Foligno, Chicago's de facto captain, helped get Chicago off to a rousing start. Then Vancouver took over and handed the Blackhawks their fourth straight loss and eighth in 10.
Nick Foligno led the Chicago Blackhawks out of the gate, to the front of the net — and with two goals – on Sunday against the Vancouver Canucks.
But by the end of the second period, Vancouver had wrested enough momentum from depleted Chicago to take charge. The Canucks held on for a 4-3 win after Elias Pettersson, Dakota Joshua, Brock Boeser and Ilya Mikheyev had scored to give them a two-goal lead after 40 minutes.
Chicago's Cole Guttman connected during a third-period power-play as the Blackhawks tried mount a comeback, but fell short and to 9-20-1.
NHL rookie scoring leader Connor Bedard, from North Vancouver, B.C., posted two assists against his hometown team to increase his point total to 26 (12 goals/14 assists) in his first 30 games.
"The first and third (periods) were good," Bedard said. "The second, they obviously had the puck the whole time, so that's frustrating."
Skating without their three busiest defensemen, the Blackhawks lost their fourth straight and for the eighth time in 10 (2-7-1) despite an improved effort. Seth Jones (IR, shoulder injury), Alex Vlasic (day-to-day, upper-body) and Kevin Korchinski (non roster, death in family) were all out of the lineup.
"I hate moral victories, but with what we're facing right now with the group we have for different reasons, I'm proud of our guys for competing," said Foligno, who recored his 22nd career multi-goal game. "That's the standard. That's bare minimum.
"And it gives yourself a chance to win every night, arguably against a better team tonight than we played in Seattle (7-1 loss on Thursday)," he added. "We played a way better game and gave ourselves a chance to tie it least."
Emotional Response
After attending the funeral of the rookie Korchinski's father, Larry, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on Friday, the Blackhawks hit the ice with energy and emotion.
"The best thing we can do is play with passion," said the 36-year-old Foligno, who has become the team' de facto captain.
The Blackhawks took the first 10 shots on goal. Foligno converted the 11th, jamming to the net and deflecting in Joey Anderson's feed across the crease at 9:59 of the first.
Pettersson tied at 1 with with a power-play goal on a one-timer from the right circle with 1:45 left in the period. He ripped J.T. Miller's cross-ice pass just inside the right post before Petr Mrazek could slide across just as a 5-on-3 Canucks advantage lapsed to a 5-on-4.
Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy hobbled off the ice after blocking a shot by Miller moments before Pettersson scored to tie it at 1. Murphy returned in the second.
Foligno put Chicago back ahead 2-1 on a power-play 35 seconds into the second with this second goal. Thatcher Demko made a pad save on Bedard's shot from the left circle, then Foligno stuffed in the rebound.
Then the kind of lapses that have plagued Chicago all season struck again. Joshua and Boeser connected 41 second apart to put Vancouver ahead 3-2.
Joshua tied at 3:04 on a nifty tip deflected of Conor Garland's shot from left wing. Boeser skated in and beat Mrazek under the glove on a wrister from the left circle at 3:45.
Mikheyev deflected in Tyler Myers' shot from the point with 3:19 left in the second to increase Vancouver's lead to 4-2.
Set up by Bedard, Guttman scored on the power-play 6:44 into the third period to re-ignite Chicago.
Injury List
The 6-foot-6 Vlasic, a plus-5 and averaging 20:06 of ice time on the NHL's worst team, was scratched before the game and is out day-to-day. The 22-year-old was hurt in Seattle on Thursday.
Anderson, a straight-line winger who has played well in 13 games since his recall from AHL Rockford, suffered an upper-body injury Sunday and sat out the third period. Coach Luke Richardson said Anderson would be re-evaluated on Monday.
The Blackhawks already knew Jones and Korchinski wouldn't be available for the contest.
The Hawks recalled D-man Wyatt Kaiser from Rockford on Saturday. The 21-year-old started the season with Chicago, but was sent down after 21 games after his performance and confidence slipped.
Forwards MacKenzie Entwistle (illness) and Colin Blackwell took the pregame skate, but didn't play.
Bedard Watch
Bedard got ample ice time in this one — a team-leading 23:16— being double-shifted late as the Blackhawks tried to tie it.
The 18-year-old finished with five shots on goal to bring his total to 94, most among rookies. He missed the net on two other attempts.
On the Plus Side
After Sunday's game, linemates Foligno, Anderson and Jason Dickinson were the only three Blackhawks forwards with plus-ratings.
Foligno was plus-1, Dickinson was plus-3 and Anderson was plus-5, all on a team that had scored 70 goals and allowed 109. Only San Jose, at minus-54, had a worse goal differential.