Blackhawks' seven-game homestand ends on a low note
The Blackhawks completed their seven-game homestand Thursday with a gigantic dud, falling 4-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers and dropping to 2-4-2 on the season.
The Hawks' lone goal came from Brandon Saad early in the third period and briefly gave them life, but a pair of defensive breakdowns squelched their momentum and led to yet another setback.
"When we don't come out together (and) keep it simple, they create turnovers and that kills our offense," Saad said.
This was the second straight game the Hawks managed just 1 goal.
They've also now allowed 13 goals in the three games Connor Murphy has missed due to injury. And with the Hawks placing him on long-term injured reserve Wednesday, it means he's not returning until Nov. 16 at the earliest.
So they need to figure out how to stop the avalanche of odd-man rushes that have come when he's not in the lineup.
"I mean Murph is a great defenseman, but we have other great defensemen too," said goalie Robin Lehner, who made 19 saves. "It's just about managing the puck. Honestly that's all it is.
"It's not that complicated. If you manage the puck, they don't get all the breakaways and all the 2-on-1s."
The hole Murphy leaves is a gaping one, but Colliton isn't placing all of the blame for the defensive breakdowns on his blue liners.
"There's a lot of talk about line combinations. It's not the combos," Colliton said.
"The lines that have success, they're playing a very direct, hardworking, team-oriented game and they're willing to do the dirty work. They're willing to get their nose dirty. … The lines that aren't having success (it's) because they're not doing those things."
Philly's first goal came after Duncan Keith tried tapping a puck forward in the offensive zone, only to have it batted the other way by Oscar Lindblom. De Haan and Lehner failed to stop the ensuing 2-on-1, with Lindblom scoring at 13:05 of the first period.
The Hawks, who had just 1 shot on goal in the second period, made a game of it when Saad neatly tucked a puck past Brian Elliott with 19:00 remaining.
But the Flyers made it 3-1 when Kevin Hayes beat Brent Seabrook to a loose puck in the neutral zone and proceeded to beat Lehner to the glove side with 14:57 left.
About 12 minutes later, an Erik Gustafsson turnover in the Hawks' defensive zone turned into a James van Riemsdyk goal - and that was that.
Colliton thought his team was "cheating defensively" in what he termed a "wasted" second period.
"We've all got to get better," Lehner said. "I've got to get better too.
"On the third goal on the breakaway it would have been nice to come up with a big save. But you don't get rewarded if you don't do the right things.
"So I think it was an honest, well-deserved result today. Probably should have been a couple of more goals and they took away two goals too (on video review). We deserve what we got today."
Slap shots:
Calvin de Haan moved up to the top pairing with Duncan Keith against Philadelphia, and Slater Koekkoek played for the first time in five games on the third pairing with Erik Gustafsson. Koekkoek had 7 shot attempts (2 on goal) in 15:39. … Brendan Perlini and Zack Smith were healthy scratches against Philadelphia. … After eight games last season, Jonathan Toews had 5 goals and 5 assists. This season he has 1 goal and 1 assist.