3 least impressive Chicago Blackhawks players from 7-5 loss to Vegas Golden Knights feat. Petr Mrazek 

The Chicago Blackhawks are the worst team in the Western Conference, as it's been yet another difficult rebuilding year in the Windy City.

They found themselves matched up against the Western Conference-contending Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday night with nearly zero chance of winning according to the famous Sin City sportsbooks.

And while the Golden Knights raced out to a major early advantage, the Blackhawks did just enough to make them sweat before ultimately falling short.

Vegas picked up a thrilling 7-5 win in the end, improving to 35-18-6 while Chicago fell to 17-35-7.

The scoring was early and often for the Golden Knights in the opening 20 minutes of play, racing out to a 5-1 lead before the horn mercifully sounded to signal the intermission.

The Golden Knights struck just 1:06 after the opening face-off thanks to Keegan Kolesar; and while Chicago's Nick Foligno knotted the score minutes later, the rest of the period belonged to Vegas. Nicolas Hague, Ivan Barbashev, Tomas Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev all found the back of the net for the Golden Knights, who took their 5-1 lead into the dressing room after 20 minutes.

The Blackhawks began to make things interesting in the second period, getting goals from Colton Dach and the first of the year from Ethan Del Mastro before Kolesar restored the three-goal lead with his second of the night.

In the third period, Chicago managed to make Vegas sweat with another pair of goals to cut the deficit to one; Ilya Mikheyev and Philipp Kurashev both tallied, and suddenly, the game was a close one.

But with Chicago pressing for the tying marker late in regulation, the Golden Knights got badly-needed insurance in the form of Barbashev's second goal of the game.

Chicago's Petr Mrazek was pulled after the first period following a dismal performance in which he allowed five goals on 15 shots; Arvid Soderblom took it the rest of the way, making 16 saves. Meanwhile, Ilya Samsonov made 17 saves on 22 Chicago shots.

3 least impressive Chicago Blackhawks players from 7-5 loss to Vegas Golden Knights

#1. Petr Mrazek

It was not Mrazek's night in Sin City. He allowed five goals in the opening 20 minutes alone, leading to his being appropriately pulled from the game by coach Anders Sorensen.

The Blackhawks could have had a realistic chance based on the performance of Soderblom after he replaced Mrazek had he started the game.

#2. Connor Bedard

The young forward that was made the face of the franchise by being taken with the No. 1 overall selection in the 2023 NHL draft has struggled at times during this season, and has made no secret about his disdain of the constant losing.

Bedard didn't do himself any favors on Thursday night, going pointless while managing only a single shot on goal.

#3. Seth Jones

Heavily involved in trade rumors as the NHL Trade Deadline gets closer, Jones was statistically the worst defenseman on the ice for the Blackhawks despite being the highest paid.

He finished with a -2 rating, the worst among all Blackhawks blue liners.

The Chicago Blackhawks will look to return to winning ways when they take on the Anaheim Ducks next at Honda Center on Saturday.