Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar didn\u2019t play in that matchup, but they were back for the Hawks in the rematch at PPG Paints Arena. It didn\u2019t make a difference.<\/p>\n
The Penguins score four times in the second period, quickly turning a tie game into a drubbing. The Hawks fell 6-2 for their fourth straight loss and seventh in nine games.<\/p>\n
This time, the Hawks struck first, with defenseman Connor Murphy scoring off a Ryan Greene pass at 9:32 of the first period. But Connor Dewar tied the game less than two minutes later, the first of six unanswered Penguins goals.<\/p>\n
Ben Kindel, Egor Chinakhov, Anthony Mantha and Ryan Shea led the second-period onslaught, and Dewar scored his second of the night at 13:59 of the third for a 6-1 Penguins lead.<\/p>\n
Bedard\u2019s 66th career goal \u2014 only his second in 10 games since returning from injury (the other was an empty-netter) \u2014 finished the scoring. He passed Eddie Olczyk for the most goals before turning 21 in Hawks history.<\/p>\n
While the Penguins (27-14-11) won their fifth straight to continue their unexpected turnaround under first-year coach Dan Muse, the Hawks (21-24-8) are headed in the opposite direction in Jeff Blashill\u2019s first season behind the bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think our compete level in the first was even to the level it was the other night, but then in the second, I just thought we didn\u2019t compete hard enough,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cWe just lost too many stick battles (and) just ended up defending way, way, way too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hawks were outscored 13-5 in the two losses the Penguins, who outshot the Hawks 44-20 on Thursday.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/CTC-Z-HAWKS-PENS_f8e68e.jpg\")
A shot by the Penguins’ Ben Kindel gets past Blackhawks goaltender Arvid S\u00f6derblom for a goal during the second period Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (Gene J. Puskar\/AP)<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we did play pretty well early on, tried to defend hard against them, they\u2019re really good off the rush and I think we did a good job in the first,\u201d defenseman Matt Grzelcyk said. \u201cThey got momentum there in the second about halfway through, and then we just fell off the rails it felt like.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hawks have lost in myriad ways in the last four games: A shootout, a blown lead and a pair of four-goal defeats have them in limbo as they inch closer to the Olympic break.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think anytime things go against you in the games and we\u2019re not performing, it\u2019s a character test for each one of us as a team and as an identity for our team to show that we can respond,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t respond tonight, period to period, so the test now is respond tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hawks have a quick turnaround, playing host to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday at the United Center, then have games Monday and Wednesday before three weeks off for the Winter Games. Perhaps the struggling young team needs some time away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there are a number of individuals who aren\u2019t feeling it right now, so that hurts your team\u2019s confidence because of the individual makeup of your players aren\u2019t as confident,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get some swagger back, but the only way to get that back is to earn it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t feel sorry for yourself. You got to earn that kind of swagger back (and) it starts by earning it individually as a guy and then kind of building it from the team perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Artyom Levshunov is one of the skaters who needs to find said swagger again. The defenseman found himself out of position all night, and the Levshunov-Wyatt Kaiser pairing was on the ice for five Penguins goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think he played good \u2026 he\u2019s got to rebound and play better tomorrow night,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cThat\u2019s part of the roller coaster that we expected to see from young defensemen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bedard\u2019s milestone goal was but a footnote on an otherwise dreary night for the Hawks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he had another night where he was really, really good,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cGood for him to get rewarded at the end, even though it was late in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 Those who live in Pittsburgh would tell you the city didn\u2019t put up much of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[29528,36573,73,75,74,1067],"class_list":["post-100463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-connor-bedard","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-penguins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}