Blackhawks' cracks starting to show

The phrase was uttered in the locker room again after morning skate ahead of the Blackhawks' game against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night.

Different people have said it multiple times, but it was first said by head coach Luke Richardson, the day before training camp opened: Keep the highs rolling high and don't stay too low for too long.

On Wednesday, Patrick Kane said a form of what seems to be this year's team's mantra in a different context.

Kane was referring to legendary defenseman Marian Hossa, who will have his jersey retired before Sunday's game against the Penguins.

"Whether high or lows with the team, or high or lows with himself personally, he always seemed to be the same person," Kane said. "I think he knew it was a long season, a lot of games and he didn't waste any energy on getting too high or too low."

While the sentiment rings true about Hossa's demeanor, the same needs to be true of the current Blackhawks team, or they might hit bottom.

Just three weeks ago, the Hawks were raising eyebrows around the league. Some were looking around and whispering: "Is this team not as bad as we thought?"

The Hawks were 4-2-0 through six games and had won four games in a row. That included impressive victories against last year's NHL points leader, the Florida Panthers, and a surprisingly solid Seattle Kraken team.

Since then, the team has won two of their last 10 games (with three overtime losses), and the cracks are starting to show.

The Blackhawks currently have the second fewest goals in the NHL (40). The only team that has fewer (St. Louis Blues) beat them 5-2 on Wednesday night.

They have the fewest goals per game (2.50) and second-fewest total shots (414) and shots per game (25.9) all while allowing the fourth-most shots per game (34.7).

They have scored first in only four of their 16 games, and they have the fourth-most giveaways per 60 minutes in the NHL (10.40).

There are some positives. The Hawks lead the league in faceoff percentage (58.5%) and most backhanded goals (10).

"It's definitely frustrating," Richardson said after the Blues game. "I thought we had a pretty good first period. Again, we just couldn't get that first one in there. It'd be nice to be play with the lead and build some confidence and build some momentum off that. We just got to keep working on that."

It was the same thing after Monday's 3-0 loss to the Hurricanes.

"We just go to continue to do that," Richardson said. "We got to try to have momentum, especially at home, in our building and try to get on the board early, get the crowd into it. It's an intimidating place to play. That's definitely something that's in our game plan to keep trying to push to get better at."

But trailing is becoming a pattern, and that's exactly what this team is trying not to do: be too low for too long.

Obviously, injuries have played a part in the recent slide. Their top defenseman, Seth Jones, is still out with a thumb injury, and a top-six forward, Tyler Johnson remains out with an ankle injury.

But Richardson isn't making any excuses.

"There's a couple losses where you think a big, rangy guy that kills plays really well, (there) are a few (plays) in our own zone that carry on too long, we definitely miss him there," Richardson said of Jones' absence. "... But it's a chance for everyone, so we got to use it as that until we get him back. We can't miraculously fix his thumb."

In truth, the slide might be the best thing in the long run.

This is supposed to be a rebuilding year, and the worse the Hawks finish, the better chance they have at getting a high draft pick.

But none of that matters right now for Richardson and his team because their job is to win games.

Right now, they're not doing that.

"It's frustrating," Richardson said after the Blues loss, "but you know it's a long season. We just got to keep working at it."