgomery said. “So now it’s up to us to be able to find it. We knew it was not going to be like Game 1 every night. I mean, that’s just not the way it goes for anyone in the NHL, but we’re playing some different style of game, and it’s going to take a little while there. But also it’s just the consistency.”
Tuesday marks the highly anticipated return of Blackhawks icon Patrick Kane, who helped guide the franchise to Stanley Cup championships in 2010, 2013 and 2015. He was traded to the New York Rangers during the 2022-23 campaign and spent the past three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings before signing a two-year contract with Chicago in the offseason.
“I know we haven’t started off great this year,” Kane said, “but there’s a lot of potential in the room. (We) could be a winning team here pretty soon.”
Anton Frondell and Alex Vlasic earned two assists each for the Blackhawks in the loss to the Sabres.
St. Louis forward Alexey Toropchenko (upper body) didn’t play Saturday after he was injured Friday.
The Blackhawks and Blues split four meetings last season, with each game decided in regulation.
