Blackhawks Come Home 4-9-1 to Face Colorado on Monday, With the Breakout Under a Microscope
Chicago's road trip ended with another self-inflicted overtime loss at Boston. Monday's one-off home game against the Avalanche — 5-2 winners over Calgary on Saturday — is a hard test before three more on the road.
The Blackhawks' road nightmare followed them home. Chicago lost 5-4 in overtime at Boston on Saturday night — a game in which defenseman Wyatt Kaiser's flubbed breakout pass set up the Bruins' second goal — and returned to Chicago at 4-9-1, 31st in the NHL, with an 0-5-1 road record, according to Chicago Hockey Insider's report of the game read by this desk.
The loss was not for lack of top-end production. Connor Bedard scored and added an assist with six shots on goal, and Anton Frondell scored twice on nine shots. But Boston's Elias Lindholm won it in overtime, Charlie McAvoy added two assists, and the recurring theme held: self-inflicted mistakes wiping out the good stretches. Kaiser logged 22:57 in the game and sits at minus-8 through 14 games this season — a workload and a stat line that will both be watched closely on Monday.
Monday's visitor offers no relief. The Colorado Avalanche arrive at the United Center (7 p.m. CT, ESPN+ and CHSN+) off a 5-2 win over Calgary on Saturday in which Artturi Lehkonen scored twice and Cale Makar collected four assists, per NHL.com's recap. Colorado opens a two-game road trip in Chicago before playing the second half of a back-to-back on Tuesday — which means the Blackhawks will see a team playing its first of two games in two nights, not a tired one.
The structure of the week raises the stakes on Monday: it is a one-off home game, after which Chicago heads back out for three road games against Eastern Conference contenders. A win over Colorado would be the Blackhawks' first statement result of the season; another turnover-fed loss would confirm the pattern that has defined the first month.
