Lankinen's turn to help Blackhawks reach win column

Kevin Lankinen, your crease is ready.

After watching Malcolm Subban (5) and Collin Delia (10) allow a combined 15 goals in the first three games, it's time to for the Blackhawks to see what's behind Goalie Door No. 3 when they play Florida on Tuesday.

With this being just a 56-game campaign - and the AHL season set to start Feb. 5 - there's no time to waste in determining which of these three goalies has an NHL future.

Look, it's obviously not fair to pin all 15 goals against solely on Subban and Delia.

Give credit to Tampa Bay and Florida. And feel free to pour loads of blame on Hawks defensemen and forwards.

But one dreadful error in each contest by both netminders led directly to three of the easiest goals you've ever seen.

The latest gaffe came Sunday during the Hawks' 5-2 loss at Florida when Delia ventured too far out of the crease and tumbled to the ice while simultaneously upending teammate Adam Boqvist.

The Panthers capitalized to take a 2-0 second-period lead.

Asked if these mishaps away from the net are concerning, coach Jeremy Colliton pivoted and said: "Well, there's lots of improvement points for our team, no question. We're not gonna dwell on any one mistake."

OK, but with goals so hard to come by, the last thing the Hawks need is to be giving up a freebie every night.

So throw Lankinen a bone.

The 25-year-old Finn posted some quite impressive stats from 2014 to 2018 in the Finnish Elite League, and he looked solid at training camp.

"We're gonna use all three obviously at some point here," Colliton said. "We've said it's gonna be a relatively open competition. We're gonna let it play out as far as ... who kind of grabs the ball - they'll have the chance.

"Having said that, just because you play once or twice, the story isn't written yet."

Step by step: Not only have the Blackhawks lost all three games they've played, they've also yet to hold a lead.

That drains on players after awhile, so it's no surprise the two times the Hawks battled back from multi-goal deficits, their opponent scored the next goal to put the game away.

Veteran Hawks teams from 2009 to 2017 probably would have found a way to seize the momentum, score the next goal and come away with a victory.

But this is a much different group, one that's learning on the fly what it takes to go toe to toe with the best players in the world every night.

After practice Monday, forward Mattias Janmark was asked what the mood in the locker room is like with the team 0-3.

"It's hard to say. I think there's a belief for sure," he said. "We're not too much down. It's early in the year. That first win (means) more than you think. I mean it's not easy losing. When you find ways to lose games, that's hard on you.

"We're still in a good mood in there. We've just got to find a way to win that first game and keep building off of that."

Colliton wholeheartedly agreed.

"It's a lot easier to move things forward if you're having team success," the coach said. "But ultimately we can't lose sight of (the fact) we're trying to build a group that can win in the long term."