TAKEAWAYS: Blackhawks Fall Flat in Columbus

It was a forgetful night in Columbus for the Blackhawks on Wednesday, falling 7-3 to the Columbus Blue Jackets in a game that got lopsided quickly in Ohio.

Columbus raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first 13 minutes of the game before Connor Bedard got Chicago on the board ahead of the first intermission. But a four-goal middle frame from the Blue Jackets put the game out of reach for good with a 7-1 score after 40 minutes.

“That's not a fun one, that's for sure,” head coach Luke Richardson said after the game. “I thought for whatever reason, we just didn't move our feet well early in the game and they were motivated to do that. A couple of weird bounces on the goals that didn't help either in the first period. But you know, the second period, there's really no excuse for that. I think we collapsed and we started chasing around and on the wrong side of the puck, and pretty much everything that we were not supposed to do, we kind of fell into the trap of doing.”

Richardson added that he was encouraged by a two-goal third period from his squad with tallies from Jason Dickinson and Reese Johnson.

“It's the first step of what we (coaches) said that we have to get back to, how we're going to play and, you know, we're never happy with that but we were happy to see that they didn't just lie down in the third period.”

Taylor Hall did not travel with the team to Columbus and Corey Perry was a late healthy scratch from the lineup -- an “organizational decision” according to Richardson -- leaving the Blackhawks to play with 11 forwards and seven defensemen on the night.

“We were 11 and seven and we just didn't get the job done really plain and simple,” Richardson added.

BEDARD HITS DOUBLE DIGITS

The lone highlight of the night for Chicago was another highlight-reel goal from Connor Bedard, his tenth tally just 17 games into his rookie season -- tied for the third fastest among 18 year olds in NHL history.