Blackhawks focused on positives with Ducks up next

The Chicago Blackhawks carry a four-game losing streak into Thursday's meeting with the visiting Anaheim Ducks, but they have reason to be optimistic after nearly breaking out of their rut.

Chicago lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, in a sour but nonetheless welcome one-goal defeat following successive losses at Detroit, Winnipeg and Minnesota by a combined nine goals.

"Good spots and bad spots, right?" Blackhawks forward Nick Foligno said. "You saw when we had success what we were doing — we're playing fast, we're playing north, we were quick with our decisions and moving the puck. Teams can't react. We know how it feels when a team does it to us.

"So, when we do it, it's there. We just don't sustain it enough. Or we have these little breakdowns that cost us, right? It's frustrating because we have to clean that up."

Foligno tallied two goals and an assist for Chicago in the opener of a four-game homestand. Jason Dickinson also scored for the Blackhawks in regulation, while Connor Bedard, the top pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, scored on his first career shootout attempt.

While the Blackhawks' power-play struggles at home continued — 3-for-28 — defenseman Seth Jones provided a bright spot with a season-high two assists.

"Just trying to do what I can," Jones said. "We're playing a lot (in the defensive) zone as of late, so just trying to be solid there and help out on breakouts."

Anaheim has lost nine of its past 10 games with the latest defeat a 3-2 setback at Colorado on Tuesday.

Colorado surged to a 3-0 lead before the Ducks rallied in the third period, getting a short-handed goal from Sam Carrick and a power-play goal from 18-year-old rookie Leo Carlsson over a span of 3:28.

While Ducks coach Greg Cronin appreciated the spark, he also wondered of its whereabouts earlier in the night.

"We keep doing this. We wait to get behind. I don't know what's going on psychologically, but it's too late," said Cronin, in another blunt assessment of his team. "We keep doing it and everybody praises us for coming back, but to me it's just kind of silly hockey, right? Why isn't that there in the beginning of the game?"

Anaheim forward Max Jones (upper-body injury) left the game in the second period after delivering a big hit to Colorado's Bowen Byram, who also didn't return.

Carrick gave the short-handed Ducks life midway through the third, capitalizing on a neutral-zone turnover to convert a breakaway.

"I think it was probably a lucky break to get that breakaway there and to get a goal," Carrick said. "I think that's a huge morale boost, and all of a sudden it's a two-goal game. Everyone had some life and we were all feeling good, and there was that feeling that we can come back here, and just kind of ran out of time."

Thursday marks the first meeting of the season between the Blackhawks and Ducks, who aren't set to play again until March 12.

—Field Level Media