The Chicago Blackhawks are limping to the finish line after showing few positive signs in their third season since selecting superstar center Connor Bedard first overall in the 2023 NHL Draft.

Heading into their matchup on Sunday against the New Jersey Devils in Newark, N.J., the Blackhawks have been outscored 11-2 in back-to-back losses to the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers, keeping them last in the Central Division.

The Flyers are three points out of an Eastern Conference wild-card spot entering play Sunday. The Rangers were the first conference team eliminated from postseason contention when they lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday, two days before they beat the visiting Blackhawks 6-1 to end a six-game losing streak.

Chicago (27-33-13, 67 points) had seven rookies in the lineup against the Rangers.

“We have a whole bunch of guys going through the NHL schedule for the first time, much less this condensed schedule,” Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “It’s a hard challenge for a group that’s as young as we are, but we’ve got to respond to the challenge. We’ve got to take these opportunities to grow and get better.”

The losses to the Flyers and Rangers came on back-to-back nights, the third time since March 8 that the Blackhawks played on consecutive days.

Blashill said fatigue has become a factor.

“You can kind of tell when teams are in a grind a little bit, but I think right now everybody is,” Blashill said. “Part of fatigue is learning how to play smart. We just got to learn to play a little smarter when we’re tired.”

Tyler Bertuzzi said the responsibility of finishing the season strong falls on all the players, rookies and veterans alike.

“I don’t know if it’s just such a young team, immaturity and we can’t put it together, but it’s on everyone,” Bertuzzi said. “It’s on us older guys to show the lead and have them follow. As a group, everyone, the last few games, we have not been good at all.”

Neither the Blackhawks nor the Devils (37-33-2, 76 points) have officially been eliminated from the playoffs, but it’s on the radar.

New Jersey is coming off a 5-2 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday in the finale of a five-game road trip (3-2-0).

Carolina beat the Devils in five games in the first round of the playoffs last season and won all four meetings between the teams this season.

Devils forward Connor Brown said the lack of success against Carolina has frustrated New Jersey and it spilled over into Saturday’s game.

“Some emotions got high and were just handled poorly throughout the game,'” Brown said. “Hockey’s an emotional game. You’re playing at such a high speed. It’s violent. When you have scars against a team, sometimes it can be that much harder to manage. So, it’s a big learning moment for this team. To learn, you have to identify what’s going wrong.”

Jake Allen likely will start in goal for the Devils after Jacob Markstrom made 29 saves against the Hurricanes.

Allen has won two of his past three starts and gave up just one goal on 27 shots in the 2-1 loss to the Washington Capitals.

He’s 12-7-4 in his career against the Blackhawks with a .922 save percentage and 2.35 goals-against average.

–Field Level Media

Mikko Rantanen scored in his first game in nearly two months, and the Dallas Stars tallied three unanswered second-period goals to end a four-game skid and defeat the host Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 on Saturday.

Rantanen and Jason Robertson each had a goal and an assist for Dallas (44-18-11, 99 points), which had gone 0-3-1 in its last four games. The Stars trailed 1-0 and 2-1 in this contest before exploding for three goals, two on the power play, in the second.

Rookie Justin Hryckowian, Lian Bichsel and Mavrik Bourque also scored for the Stars, who swept the two-game season series with Pittsburgh after winning in Dallas in December.

Erik Karlsson had a goal and two assists for Pittsburgh (36-21-16, 88 points), which was playing without both Evgeni Malkin and captain Sidney Crosby due to lower-body injuries.

Anthony Mantha and Noel Acciari also scored for Pittsburgh, which lost its third game at PPG Paints Arena in the past week. The Penguins were outscored 17-6 in those three home contests.

Mantha redirected a Karlsson slapshot to put Pittsburgh in front on a power-play goal just over two minutes into the game.

Hryckowian evened the score for Dallas early in the second period, capitalizing on a broken play that left him wide open in front of the net with the puck.

Karlsson answered for the Penguins 48 seconds later with a wrister for his 13th goal of the season. In the process, he broke two franchise records for defensemen.

The goal was his ninth in March, the most in a single month by a Penguins blueliner. This also was his ninth multi-point game in March, which broke Randy Carlyle’s mark, set in December 1980, for most multi-point games in a single month by a defenseman.

The Stars responded over the next few minutes. Robertson scored on the power play 7:12 into the period to even the game. It was Robertson’s 40th goal, tying him with Wyatt Johnston for the team lead.

Three minutes later, Rantanen, who had missed 15 games in a row with a lower-body injury, tallied his 21st of the season on another power-play opportunity.

Bichsel doubled the Stars’ advantage less than 90 seconds later on a strange sequence. He went behind the goal, stapled to Karlsson, proceeded to throw the Swede’s stick to the floor with no whistle, and then scored what turned out to be the game-winner.

Jake Oettinger improved to 7-1-0 in his career against Pittsburgh. He allowed three goals on only 12 shots, as Pittsburgh posted four, five and three shots over the three periods. Stuart Skinner made 20 stops for the Penguins.

Dallas, which entered with the fourth-best road record in the league, improved to 22-8-7 away from home.

–Field Level Media

After posting much-needed victories on Saturday, the Dallas Stars and Flyers will be back on the ice Sunday night in Philadelphia.

Dallas (44-18-11, 99 points) is playoff-bound but was mired in a four-game losing streak heading into Saturday’s game with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Fortunately, the Stars received a big lift from the return of Mikko Rantanen, who had a goal and an assist in a 6-3 victory.

Rantanen had not played since Feb. 20, when he sustained a lower-body injury during the Olympics while playing for Team Finland. His most NHL game had been on Feb. 4.

“A little rusty, obviously,” Rantanen said. “It’s a lot different than practicing, you know? You can do a lot of things in practice, but games are a little different. Sometimes you think it’s faster than it is. … But overall, the body felt good.”

Jason Robertson chipped in with a goal and an assist for Dallas, giving him 40 goals for the third time in his career. Mavrik Bourque contributed two empty-net goals and an assist for the Stars.

“Not forcing it was a big thing,” Robertson said. “And, I mean, having a lot of talent out there helps.”

Philadelphia (36-24-12, 84 points) scored the first four goals Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings before holding on for a 5-3 victory. Owen Tippett recorded a hat trick and added an assist on Sean Couturier’s game-clinching, empty-net goal.

“He’s dragging a lot of us in the fight,” Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said of Tippett. “When he gets that puck, he’s as good as it gets right now in the league.”

The Flyers improved to 11-3-1 in their last 15 games but will continue to need victories as they trail three teams in the race for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

“It’s a big win for us,” Tocchet said. “I think a couple of teams (Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators) lost today. We’ve got a huge game (Sunday).”

The Flyers certainly will need to play better down the stretch Sunday than they did on Saturday. The team led Detroit with under 6 1/2 minutes remaining in the third period before surrendering three quick goals.

“I loved our game for 55 minutes,” Tocchet said.

Of course, it helps to have Dan Vladar in net when it matters most. The Flyers’ goaltender has allowed more than three goals in just one of his last 16 starts, although he likely will watch Sunday while Samuel Ersson gets the nod at goalie.

The Stars, meanwhile, probably will turn to Casey DeSmith after Jake Oettinger started on Saturday.

This will be the second meeting between the teams this season. The Stars cruised to a 5-1 win in Dallas on Nov. 15 as Robertson recorded his sixth career hat trick, one of which has come in the playoffs.

The Stars have won five of the last six matchups vs. Philadelphia, although the Flyers enter Sunday’s game playing about as well as it has all season.

“Dallas is a good hockey team,” Tocchet said. “We’ll be ready.”

–Field Level Media