The Blackhawks have played four sets of back-to-back games this season, and the second halves of them have been nothing short of disastrous each time.
A 7-3 loss Sunday to the Penguins added another data point to the sample.
‘‘It was a night their chances went in in the first [period], and our chances didn’t,’’ head coach Jeff Blashill said. ‘‘Then you’re just digging yourself out of a hole that’s difficult to dig out of.
‘‘We probably had more quality chances than we did last night [in Dallas], especially in that first part [of the game]. We probably gave up similar stuff. Theirs went in, and ours didn’t. That’s hockey.’’
The Hawks previously had lost 9-3 to the Sabres, 7-1 to the Ducks and 4-0 to the Red Wings in these situations, adding up to a combined score of 27-7 against them when they’ve played the night before.
To put that into context, NHL teams have scored seven or more goals in 3.1% of games this season overall, but they’ve done so in 75% of games against the Hawks on a back-to-back. Granted, back-to-backs are known to be disadvantageous, but this degree of ineptitude isn’t normal.
The Hawks will face back-to-back sets each of the next two weekends and another six times after that, so they’re not about to escape this problem anytime soon. They simply will have to find a solution if they don’t want to add eight more guaranteed losses to their record.
‘‘We’ve definitely got to look into it and try to figure it out,’’ defenseman Wyatt Kaiser said. ‘‘Maybe it’s [because we’re] a young group. We’re trying to figure it out. Tired legs? Mentally fatigued?’’
Blashill said this loss felt different than those to the Sabres and Ducks because the scoring-chance distribution didn’t mirror the score. Indeed, the Hawks were credited with a 37-18 advantage in chances by Natural Stat Trick’s public models. But the results were the results.
The Penguins chased Hawks goalie Spencer Knight with four goals in the first 12 minutes, then beat backup Arvid Soderblom three more times in the second period, prompting Blashill to reinsert Knight — the more rested of the two — for the third period with the game out of reach.
Rust scores his second of the period. Knight hasn’t been sharp, to say the least pic.twitter.com/qxfKQ4fCts
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) December 29, 2025
The Hawks certainly didn’t have luck on their side, hitting the post three times while the Penguins capitalized on fortunate bounces on a couple of their goals. But the Hawks can’t claim they’re getting routinely unlucky, given that they still have the fifth-fewest shots off posts or crossbars (31) in the league.
Justin Brazeau notched his first career hat trick and Bryan Rust added two goals for the Penguins, who recently had squandered several big leads but managed to maintain control of this one.
A bit of doubt briefly might have crept into the Penguins’ minds when Nick Foligno — returning from injury for the Hawks — cut the deficit to 4-1 halfway through the second period, but then another too-many-men penalty against the Hawks led to a Penguins power-play goal that squashed any hopes of a comeback.
The Hawks announced another sellout crowd of 20,173 at the United Center. It was their third consecutive home game with more than 20,000 in the building, but it was also their third consecutive home loss.
‘‘We’re going through a hard stretch right now, but I really like this group,’’ Blashill said. ‘‘I like who they are as people. I like who they are as competitors. I like who they are as hockey players. And I like the potential in the group, even for the rest of this season.
‘‘We’ve got to grind through this. Is this what any of us wants to go through? No. But that’s life.’’