Hawks beat San Jose, settle in for NHL’s first Olympic break since ‘14

The last time the NHL had an Olympic break in 2014, Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy was just breaking in with the Coyotes, and couldn't recall if he was given three weeks off or played in the minors at the time.

“That's a great question,” Murphy said. “I do remember guys were talking about how they got excited for the long break and they didn't work out and drank some alcohol for a few weeks and came back, and they said they'd never felt worse in their life trying to get back into shape. So I definitely took that lesson and will try to stay active.”

So Monday's game at the United Center was a February farewell. The Hawks have one more game in Columbus on Wednesday, then they'll break for three weeks while a few dozen NHL players head to Italy for the Winter Olympics.

The Hawks made the most of their last home game for 32 days by rolling to a 6-3 victory over San Jose, a team above them in the Western Conference standings. The win snapped a five-game losing streak.

Goals were scored by Murphy, Ryan Donato twice, Connor Bedard, Sam Rinzel and Ilya Mikheyev. The first four all came from distance, so to speak, on well-placed rockets.

This was just the second time former No. 1 overall picks Bedard and Macklin Celebrini squared off in the NHL. Celebrini, fourth in the league in points, scored his 28th goal of the season.

The Hawks have just one Olympian — forward Teuvo Teravainen will play for Finland, while assistant coach Anders Sorensen is working with Sweden.

The United State and Canada will play Olympic openers on Feb. 12, with the gold medal game scheduled for Feb. 22. The U.S. or Canada would play seven games in 11 days if they reach the final.

Most of the Hawks will be staying home, visiting family, taking minivacations or just passing the time for three weeks. Actually, make that two weeks. Coach Jeff Blashill explained his plan for using the break to try to manufacture a strong finish to the season.

“It gives us a chance to have another almost mini-training camp to prepare for that last stretch,” he said. “So I'll (plan for) that over the break and I'll probably dive into a little bit of analytics stuff.”

One question facing Hawks players is how often to find some ice and skate during their time off.

“I think you can take a week off and be fine, but after you get past that, you start to have a little more rust than usual,” Murphy said.

Defenseman Alex Vlasic took a different tactic and sees rest as a benefit of the break.

“For the most part, I'm probably going to stay off the ice,” Vlasic said. “Let the hips kind of rest a little bit and all that, then make sure I'm staying in shape. Maybe do a couple workouts here or there, just to make sure when you come back in for that first week when we have practice, we're not dying of exhaustion out there.”

Frank Nazar just missed four weeks with a broken jaw. Monday was his seventh game back, but he's not about to turn down the Olympic break.

“No, I think it's always good to go home and see family,” Nazar said. “Yeah, I was sitting out, but I was still at the rink every day, doing work, all that stuff. I think it's a good time to build strength back up, prepare for the rest of the year.”

Even with the three-week Olympic break, the NHL season is starting and ending on the same dates as usual, so players have had to adjust to a condensed schedule and fewer days off.