For the first time during the 2025-26 season, the Chicago Blackhawks are in the middle of a 0-3-0 stretch. Losing three regulation games in a row is never a good thing in the NHL, but now the focus has to become finding a way out of the slump. A lot has happened during that three-game sample. The first game was a loss to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night. Chicago had a 2-0 lead but allowed the Kraken to win it in regulation, 3-2. The middle game on Friday, the second half of a back-to-back, was a 9-3 clobbering at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres. This, the one road game during this losing streak, was Chicago's worst game of the year. The third of three straight losses came on Sunday night against the Colorado Avalanche at the United Center. This was a 1-0 win for the Avalanche. Despite being shut out, the team and head coach believed that they bounced back nicely following the bad game against the Sabres two nights prior. "Even with the second, I think if we repeat that performance, we win lots of games," said head coach Jeff Blashill. "The other team is going to push back. That's just the reality of life. I thought we did an excellent job in our structure [and] an excellent job with some of the things we talked about that we didn't do in Buffalo." Now, at 10-8-4, they are below the playoff line, but they are mixed in with all of the other bubble teams trying to find a way into the top-8. These are 5 thoughts following this 0-3-0 stretch ahead of their game against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night: 1. Connor Bedard is incredibly important to the Chicago Blackhawks organization both on and off the ice. Every other fan in the crowd is wearing a #98 jersey, and he is their best player in between the whistles by far. They gave him an "A" when Nick Foligno and Jason Dickinson were out of the lineup at the same time, and didn't take it away when Dickinson came back. Jeff Blashill also publicly disagreed with the referees after the game on Thursday against the Kraken. Although Bedard doesn't want to be showing up referees during the play, Blashill made it clear he was on his player's side. With this new leadership role and his newfound elite scoring touch, the pressure is on Team Canada to select Bedard for the 2026 Winter Olympics. The Blackhawks are doing everything they can to help him on that journey. 2. Ilya Mikheyev is one of the top penalty killers in the league. He helps them score a handful of goals at even strength, along with his work in the defensive zone, but his work on the PK is second to none. There are a few players on the team who have skillsets made for killing penalties, but everything is led by the play of Mikheyev in this situation. The Blackhawks have an 83.3 kill percentage, which is a unit that has been consistently in the top-10 all season long. 3. Nick Lardis is a high-end prospect. While playing with the Rockford IceHogs this weekend, Lardis scored four goals in two games played. This isn't something that directly impacted results for Chicago, as he is still working up to his NHL debut, but he is proving over and over again that he deserves his chance soon. The Blackhawks have not been without injuries to forwards this season, and Lardis has the pedigree to make him a "next man up" candidate. If Lardis continues to make plays and score goals, he may force Kyle Davidson's hand regardless of whether there is an injury or not. 4. Ryan Greene has had a good stretch of play. With the injuries that the Blackhawks have had this year, Greene has been given opportunities up and down the lineup. So far this season, Greene has just two goals and four assists, but his play with and without the puck is helping everyone around him be better. Once he starts finishing a tad bit more, he will be a valuable depth piece on a winning team. Against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday, Greene had a handful of high-quality chances to score in the first period alone. Eventually, those will start going in more. Throughout his development, he has never sacrificed playing the right way for offense. If he keeps that mentality, he will carve out a great career. 5. Early in the season, it seemed like the Blackhawks would eventually have to stop going with the 11/7 strategy. There have been multiple times where a forward gets hurt, and the Blackhawks are down to 10, but the benefit this has on the defense can't be overstated. Outside of Matt Grzelcyk and Connor Murphy, all of the Blackhawks' defensemen are young. Having more options allows Jeff Blashill to be easier on them with their ice time. If someone is having a tough stretch, they can play in a smaller role. If someone is playing well, they can earn minutes. There is still an outside chance that they move to 12/6 full-time this year, but Ethan Del Mastro, Nolan Allan, and Kevin Korchinski are all down in Rockford as well. The 11/7 strategy may be beneficial to them if they get called up at any point down the stretch. As long as whoever is playing continues trending up, Blashill will keep it going. Image [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/a7bc0f21-2d6c-4f2c-b558-8e7d1dc97016.jpeg] Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/] team site to stay updated on the latest news [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/latest-newshttps://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/latest-news], game-day [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/game-dayhttps://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/game-day] coverage, player features [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/playershttps://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/players], and more. 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