Undisciplined Blackhawks drop heartbreaker to Canadiens in home opener

Connor Bedard has insisted the Blackhawks are ‘‘not going to take any [expletive]’’ this season.

In their 3-2 loss to the Canadiens in their home opener Saturday, Bedard and his teammates backed up his words with actions — for better or worse.

The Hawks let no hits or transgressions against them go unpunished, bringing the intensity of a playoff game in April to October. During the second period, in particular, almost every stoppage preceded at least a scrum, if not a full-fledged brawl.

The side effect of that mentality, however, was a parade to the penalty box. The Canadiens enjoyed a whopping 10 power plays — several of which were caused by excessive Hawks aggression, although another four were tripping calls of a more conventional variety.

It was the most power plays the Hawks have given an opponent since November 2008. Finding the balance between toughness and discipline will have to be a priority moving forward.

Coach Jeff Blashill struck a relatively positive tone about the penalty barrage, though.

‘‘We have to make sure we control what we can control — where our stick position is, those types of things,’’ Blashill said. ‘‘But we’ll never be a team that goes down light. I thought it was a night where it paid to be light a little bit.

‘‘I thought there were probably some [plays] that, had we gone down light, maybe we attract attention and get the call. But that’s not what this team is going to be about.’’

The Hawks’ penalty kill held up fairly well, killing eight of the 10, and goals by Bedard and Sam Rinzel (his first in the NHL) had the team tied 2-2 at the second intermission for the third consecutive game.

But the Hawks ultimately suffered a third close loss in a row, this one in heartbreaking fashion. Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle finished a chaotic last-minute shift by throwing a puck toward the net that went in with 15 seconds left.

‘‘The mindset in here has to be, ‘Be comfortable in uncomfortable situations,’ ’’ captain Nick Foligno said. ‘‘We’re going to be in a lot of these games this year. We’re going to have to find a way to have our details [to] allow us to get the win [and] not have it go the other way.”

Welcome back

The Hawks held the first celebration of their centennial season before the game, revving up a crowd of 19,344 at the United Center.

Beloved former broadcaster Pat Foley gave a quick speech going over the last 100 years of franchise history and the schedule for this season while 60 player alumni — from the 1960s to now — stood on the ice.

Foley and Jeremy Roenick also were named new ambassadors, joining Chris Chelios, Troy Murray and Denis Savard as official Hawks representatives at fan and community engagements.

Murray, who has been battling cancer since 2021, hasn’t been healthy enough to attend the Hawks’ first three games of the season, and Foley choked up when calling for fans to keep him in their thoughts.

No Arty

Young defenseman Artyom Levshunov was a healthy scratch after his gaffe Thursday in Boston, but Blashill portrayed it as not a big deal.

‘‘I don’t think development is you just play and magically get better,’’ Blashill said. ‘‘Certainly, playing is part [of it], but you have to have confidence. Learning how to do things a certain way is part of it, too. . . . We feel the best place for him to be is with us right now. He’s going to play plenty of games, and there are going to be some games he doesn’t play.’’