Same old story: Different roster, but Blackhawks again sit at bottom of NHL
The Boston Bruins played an overtime game on their home ice Tuesday, then took a late-night flight to Chicago.
So this seemed like a great opportunity for the Blackhawks to create some positive momentum against a tired team. The Hawks scored a quick early goal, but for the rest of the night looked like the team that wanted to go home and take a nap, losing 4-2 at the United Center.
“We seemed dejected and that's not a good thing,” Boston native Connor Murphy said after the Blackhawks' fourth straight loss. “Just because we're losing some games here, we've got to keep the paddle moving forward and make sure we're being juiceful for each other.”
The story of this season is familiar by now. The Blackhawks sent most of their young prospects to Rockford, loaded up on veterans and planned to be more competitive than they were a year ago. Well, with roughly a third of the season played, they own the NHL's worst record.
Their record at this point last year was similar, but then injuries started to pile up. The Hawks had a 2-10-1 stretch in December, then lost 15 of 16 during a slump that spanned three different months. Maybe they won't be that bad this time around, but there's no reason to expect winning streaks, either.
“We're not happy with the record for sure,” coach Luke Richardson said after the game. “The guys are trying to work within the system and the right way. We don't seem to have one kind of Achilles' heel, there's not one problem with our team. One night there's one area, maybe our defense or a forward or one player. The next night, it's another area by a different player.”
One odd thing about the Hawks being back at the bottom is strength of opponent seems to be irrelevant. They've beaten the team with the NHL's best record (Minnesota) and lost to the second worst (Nashville). They have wins over defending champ Florida, Los Angeles, Dallas and Edmonton. They've lost to Anaheim, San Jose and Columbus.
Lack of offense has been the most persistent problem. They rank 30th out of 32 in goals scored, but slightly higher in goal differential, which has Richardson thinking they're close to having more success.
“It's just an accumulation of one-offs every game that put us behind the eight-ball,” he said. “At the first quarter (of the season), we felt easily with a little bit more focus an execution, we could have flipped that record. But that only happens when you do it.”
The Blackhawks got a quick opening goal by Alex Vlasic off a couple of sharp passes from Nick Foligno and Murphy just 1:23 into Thursday's game. But they seemed to have no interest in carrying the momentum anywhere useful.
On Boston's first goal, a slapshot in the slot trickled past goalie Petr Mrazek. Hawks defensemen Wyatt Kaiser and Alec Martinez stood nearby and watched as Morgan Geekie smacked the loose puck into the net. The second goal came off a cut the Blackhawks defense never saw coming. Then Brad Marchand flicked in his own rebound to make it 3-1.
When the Hawks finally scored again, it was because Jason Dickinson bounced a shot off the skate of one Bruin and the jersey of another. Geekie scored again on a breakaway goal five minutes into the third period and that was essentially the end.
The Hawks were hit by two delay of game penalties, plus too many men on the ice when they pulled the goalie at the end. They finished with just 22 shots on goal and were shorthanded for six of the final 11 minutes of the third period. So it's hard to say there was just one problem for the Hawks on this night.
“No one else is going to help us except for ourselves, so we have to have an eternal strength to get through this,” Richardson said. “Maybe win a game 3-2 and maybe that leads to something.”