There’s still no joy in Wrigleyville, at least where the Chicago Blackhawks are concerned.
The Hawks lost their fifth of five Winter Classics on Tuesday — and their second at Wrigley Field — suffering a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the St. Louis Blues. Another longtime rival, the Detroit Red Wings, had dealt the Hawks a 6-4 loss in the first Classic at Wrigley on Jan 1, 2009.
The four-goal margin Tuesday made for the Hawks’ worst-ever Winter Classic loss, topping a 4-1 loss at Busch Stadium on Jan. 2, 2017 — again to the Blues.
Hawks interim coach Anders Sorensen summed up his mood: “Yeah, sour. Yep.”
“Yeah, it sucks, man,” Connor Bedard said. “Forty-thousand people there, probably 30-plus thousand of our fans — you know, those tickets aren’t cheap for them to come and support us.
“I feel bad for our fan base coming out to this and we kind of lay an egg.”
It’s the Hawks’ second-worst loss in an outdoor game: Only a 6-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Feb 21, 2016, eclipsed it. They have played in five Winter Classic games — 2009, 2015, 2017, 2019 and now 2025 — plus Stadium Series outdoor games at Soldier Field in 2014 and Minnesota in 2016.
The start of Tuesday’s game took on the feel of 1924 rather than 2024, with Hawks players sauntering out of the Cubs dugout in vintage-brown leather gloves and Blues skaters zipping around the ice during warmups in cream-colored sweaters.
But the Hawks’ present-day problems ripped them right back into the here and now.
With the world watching the NHL’s midseason marketing showcase — 40,933 in attendance at the 110-year-old ballpark — the Hawks started off ice cold, quite fitting for the nippy outdoor rink, falling behind 2-0 to the Blues to start the Classic.
Young Hawks defensemen Louis Crevier and Nolan Allan committed delay of game and holding penalties, respectively, and the Blues didn’t waste those power plays.
Cam Fowler, the first player in NHL history to skate outdoors for his 1,000th career game, opened the scoring for the Blues less than two minutes into the game. He ripped a beauty down the slot and skated toward the glass on a one-legged celly, thrusting his arms upward. Pavel Buchnevich threaded the low-to-high setup past the Hawks’ Seth Jones for the assist.
Fowler became the league’s seventh player to score in the first 100 seconds of an outdoor game, according to NHL Stats.
On the second power play, Jordan Kyrou hit Petr Mrázek back door off Jake Neighbours’ feed. Chants of “Let’s go Blues!” rang out at Wrigley — and not of the Cubbie blue variety.
Two straight power-play goals were uncharacteristic of a Hawks penalty kill.
The Blues took a 7-1 shot-on-goal lead, but the Hawks clawed back.
Pat Maroon drew an interference penalty on Philip Broberg, setting up the Hawks’ first power play.
Ryan Donato blasted a shot down the middle that bounced to Taylor Hall, but he sent it back on the rope to put the Hawks on the board, 2-1. Hall was mobbed by teammates by the half-wall, but there were no fans to bang on the glass like there would’ve been at the United Center.
Early in the second period, on a Blues power play, Jason Dickinson set his sights on goalie Jordan Binnington on a short-handed breakaway but missed high and wide right.
As frustrating as that missed opportunity had to be, Justin Faulk’s snipe to make it 3-1 had to be even more agonizing: It came off a faceoff before the Hawks defense had a chance to get set.
Dylan Holloway scored to pad St. Louis’ lead, and Fowler’s goal with 2 minutes and 9 seconds left in the second period turned the game into an unsightly slaughter for such a scenic venue. It also made Fowler the first defenseman in NHL history to score twice in an outdoor game.
After the next faceoff, Nick Foligno started a fight with Brayden Schenn to juice up his team, then walked off to the dugout to applause as the second period was set to expire before his penalty for fighting did.
There’s no punching their way out of the mixed bag that has marked the Hawks’ recent malaise.
They’ve lost five straight games and the last three by four-goal margins. In some games, they’ve scored early, even first, but find themselves playing catch-up in the third period.
Tyler Bertuzzi temporarily made the score a more respectable 5-2 in the third, but Alexandre Texier flipped up a loose puck while Mrázek was occupied in traffic to make it 6-2.
NHL outdoor games can be a once-in-career experience for many players, and a Winter Classic in your backyard is a valuable milestone for a young franchise player like Bedard. But mementos only mean so much.
“It’s a special day,” Bedard said. “And how many teams are playing outdoors (this season) — four? So we’re fortunate to be one of those picked and we kind of get dog-walked there, and it’s frustrating, for sure.”
Here are five takeaways from the loss.
1. New Year’s resolution: No more Winter Classics for a while, please.
How much more national (international?) humiliation can Chicago take?
The world watched with mocking interest to see if the White Sox would slide to baseball’s worst-ever record. At 41-121, they did.
The Bears boggled minds by how they could let time run out of a potential game-winning drive against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving – and then the clock ran out on coach Matt Eberflus.
And then on New Year’s Eve, the Blues uncorked one of the worst whoopings in 16 editions of the Winter Classic. The four-goal margin was equaled only by the Montreal Canadiens’ 5-1 win over the Boston Bruins on Jan. 1, 2016.
It’s the kind of public undressing that might’ve warranted the same fate that befell Eberflus, but the Hawks already fired their head coach 13 games ago.
Column: Wrigley Field makes Winter Classic a must-see event — even with 2 must-miss teams
The Hawks are a wreck — and they might be for a little longer than initially imagined. Perhaps we all still have memories of Patrick Kane celebrations still dancing in our heads, but that recent past looks ever more distant now.
The rebuild the Hawks tried to put behind them this season is clinging to them like stubborn lint.
Reinforcements, in the form of free agents, haven’t panned out so far. And reinforcements for those reinforcements, in the form of prospects, may need a lot more time before they become meaningful contributors.
Bottom line, the Hawks aren’t ready for prime time, so stop casting them as a prime-time product.
Those are the type of teams that belong in a Winter Classic.
2. Are there depths to the Hawks’ losing?
In the Cubs clubhouse, which is swank in comparison to the Hawks locker room at the United Center, it felt like the players were having a therapy session.
Nick Foligno sounded just a bit more agitated than he does after a typical loss.
“Just unbelievable,” he said. “It’s just embarrassing to lose 6-2 in an environment like that at home. Our fans deserve better. It’s in this room to figure it out because that is three games in a row where it’s not good enough.
“I really wish I had an answer for you right now because on this stage, with the excitement that we had before the game, I thought this was going to be a turning point for our club. And obviously it wasn’t.”
Bedard sounded a little testy when asked if the Hawks’ lack competitiveness.
“I don’t think it’s competitive, man,” he said. We’re all NHL players. We all want to win. We’re all going out there and competing, and both teams are competing hard. It’s a good league. Everyone’s a great player to be playing here.
“I don’t want to say we’re not competing, because I think that’s a little disrespectful to the guys in here.”
Hall said he’d really been looking forward to this game.
A day before, he gushed about how great the old-school uniforms looked and the great job the NHL did dressing up the ballpark. He reminisced about how his dad built a 5-foot fence for a backyard rink, and how the outdoor rink at Wrigley took back to those days. And then the game itself smacked him like Zack Bolduc’s hit that knocked Hall upside down into the Blues bench.
“I’m shocked at how we played. It’s really disappointing,” he said. “For us to lay an egg like that, I’m really sad for the people that support us.”
He said the loss has to serve as a wake-up call.
“This is what happens in the NHL as the year goes on: teams — like they’re fighting for a playoff spot — are going to come and play well,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s an outdoor game or a national TV game or a Tuesday in Columbus — teams are going to play hard. We had no match for that tonight.”
3. Despite the cloud over the Hawks, they appreciated the atmosphere.
The Winter Classic didn’t lack for spectacle.
Hawks players arrived on the CTA Red Line – “Taking the train is fun,” Connor Murphy said – and they walked down Sheffield Ave. to the ballpark, skates slung over their shoulders and sporting “Team Chicago” apparel and patches of their various charities.
“On my hat, I have my daughter’s foundation (The Hearts Playbook) and on the backside, it’s actually my mom’s (Janice Foligno) Foundation,” Nick Foligno said. “It’s kind of special to be able to use this platform in a way to really show what matters to a lot of us.”
Connor Murphy honored police, firemen and emergency services workers with patches on his sleeve, and his charity — 100 Club Of Illinois — supports the families of fallen first responders.
“(It’s) just the sacrifice that they give for this city, and they don’t get a lot of accolades as they should,” he said.
It rained Tuesday until the early afternoon, but it was a crisp, clear 38-degree evening with nary a raindrop or snowflake in sight at puck drop.
Jim Cornelison sang the national anthem on top of the Cubs dugout. The Smashing Pumpkins mellowed us out and Chance the Rapper cranked us up.
Young hockey hopefuls skated in left field and partiers rang in New Year’s in right field, all while the main event carried on in the infield.
Next to the old-timey fonts used for the game score, the video board showed celebrity guests like Bill Murray, Jon Hamm and Derrick Rose.
Bedard, who played in his first NHL outdoor game, said, “I think warmups and when you’re walking out and the anthem’s going, that’s your time to take it all in.
“And once you’re playing, it’s a game of hockey, it’s just outside. It’s great. It was a very cool experience, something I’m grateful we got to do. But obviously right now it’s just frustration. And then a couple weeks, whatever, you look back and you look at maybe more of the event.”
4. It’s shocking how quickly things have turned for Sorensen.
The coach had a three-game winning streak, but that has been followed by a five-game losing streak that has looked progressively worse.
When he was asked about adversity snowballing on the Hawks, it was deja vu.
Former coach Luke Richardson faced the same question. Sorensen had a similar response: “We get a little passive when things happen to us. We play on the back of our heels instead of the front of our foot.”
The players know what to do – shoot, they repeat it during every other press conference – but they’re not carrying it over to the ice, certainly not consistently.
Does Sorensen need to do something drastic to cement his message?
“I think it’s a tough question right now,” he said. “You look at today, scoring chances are pretty even. The difference is they win the battles around the net, both nets. They won in front of our net, they won in front of their net. That’s really what it boils down to.
“If you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, the compete level around the nets are what it boils down to. (It’s) an area we have to focus on.”
5. Pat Maroon’s fine with his fine.
Maroon drew the penalty that preceded Hall’s power-play goal in the first period.
A day before, Maroon paid the price for his own infraction during Sunday’s loss to the Dallas Stars: He was fined $3,385.42 for elbowing forward Mavrik Bourque.
After Monday’s practice, Maroon said he didn’t even realize he was fined until general manager Kyle Davidson told him.
“Obviously, I got a little squirrely there for a second,” he told the Tribune. “I was really pissed off, but, I mean, I’ll accept it.
Bertuzzi was penalized, but not fined, for elbowing ex-Hawk Colin Blackwell in the head. Some thought Bertuzzi’s five-minute major and ejection was excessive.
“I think Bertuzzi’s was maybe – I don’t think it was intent to hurt, intent of injury, by any means. He was going in for a hit, and it looked like his hand hit him, not his elbow,” Maroon said. “But, listen, that’s not my call. That’s the judgment on the refs. And they saw what they saw, and they did what they needed to do.”
