Connor Bedard resumes skating as head coach Jeff Blashill defends Blackhawks’ desire to improve

Head coach Jeff Blashill didn’t give the Blackhawks an uplifting speech after their blowout loss Sunday to the Penguins as a matter of calculated strategy.

Instead, it poured out of him genuinely. He told the Hawks he believes in them, believes they can battle through their current adversity and wants to get better together alongside them.

‘‘They want to be good, man,’’ Blashill explained Monday. ‘‘They want to come to work. They want to get better. There are zero excuses. Nobody’s pointing fingers. And when you go through tough times, it’s easy to point fingers.

‘‘It’s just a group I really enjoy being around because not [only are] they good people, but they’re really good competitors. And they’re guys who want to continue to improve here.’’

That affirmation was well-received by the players. They kind of needed to hear it after the 7-3 defeat, their 15th loss in their last 19 games. Those 19 games represent half their season to date, rendering their 10-5-4 start a distant memory.

‘‘It’s nice to have him show that support and have our back,’’ veteran forward Jason Dickinson said. ‘‘We have a coach that’s in our corner. He believes in us, and he’s not going to hang anybody out to dry.’’

There was finally a glimmer of good news Monday. Forward Connor Bedard skated before the official team practice, doing some light stickhandling but no shooting (per team orders).

It was the first time Bedard had been spotted on the ice since suffering a shoulder injury Dec. 12, although Blashill said it doesn’t change his rather unclear timeline to return. That timeline is supposed to become more certain over time.

Blashill also said forward Frank Nazar has progressed to chewing solid food, basically confirming he suffered a broken jaw Dec. 20.

In the meantime, Blashill shuffled all the forward lines again, including slotting defensively responsible veteran Teuvo Teravainen next to rookies Nick Lardis and Oliver Moore (who will get an opportunity at center). Fellow rookie Ryan Greene moved up to first-line center, and Dickinson returned to his usual checking-line center role.

During the Hawks’ 10-5-4 start, there was much talk in the locker room about how different things felt this season than in years past. Even now, Dickinson — always a source of wisdom — attests things still feel different.

‘‘The mood is OK,’’ Dickinson said. ‘‘Nobody’s over the moon with what’s going on, but there’s a lot of things that we like about ourselves and what we’re doing and what we’re bringing to the table. There’s something to be hopeful of and proud of that we can do some good things, and we just need to clean up some areas.

‘‘I feel confident about the direction and the teaching that’s happening amid all of it. We are still learning [from] the losses. . . . The things ‘Blash’ is preaching and talking about, those things resonate with me and sit well. I think if we keep hammering them away, we’ll get there.’’

Dickinson said he thinks the players on this ultra-young Hawks roster make essentially the same mistakes every NHL team makes, but they just make them more frequently and — because of inexperience — don’t know how to recover from them as smoothly.

He’s keeping in mind that accepting short-term pain in exchange for long-term gain is the Hawks’ organizational philosophy, even though it’s unclear whether he will be around for that long-term gain as a pending free agent.

‘‘We have so many young guys that haven’t learned that those things happen and how to ride the wave,’’ Dickinson said. ‘‘It comes with the timing . . . of when things start to come together. That’s where it matters. Learning it now — and learning the hard way — sucks. But there’s a lot of core guys in here that need to learn because, in the future, they’re going to be grateful for it.’’