Blackhawks, Connor Bedard Flat In 2-0 Loss To Senators

The Chicago Blackhawks were looking for a second straight strong start and a third straight win in Ottawa on Thursday night.

They got neither in a 2-0 loss to the Senators, who won their fourth in a row overall and beat the Blackhawks for first time December 2016.

Chicago was shut out for a league-high 12th time this season. The Blackhawks started to come on in the third period, but couldn't beat Anton Forsberg with any of 19 shots.

Claude Giroux scored a short-handed goal 36 seconds into the first period. Then Parker Kelly connected just under 6 minutes later to give the Senators a quick 2-0 lead. The Blackhawks went on to play sluggishly throughout the first period as they were outshot 16-7 in the opening frame.

The early goals were all Forsberg, a former Blackhawk, needed for his second shutout this season and fifth of his career. The Senators squared their season series with Chicago at one win for each team.

NHL leading rookie scorer Connor Bedard and linemate Philipp Kurashev were both a minus-2 in this one — and it was no accident. Bedard dropped to a minus-39 and Kurashev to minus-40 on the season.

Bedard was held to two shots on goal and attempted three more.

Petr Mrazek, who played his junior hockey in Ottawa, and made 32 saves to keep it close.The Sens shot wide of an empty net twice in the final minutes.

Coach Luke Richardson may need to bag skate his team again. 

He finished Monday's practice with puck-less line sprints and sideboards, then the Blackhawks responded with solid first period in a 3-1 win over Calgary on Tuesday.

Richardson also called out his players in Thursday's morning skate in Ottawa after he thought they weren't focused.

"It was probably the complete opposite of our first period against Calgary," Richardson said. "Credit to Ottawa. They outskated us and outworked us and they were the team that played and traveled last night and we just didn't match that. I just thought they had a little more determination than we did tonight.

"We gotta' make sure we're ready to play. There's too many games when we're not ready to start the game." See following video.

Richardson returned to his hometown for the first time since the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame announced the former rugged defenseman would be inducted on May 28. Richardson played 21 seasons in the NHL after the Toronto Maple Leafs drafted him seventh overall in 1987.

The Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame's 2024 class also includes Mike Bullard, who scored 51 goals with Pittsburgh in 1983-84, and three others.

Giroux helped create, then scored his 20th goal 36 seconds in, pouncing on a lazy, botched zone entry attempt by Chicago. 

Bedard got over the Ottawa line and dished to Tyler Johnson who was knocked off the puck instantly on right boards. Giroux then poked the puck past Seth Jones.

Giroux and Jacob Bernard-Docker skated back against Jones and Nick Foligno. Giroux took Bernard-Docker's feed and ripped in a shot from the slot.

Kelly scored from a sharp angle at 6:08 to make it 2-0 after picking up Bedard's weak clearing attempt near the Chicago blue line. Kelly drifted down the left boards and connected when his shot toward the next deflected in off Nikita Zaitsev's leg. 

Zaitsev left the game was an undisclosed injury and/or illness and didn't return.