DeBrincat scores twice, Blackhawks find positives in 4-3 OT loss to Colorado
A wretched 1-9-2 start put the Blackhawks decidedly behind the 8-ball this season.
In order to even get within sight of a playoff berth, the Hawks know they'll have to get hot at some point. But do they have a five-game winning streak in them? Or the ability to win eight of 10?
It seems like a tall order, especially with the inability of anyone other than Alex DeBrincat to consistently find the back of the net.
Still, after two more wretched performances to open 2022, the Hawks held their own against the high-flying Avalanche on Tuesday and managed to get 1 point after a 4-3 OT loss at the United Center.
Avs defenseman Cale Makar won it by faking out Kirby Dach, storming to the net and lifting a backhanded shot over the right shoulder of Marc-Andre Fleury. It was Makar's 14th goal in just 25 games.
Jonathan Toews, who scored in the second period, nearly won it on a long shot at the end of regulation and then again with 2:56 remaining in OT. The shot in overtime clanked off the near post.
"I gotta be happy with the chances, but you want to see those go in," said Toews, whose 4 goals this season have all come in the last eight games. "Those are big chances. You have to find ways to ... get that bounce, get lucky, make the goalie make a stop and get a big goal."
Colorado (19-8-2) looked like it was going to run the Hawks out of the building after Erik Johnson and Alex Newhook made it 2-0 in the first 14 minutes.
But in the second, the Hawks buckled down, allowed just 7 shots on goal and got back in it when Toews swept the puck past goalie Darcy Kuemper.
DeBrincat then scored a pair of power-play goals in just 40 seconds early in the third period to give the Hawks a 3-2 lead. DeBrincat upped his goal total to 20, the fourth time in five seasons he's reached that milestone.
The Avs, though, made it 3-3 on Johnson's second goal at 11:44. It came shortly after Bowen Byram appeared to clip DeBrincat in the face with his stick. That non-call proved fateful and helped lead to Johnson's shot, which deflected off McCabe's stick and found its way past Fleury.
Interim coach Derek King's squad is now 11-17-5 overall and 10-8-3 since he took over for Jeremy Colliton.
"(That's) exactly what we wanted to see as a staff," King said of the Hawks' effort. "And I'm sure that's what they wanted to see as a team: Respond, prepared, ready to play and they stuck together the whole time."
Said D-man Calvin de Haan: "There's a lot of positives we can build off of. … We went toe-to-toe with one of the big boys in the NHL."
Seth Jones and Patrick Kane both had a pair of assists, and the Hawks blocked 21 shots.
For sure, it was a better effort.
But it doesn't matter much if the Hawks can't follow it up with a few more.
They'll certainly have a chance to do so because their next six opponents are Arizona (6-22-3), Vegas, Columbus (3-6-1 last 10), Montreal (7-23-4), Anaheim and Seattle (10-19-4). The first three games are on the road.
"We need to start getting two points out of these games," King said. "We played a great hockey game, played against a great hockey team and that's some confidence going into this road trip."