The Chicago Blackhawks skated in their alternate black sweaters for the first time since the 2008-09 season on Friday. Goaltender Arvid Söderblom led the team onto the ice and fans cheered on for the first of the blackout-themed games.
The puck dropped, but the Hawks seemed to forget to turn the lights back on.
The Nashville Predators scored three goals in the second period, snatched the crowd’s energy and owned a night that should have belonged to the home team. Hawks fans left the United Center deflated — and freezing — after their team’s worst loss of the season.
The Hawks (10-9-5) fell to the Predators 4-3 on Black Friday. They are winless in their past five games (0-4-1) and have lost eight of their last nine to Nashville.
“I didn’t think we were very good, honestly,” Hawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “We played two pretty good games in a row and didn’t win, but you keep repeating that and you’ll get results.
“The first few minutes of the game were all right and then I didn’t think we were good enough the rest of the way.”
Photos: Chicago Blackhawks lose 4-3 to the Nashville Predators at the United Center
Ryan Donato launched a snipe at 19:10 in the first to keep the Hawks from going empty-handed in the period. It wasn’t a stellar start, but the goal gave the initial feeling that they could put those 20 minutes behind them.
The Predators (8-12-4), who flew in with the fewest points in the NHL, had other ideas. Goals by right winger Matthew Wood (1:46) and center Steven Stamkos (7:18) put the Preds up 2-1 early in the second.
Ryan Greene, who has had many scoring chances in his past few games on the top line, finally sounded the horn. Oliver Moore passed him the puck from behind the net and the forward scored a power-play goal at 15:14 in the second.
“There are still some that I feel like I need to score on, (and) that’s something I’m trying to work on,” Greene said. “It felt pretty good to see one go in.”
Added Blashill: “(Greene’s) playing really good, he’s just a little snakebit. If he finishes on some of those, he’s probably one of the top three stars of the week. He’s had a lot of opportunities.”
Just 73 seconds after Greene’s tying goal, right winger Luke Evangelista sent a shot past a lurking Alex Vlasic to put the Predators up for good. He had two points and a plus-3 rating on the night.
“A lot of mistakes, giving up a lot of chances, (and) they take the momentum and wear us out,” forward André Burakovsky said. “I don’t think we came up with an answer.”
Burakovsky returned to the lineup after missing three games with an undisclosed injury. He had an assist on Donato’s first-period goal and 18:51 of ice time.
“I think the last few games, we played great and we didn’t get the win,” Burakovsky said. “Today, we just made it hard for ourselves.
“Nashville is a team that we should and can beat. We mentally didn’t want it enough today, I guess.”
Predators assistant coach Luke Richardson returned to the United Center for the first time since taking his current position. He went 57-118-15 in his short tenure as the Hawks head coach from 2022-24, but was involved in the first steps of developing Connor Bedard as a rookie.
The Hawks let a get-right game slip away on a night where everything pointed to their advantage. Their next five games (Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings twice, Vegas Golden Knights) are against teams currently in the playoff field, so the Hawks must get back on track to prevent spiraling to the bottom of the standings.
“(We’re) doing a number of those on the road after Sunday, so we have to go and play great hockey,” Blashill said. “The thing that’s encouraging is when we play great hockey, I’ll match us up with anybody.
“You can’t play OK hockey as we’re heading into this stretch, so we’re going to have to be better.”