Preds Edge Hawks 4-3 in Tough Home Loss

The Chicago Blackhawks dropped their fifth straight game on Friday, falling 4-3 to the Nashville Predators at United Center. Chicago opened the scoring with Ryan Donato’s goal late in the first period and kept it close with tallies from Ryan Greene and Teuvo Teravainen, but a three-goal second period from Nashville made the difference.

Despite pushing late, the Hawks couldn’t find the equalizer and now sit at 10-9-5 as the skid reaches five games.

GAME SUMMARY

The Chicago Blackhawks dropped their fifth straight game on Friday, falling 4-3 to the Nashville Predators at United Center. Chicago opened the scoring late in the first period, but a three-goal push from Nashville in the second frame turned the game around and forced the Hawks to chase the rest of the night.

Ryan Donato got Chicago on the board at 19:10 of the first, taking a stretch pass from Sam Rinzel and beating Juuse Saros with a clean wrist shot from the left circle. The Hawks went into the intermission up 1-0, but momentum didn’t carry over.

Nashville stormed back early in the second. Matthew Wood tied it on a break at 1:46, Steven Stamkos made it 2-1 with a backhanded tip at 7:18, and Luke Evangelista restored the lead at 16:27 after Chicago had tied it on Ryan Greene’s power-play goal. Greene buried a quick pass from Oliver Moore in front to make it 2-2, but the Predators regained control just over a minute later.

The Predators stretched the lead to 4-2 early in the third when Ryan O’Reilly finished off a feed from Evangelista in the slot at 7:15. Teuvo Teravainen responded at 10:28, jumping on a loose puck off the end boards from Wyatt Kaiser and sliding it into an open net to bring Chicago within one.

Despite a late push, the Blackhawks couldn’t find the tying goal. Arvid Soderblom finished with 23 saves, while Saros stopped 26 shots for Nashville.

The loss drops Chicago to 10-9-5 and extends their losing streak to five games. After two strong performances earlier in the week that didn’t result in wins, this was a step back.

Postgame, head coach Jeff Blashill didn’t sugarcoat the effort:

“I didn’t think we were very good, honestly… maybe the first few minutes were all right and then I didn’t think we were good enough the rest of the way.”

Andre Burakovsky, who returned from injury, echoed the frustration:

“We just made it hard for ourselves. Nashville is a team that we should and can beat. We just mentally didn’t want it enough today.”

Blashill added that the team’s confidence is shaken after five losses in a row, and the challenge now is mental:

“Only the most mentally tough survive this league, so we’re going to have to be mentally tough and dig in.”

Chicago will need exactly that as they look to stop the slide and regain their structure heading into their next game.

BOOM BOOM BOOM pic.twitter.com/hoauy6joVh
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 29, 2025

Notes:

Chicago scored the first goal for the 17th time in 24 games this season. Despite that strong trend, the Hawks couldn’t convert the early lead into a win.

Andre Burakovsky returned to the lineup after missing three games and picked up an assist on Ryan Donato’s opening goal.

Connor Bedard was held without a point, marking only his 8th game this season where he didn’t register on the scoresheet.

Frank Nazar remains without a goal in his last 12 games, though he added an assist on Teuvo Teravainen’s third-period tally.

Arvid Soderblom has allowed 13 goals over his last two starts, with a 6.50 GAA and an SV% .786

GAME STATS

Category	Blackhawks	Predators
Final Score	3	4
Shots on Goal	27	29
Faceoff %	37.1% (23/62)	62.9% (39/62)
Power Play	1/4 (25%)	0/2 (0%)
Penalty Minutes	6	10
Hits	15	21
Blocked Shots	13	20
Giveaways	16	11
Takeaways	4	6

Three Stars of the Game

1️⃣ Steven Stamkos (NSH) G: 1 • A: 1 • P: 2

2️⃣ Ryan O’Reilly (NSH) G: 1 • A: 1 • P: 2

3️⃣ Luke Evangelista (NSH) G: 1 • A: 1 • P: 2

My Takeaway

This game showed exactly why the Blackhawks are still a fragile team and very much in the middle of a rebuild. When Jeff Blashill talked about being “mentally tough,” he was right on point. Chicago is the third-youngest team in the NHL with an average age of 26.17, and last night they played with nine players who are 23 years old or younger. This league is ruthless. If you’re not ready from the first shift, any team can beat you.

After two solid games against two of the best teams in the NHL, the Blackhawks simply weren’t ready to battle Nashville. Too many mental mistakes. Too many awareness mistakes. Their structure — normally one of their strengths — wasn’t there.

And every night in the NHL, you need your goalie to keep you in the fight, make the key saves, and calm the game down. In his last two starts, Soderblom has struggled., but he’s not alone. Too many players didn’t bring their A-game, and when you don’t have your A-game, you need your B or your C. Last night, Chicago didn’t have any of them.

To become a good team in this league, you need maturity, and that part of the identity is still missing. Without Nick Foligno, the Blackhawks don’t have enough toughness or presence to take control of a game. That’s something Kyle Davidson will need to address in the coming months and for next season. They need to get bigger, stronger, and harder to play against. When Nashville pushed, Chicago didn’t push back enough. At home, especially at the United Center, you need to make teams uncomfortable. That’s part of building an identity.

The five-game losing streak doesn’t tell the whole story. Only the loss in Buffalo was truly bad. In the others, they were in every game and trying to win. This is part of the learning curve — their first real slump of the season — and now it’s on Blashill to keep his group focused and together.

The challenge is depth. With no extra forwards and limited options, many players don’t feel pressure for their roster spot. It may be time to go back to 12 forwards and 6 defensemen, call someone up, or bring in another body to shake things up.

In moments like this, mindset becomes more important than X’s and O’s. A young team needs its veterans to keep the room positive. You need fun, hard work, enthusiasm, and the right attitude every day. A coach’s toughest job is keeping the group confident during a slump.

The season is a marathon. One day at a time. One game at a time.

If the Blackhawks can grow, become more mature, protect leads, simplify their game, and get solid goaltending, they will win a lot more games. Blashill knows that. Now it’s about pushing this group through the hard moments — because that’s how a rebuilding team becomes a competitive team.

Next Game

The Blackhawks continue their homestand on Sunday, November 30, when they face the Anaheim Ducks at 2:30 PM CDT. After five straight losses, Chicago will look to respond, clean up their structure, and bring a stronger effort against another young team trying to build its identity. This is their final game of the month of November, where they currently hold a 5-5-3 record.