The Chicago Blackhawks played the Philadelphia Flyers fairly closely, even if it didn’t show on the scoresheet in Wednesday’s 3-1 loss at the United Center.
That’s the last thing the Hawks want to hear.
“It’s disappointing,” said Colin Blackwell, who scored the Hawks’ lone goal. “We had some opportunities. Ultimately, it came down to (the fact) they outworked us in some of the different aspects of the game. I thought it was up for grabs for a little bit.”
Present on Blackwell’s mind is that, 57 games into the season, the Hawks have strung consecutive wins only once.
“For me — I hope the other guys feel the same way too — it’s frustrating,” he said. “Just doing the little things, being able to get the ship moving in the right direction.
“You can only say so many times that you’re close. It’s been close for a long time now.”
The Hawks started the game with bad luck, courtesy of some friendly fire. Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim opened the scoring with a wrister that deflected off Alex Vlasic’s stick.
Blackwell answered about a minute later with a beauty of a toe drag goal.
In the second period, a tight game got away from the Hawks thanks to a couple of miscues. Travis Konecny turnstiled Jarred Tinordi before ripping a shot past Arvid Söderblom to extend his point streak to seven games.
“(Isaak Phillips) probably could have helped Tinordi a little bit on that Konecny rush goal,” coach Luke Richardson said. “But we’re trying to harp on our defense to stay on their sides, but there’s just plays that you have to learn how to read on the fly.”
