A Sunday matinee in Chicago ended with more frustration in a 4-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
The Canucks hit for three goals in the middle frame to take a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes.
Thatcher Demko made 25 saves in the win.
The Canucks improved to a gaudy 21-9-2.
Nick Foligno, who had a double for the Blackhawks, scored midway through the opening stanza for a 1-0 lead to Chicago.
Vancouver knotted it with a power play strike by Elias Pettersson at 18:15.
Chicago dropped to 9-20-1 off their fourth straight loss.
Foligno’s double came with 35 seconds gone in the middle frame to push the Blackhawks back in front, 2-1; the strike was off the power play.
“Forgive me, I hate moral victories,” Foligno said. “But with what we’re facing right now with the group we have with injuries, I’m proud of our guys for competing. That’s the standard — we talked about that — that’s bare minimum. And it gives yourself a chance to win every night. Arguably a better team we played tonight than Seattle (a 7-1 loss on Thursday), and we played a way better game and gave ourselves a chance to tie it at least. And we were up at certain points. So that’s got to be a resounding message in this room of how we have to play regardless of who’s in the lineup. That’s Chicago Blackhawks hockey and we have to get to it more.”
The Canucks then replied with their three-goal outburst to take the lead
“Obviously, we didn’t like our first [period],” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “The second I thought was our best period, so that was a good response. We talked about holding on to pucks, skating, just winning some battles. I thought in the first period, we were obviously sleepy. The second period was a big response that helped us win the game in that second period.”
Dakota Joshua started the rally at 3:04 off a tip in to tie the game, 2-2.
““’Dak,’ it was a nice job stopping in the slot,” Vancouver’s Conor Garland. said of the Joshua goal. “Brock’s was a rush, and there was a tip, too, a good tip by ‘Mik.’ But we also had a ton of guys in front. They just didn’t go in. We could have had a couple more, but when we’ve got [Demko], it’s tough to beat us when we put up four.”
Brock Boeser hit 41 seconds later for a 3-2 lead; he potted the marker on a odd man rush and kept the puck, opting to shoot himself.
Ilya Mikheyev struck at 15:41 of the second off another tip in for a 4-2 lead headed to the third period.
Chicago clawed their way back to within one at 4-3, with a goal from Cole Guttman 6:44 of the third period, but that was all the offense Chicago was capable of generating.
Petr Mrazek made 23 saves in the loss.
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