Blackhawks starving for offense from players other than Connor Bedard: 'We've got to help him'

DENVER — Connor Bedard generated plenty of offense Saturday for the Blackhawks. His teammates, yet again, did not.

Indeed, it was a similar story for the Hawks in their 3-1 loss to the Avalanche as in their 4-2 loss Thursday against the Predators.

Bedard has scored in both games and racked up eight shots on goal. Every other Hawk has combined for one goal and 30 shots over the two games.

"We've got to help him," captain Nick Foligno said Saturday. "[It] can't just be on Connor. He's doing his job. He's getting scoring chances. He's making plays. He could have had five [goals] tonight. So it's on the rest of us to pick it up and find a way to help him out, give him some run support."

Bedard's power-play snipe early in the first period held up for some time, but Cale Makar ultimately equalized for the Avalanche with eight seconds left in the second period, breaking through solid Hawks goalie Spencer Knight.

Gavin Brindley gave the hosts their first lead with 12:29 left and Makar added an empty-netter to improve the Avalanche's home record to a ridiculous 22-4-4.

The Hawks, meanwhile, are now 4-10-2 over their last 16 games (dating back to Jan. 9), and they've scored only 31 goals during that span — averaging less than two per game.

Bedard is undeniably doing his part since the Olympic break. In addition to the goal, he pushed through contact to get to the net more than usual Saturday, and he also got involved in skirmishes more than usual. The fire blazing underneath him isn't dying down.

The Hawks at least had one other line going Saturday, which is more than they could claim Thursday. Coach Jeff Blashill united the veteran trio of Jason Dickinson, Ilya Mikheyev and Tyler Bertuzzi to “tilt the ice” against the NHL’s top team, and they did just that. They were excellent in the first period especially.

But second-line center Frank Nazar, despite faster movement in transition Saturday, continues to generate less production than the Hawks desperately need him to.

The fourth line has generated very little all season long. Depth forwards Foligno, Colton Dach and Landon Slaggert have seven goals combined, and Ryan Donato has also struggled whenever demoted to that role (as he was Saturday).

First-line winger Andre Burakovsky, who clicked so seamlessly with Bedard early on this season, hasn’t looked any better exiting the break than he did entering it — even though he continues to have an avid defender in Blashill.

Blashill mentioned how Burakovsky led the team in scoring-chance differential against the Predators (according to the Hawks’ internal analytics). He stated Burakovsky will remain with Bedard on Sunday against the Mammoth as their road trip continues.

Blashill did agree with the basic sentiment about needing more depth scoring, though. He maligned some mishandled pucks that negated potential odd-man rushes.

Things might’ve played out differently had Dickinson converted — rather than hit the crossbar on — a breakaway 20 seconds in, as well. But the Avalanche’s shot advantage of 35-15 tells a fairly decisive tale.

“Against a high-powered team we did a good job bending but not breaking,” Blashill added. “We exited our zone cleaner out of ‘D’-zone, which is a positive. It’s just that we do [need to] find a way to produce more offense, more chances.

“Some of it comes down to execution. We’ve got offensive guys that can produce, but they’re probably not feeling it right now. So we’ve got to get their confidence going.”

It’s not surprising the Hawks lack sufficient offensive weapons at this stage of their rebuild, and top prospects Anton Frondell and Roman Kantserov’s imminent NHL arrivals should help address the problem. But the organization can’t expect them to be saviors.