LAS VEGAS — Here are four takeaways from the Blackhawks' 4-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday:
1. Running out of answers
The Blackhawks are running out of ways to explain their slow starts and so are we. Eventually they're going to break through. But it hasn't happened yet, and for the ninth straight game they allowed the first goal.
Not only that, it was the sixth time over that stretch where they allowed the first goal within the first 2:11. Reilly Smith scored nine seconds into a Vegas power play at 1:28 to put his team up 1-0 and Deryk Engelland made it 2-0 at 8:14 when his shot from the point got past Corey Crawford, who was screened by Jonathan Toews.