On paper, the Chicago Blackhawks should’ve had a better than solid chance to avoid Sunday’s 3-2 letdown to the Buffalo Sabres.

Both teams entered the matchup on three-game losing streaks. The previous three games between the Hawks and Sabres all went past regulation. But not this time.

The Hawks gave up the opening goal during a listless first period and squandered a second-period rally when they gave up the go-ahead goal in the third period on one missed play.

“We just haven’t matured to that point where we can have a solid 60 minutes where one thing hiccups on our team and we don’t multiply it,” coach Luke Richardson said.

The Hawks looked reenergized in the second period, “unfortunately, we just couldn’t seem to muster much in the third,” he said. “There’s really no words why it happens.”

Richardson may not have words, but winger Nick Foligno had quite a few of them and he wasn’t holding back.

“It’s valuing what wins. (Winning) feels good but it’s not pretty,” he said.

“That’s where we’ve got to get, the mindset of how hard you have to work … the compete that you have to have, the sacrifices you have to make sometimes.

“‘I gotta get this puck out,’” Foligno said as an example. “‘I have to.’ Whatever it takes. Claw, scratch, get it out. Get it in, same thing. And once you start having those kind of habits and those kind of mindsets, it’s amazing how the game just starts to come to you.

“We do it when we’re backed up against the wall but we don’t do it enough and that’s the result we’re getting right now, where we’re almost there, we’re almost there,” he said. “We’re a way better team than we’re showing and that’s the disappointing part of it, too.”

Foligno has seen teammates make the plays it in practice, “but it’s got to translate out there, it can’t be just because we want it that way or our intent is that. It’s not good enough.

“You’ve got to execute. ‘I meant to get that (puck) out.’ Well, then get it out. Those are the things that we have to get through, and once we do, once we get those good habits, this team could do a lot of damage.”

Here are four takeaways from the Hawks’ fourth straight loss.1. At least Connor Bedard’s new line looked good.

The Hawks shuffled the top line to include Connor Bedard, Lukas Reichel and Philipp Kurashev.

“We just thought we’d try the young guys together and see if there was a little bit of chemistry there,” Richardson said.

The new combination accounted for four shots on goal in the first period when they were on the ice. In the second period, it really clicked.

The line took advantage of a Sabres breakdown. Reichel beat Casey Mittelstadt to a loose puck and sprung Bedard on a breakout. Bedard and Kurashev, on the rush, crossed at the blue line and Bedard carried two defenders with him.

Mattias Samuelsson was busy watching Bedard — instead of Kurashev — when Bedard, still bracketed by two defenders, fired a hard shot from the right side that bounced off Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Samuelsson whipped his head around too late to see Kurashev, then buried his head in the ice after Kurashev backhanded the rebound over Luukkonen’s pad.

Richardson said, “Kurashev was probably a real driving force on that line tonight and (has) been pretty responsible and brings speed to our game consistently since he’s been back. It was a good sign to see that.”

“Offensively, it was good,” Reichel added. “We’ve just sometimes got to be careful on the way back.”

The line was on the ice when the Hawks allowed the Sabres’ opening goal by Rasmus Dahlin.

Reichel said, “We all want the puck in the O-zone, we all want to make plays, but we can’t turn the puck over. We’ve got to be more sharp in the D-zone.”

Richardson acknowledged Foligno helped Bedard’s line hold its own defensively, or at least limit itself as a liability.

“Nick was a real good influence in that respect, keeping the young guys engaged and in check defensively as well as offensively,” he said. “But they were better in the second period for sure, and hopefully that can grow and see where it goes.”

2. Nothing to write home about.

The Hawks fell to 1-5-0 at the United Center. Their one win? A 5-2 upset of the Florida Panthers on Nov. 4.

“We’ve had some good games here, a lot of tight games here,” Richardson said pregame. “What we have to do is … utilize the atmosphere in this building and try to capitalize; play with a lead.It’d be great to have a winning record here, because the atmosphere will only get louder, and it becomes more difficult for the other teams.”

That’s the theory anyway. Until the Hawks get a second win at the UC, these home games are having the opposite effect.

“For us to have one win right now, it’s kind of frustrating,” forward Taylor Raddysh said. “But we’ve got to try to turn that around and keep building it.

“It’s our home rink, we’ve got to come up with the win.”

Attendance was listed at 19,027 Sunday and those fans should each be given a discount after seeing what the Hawks displayed.

Foligno said, “It’s disappointing because we want to make this a hard place to play. We’re digging a hole here and we’ve got to find a way out of it because this is awful. This sucks.”

3. What happened to the defense?

The Hawks fell victim to breakdowns on defense and on the penalty kill, which cost them a winnable game.

Before Dahlin’s opening goal, the Sabres’ Zach Benson was heaping pressure on a mostly young group — the Reichel-Bedard-Kurashev line, rookie Kevin Korchinski and veteran Connor Murphy — scrambling to get out of its own end.

Kurashev tried to break out to Reichel but the puck sailed by him to Dahlin, who dumped it back in and ultimately got it back on Benson’s centering pass to set up his goal.

On Skinner’s power-play goal, he sneaked up to the backdoor and Dahlin had a clear passing lane to hit Skinner from the high slot. Goalie Petr Mrázek played high in the crease and Skinner wristed it in behind him.

Richardson compared the play to Nikita Kurcherov’s goal during the Hawks game in Tampa.

“Both (defensemen) were on one post and Skinner went around the net,” he said.

Kucherov took advantage of the exact same circumstances, only from the opposite side of the net. Richardson also noted how the PK failed to clear the puck.

“We have to clear pucks and take chances on clearing pucks on our forehand instead of taking pucks back and trying to maybe flip it over to another corner for someone else to get it out,” he said.

On the game-winning goal by Johnson, Richardson said, “We have to hold that blue line. It was pretty close to being offside, but it just got in and we have two or three guys stuck over there and they won the battle.”

Here’s how it broke down:

Corey Perry just missed a check on Dahlin in the neutral zone, too late to stop him from passing up ice along the right wall to Casey Mittelstadt.

Alex Vlasic tried to block Mittelstadt’s entry, and Foligno and Jason Dickinson came over to support, but Mittelstadt butted his way in, shielded Vlasic from the puck and bounced-passed to Johnson off the opposite wall.

Seth Jones hurriedly picked up Johnson, but Johnson zipped around him and “got a nice backhand in, short side,” Richardson said. “It happened quick, but it all starts with holding that blue line when we should have.”

4. Bedard got more shots, sort of.

Bedard had been held to single shots on goal in the last two games but got two against Buffalo. Technically, it’s double, right?

This is the parry and riposte of Bedard’s development, as he and the NHL continually adjust to each other.

“Teams are obviously aware of him,” Richardson said. “When you score four goals in two games, (they’re) probably even more aware of him because he’s hot. You check him a little tighter.

“But he’s still young and feeling out that league,” he said. “There’s going to be ups and downs just like any player.”