Blackhawks aim to stop lengthy road skid at Predators

 

[January 02, 2024]  With the new year comes a new chance for the Chicago Blackhawks to conquer an old nemesis.

Winning games away from the United Center.

Chicago enters Tuesday's visit to the Nashville Predators on an 11-game road losing streak, a slide that continued Sunday with the most lopsided result during the skid, an 8-1 defeat in Dallas.

"I get where we are, the group we are," Chicago's Nick Foligno said of the young team. "But we can't accept it, and that's what we have to get hammered through our heads in this room: We're going to have to fight tooth-and-nail to get respect.

"It just seemed like we were starstruck again, and then we started getting away from what makes us successful. That's just disappointing."

The Blackhawks trailed 5-0 before Philipp Kurashev scored on the power play 39 seconds into the third period. Fueled by a hat trick and assist from Mason Marchment and a three-point effort from Tyler Seguin, the Stars responded to finish the rout, which came two nights after an overtime victory against Chicago.

Blackhawks forward Anthony Beauvillier admitted it was "hard to find some positives" about Sunday.

"It's tough to explain. It seemed like every mistake was going in tonight, and couldn't stop the bleeding," he said. "Losing games is one thing, but I feel like we need to be connected and keep working. It's a bad feeling losing a game like that."

Chicago is seeking its first road victory since Nov. 9 at Tampa Bay.

The Predators earned a shootout victory at Chicago on Dec. 5 and can secure the season series with the Blackhawks by winning Tuesday.

Nashville snapped a three-game losing streak with a 3-2 shootout victory at Washington on Saturday. Rookie goaltender Yaroslav Askarov earned his first victory in his second start by stopping 27 shots, including a pair in overtime.

"It's the best feeling. It's crazy," Askarov said. "The game only finish now, and I need more time to just think about it."

Luke Evangelista and Roman Josi scored to help the Predators split a back-to-back that began with an overtime loss in Detroit on Friday. Both Nashville goals came in the first period, with Josi's tally matching Shea Weber for the most goals in franchise history by a defenseman, 166.

The Predators were unable to mount much of an attack after that but prevailed behind shootout goals from Gustav Nyquist and Ryan O'Reilly.

"I thought the first 10 minutes were really good, then we started getting back to some of the things that make us unsuccessful," Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. "But we self-corrected after the first and I thought the last two periods we played our game."

Nashville has lost three straight at home since defeating Washington 3-1 on Dec. 16.

Chicago forward Tyler Johnson left Sunday's game with an undisclosed injury and was set for further evaluation.

The Predators handed the Blackhawks the second straight road loss of their current slide with a 4-2 victory on Nov. 18.

--Field Level Media

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