Ugly 2nd period dooms Blackhawks in 5-1 loss to Flames
Expectations were decidedly low for the Blackhawks before they hosted Calgary at the United Center on Sunday.
Already riding a three-game losing streak, the Hawks were forced to give 22-year-old rookie netminder Arvid Soderblom his first NHL start against a Flames squad that isn't afraid to shoot the puck.
Things went smoothly for the first 20 minutes, with the Hawks locked in a 1-1 tie thanks to Alex DeBrincat's 18th goal of the season at 9:41 of the first period.
But then came the second period, a truly ugly stretch in which the Hawks took 3 penalties and yielded 26 shots on goal.
All things considered, it was a flat-out miracle the Flames only led 3-1 heading into the third.
Soderblom (37 saves) was magnificent most of the night, fending off numerous Grade A chances.
But the Hawks' offense stayed in a season-long drought and Calgary walked out with a 5-1 victory. The Flames' last two goals came on an empty netter by Oliver Kylington with 1:55 remaining and on a wrister by Johnny Gaudreau 29 seconds later.
After two weeks without a game the Hawks (11-17-4) hoped to start 2022 with a bang, but instead offered up a couple of duds - getting outscored 11-2 in back-to-back losses to the Predators and Flames.
"We all have better," DeBrincat said. "Obviously losing 6-1 and 5-1 is not our best and we know that. ... We've got to come back stronger, more mentally prepared and hopefully we can win one on Tuesday (vs. Colorado)."
Interim coach Derek King went with Soderblom over Marc-Andre Fleury because Fleury just came out of COVID protocol and hadn't been on the ice in about 10 days. Fleury was on the bench as the backup.
Soderbolm's best save came with 7:46 remaining when he turned away Dillon Dube's penalty shot.
"He played a helluva game for us," King said.
The Hawks gave Calgary 3 power plays in less than five minutes in the second period, with DeBrincat, Philipp Kurashev and Josiah Slavin taking penalties.
Elias Lindholm converted on the first one, making it 2-1 at 9:08 of the second.
"We tell 'em we don't want to take penalties; we want to stay out of the box," King said. "This is a good power play, it's a good team. And what do we do in the second period ... it's bang-bang-bang.
"We can't do that. There's just that lapse in focus, I guess. I'm not sure what it is, but we have to address it as a group and we have to talk about it."
The backbreaker for the Hawks came when Trevor Lewis scored short-handed at 17:46 of the second to give Calgary a 3-1 lead.
The play started when the Flames cleared the puck out of their own zone. Erik Gustafsson, with a 30-foot head start on Blake Coleman, was nonetheless beaten to the puck deep in the Hawks' zone. Gustafsson then fell down as Coleman gained control and dished to Lewis, who beat Soderblom with a nifty backhanded shot to the stick side.
King knows everybody's frustrated and hopes they use that as motivation going forward.
"They get it," he said. "I guess (that's) a positive out of all this is that they feel frustrated and they're not happy about the way they're performing as a team.
"Some of our individuals are performing well, but we don't have enough of that. We have a few too many passengers right now that need to pick up their game and be better."