Richardson's 'old-school' Blackhawks are more willing to drop the gloves
It's never a good look when a hockey player backs down from a fight.
You get challenged, you drop the gloves. Period.
That's why it was so confusing when Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy refused to engage with Tampa Bay's Barclay Goodrow early in the first period of a game in March 2021. Goodrow wanted Murphy to pay for his bone-crushing hit on teammate Eric Cernak from a game two weeks earlier.
The Hawks' coaching staff flat-out told Murphy they couldn't lose him for five minutes, so the veteran D-man went limp when Goodrow tossed off his gloves.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper had an interesting reaction, saying, "This is a tough game and tough players play it. If you're gonna be physical, you've got to reap what you sow. ...
"I guess it's the old, 'If you're gonna dish it, you're gonna have to take it.'"
Well, the Hawks certainly have "dished it out" a whole lot more since Jeremy Colliton was fired in November 2021 as they've dropped the gloves 29 times in 59 games under Derek King and Luke Richardson. Under Colliton, the Hawks fought just 30 times in 205 games.
On Thursday night in Calgary, the Hawks delivered an impressive TKO by scoring 3 second-period goals - including 2 in 32 seconds - en route to a 5-1 victory over the Flames. Taylor Raddysh (13) opened the scoring in the first period then saw teammates Boris Katchouk (2), Jason Dickinson (6) and Sam Lafferty (8) stake the Hawks (15-28-4) to a 4-1 lead.
Connor Murphy (5) added an empty-netter with 42 seconds remaining.
Dickinson scored at 15:37 after taking a pass from Patrick Kane and going top-shelf on a backhand shot; Lafferty scored at 16:09 off a nice cross-ice pass from Colin Blackwell.
Jaxson Stauber, who won his NHL debut at St. Louis last Saturday, improved to 2-0-0 by making 34 saves. Jonathan Toews sat out with a non-COVID illness.
While every staff has its own philosophy on fighting, it's refreshing to see guys step up for their teammates rather than simply skating away.
Two prime examples came during the Hawks' 5-2 loss Tuesday at Vancouver:
• Almost halfway through the second period, Kane chased a loose puck into the offensive zone with the Canucks' Dakota Joshua in pursuit. As they pulled up behind the net, the 6-foot-3, 206-pound Joshua unloaded a heavy - and completely legal - hit that sent the 5-10, 177-pound Kane crashing into the boards.
Max Domi immediately came to Kane's defense and threw two haymakers to the back of Joshua's head.
• In the prior period, Murphy dropped the gloves with Sheldon Dries after Dries bowled over goaltender Petr Mrázek.
Domi was given fighting, misconduct and instigator penalties - meaning the forward was lost for 17 minutes. Hawks coach Luke Richardson said afterward that he'll "never complain when a teammate steps up for a teammate."
Still, it definitely hurt to be without Domi for that long.
"(Are) there little ways we can curb that a little bit and send a message without taking you out of the game for 17 minutes?" Richardson said. "Sometimes you can talk to a player and say, 'Maybe we can do (something else). Send the same message ... to protect your teammates but keep yourself in the game. We don't want to lose you."
As for the rest of the Hawks' fights this season, the best response probably came on December 3 when Murphy and Toews took immediate action after the Rangers' Jacob Trouba smashed Andreas Athanasiou with an open-ice hit that sent the Hawks' forward flailing.
Ironically, Murphy went toe to toe with Goodrow.
These reactions don't surprise Richardson in the least as he's seen this group become awfully tight over the past four months.
And that's not a common sight in this era of attention-grabbing cellphones and the rabbit hole known as social media.
"This team seems like it's an old-school hockey team," Richardson said. "They like being together, they enjoy each other, they plan extra things with each other and I haven't seen that on teams in a long time. "So that's not surprising - (it's) just pleasing for a coach."