The Blackhawks lost their fourth straight game on Sunday night. All four have been one-goal games late; Tampa and Nashville scored empty net goals to close the books on those losses. The magic number appears to be three for the Blackhawks this season. They’re 5-2-0 when they score a third goal. Which… isn’t good when you’ve only reached three goals in seven of 16 games.
As a reminder for those in the social media comments, replies and mentions who have forgotten recently that this is a young team that’s still in a rebuild, that’s where we’re at. Last night, the Blackhawks probably played the better game. They had the right to think they deserved at least one point when the horn sounded at the end of the third period. But they didn’t get a point because they’re still learning that the smallest little mistake can become a game-losing moment. Even something as insignificant as a weak pass out of the zone that comes back too quickly when trying to get a line change completed can backfire and cost this team a game. There isn’t enough offense there, even with Connor Bedard, to overcome a deficit every night. And they’re playing from behind too often.
As has been the case frequently this year, Nick Foligno spoke with the media after the game and his comments were as much for the other guys in the room as they were for the microphones and cameras in front of him. Bedard was still getting changed in his stall next to him when Foligno spoke. And he was pretty direct with his critique of their effort right now.
“I think we had the start that we wanted, and I just don’t think we understand how we have to compete each and every shift,” Foligno said “It’s some of the time right now and that’s the result we’re getting. We’re trying to claw back late in games and it looks good, like we almost score, but it’s almost. It’s not good. We don’t put points on the board. We need to find a way to get that into overtime or win it by playing the right way. That’s the result you’re going to get in this league when you don’t play or respect how hard it is to win. We can’t be OK with just these sometimes we play well, sometimes we do the right things; that’s winning habits and we haven’t built those enough.”
Head coach Luke Richardson was on the same page as his veteran leader after the game.
“We’ve had spells within a period where there’s a shift that we don’t do the right things and we turn the puck over and it gets us in a spiral downward,” Richardson said. “I think that happens to every team, the momentum changes on certain whiffs, whether it be a good play or a bad play. I think just as a team, we just haven’t matured to that point where we can have a solid 60 minutes where one kind of thing hiccups on our team and we don’t multiply it.”
The good news is it appears Philipp Kurashev got the memo that it was go time when he won his arbitration hearing. The Blackhawks have two players in double digits in points at this point in the season: Bedard (15) and Kurashev, who reached 10 in his tenth game last night. And kudos to him for seeing a huge opportunity to skate on the wing of Bedard and running as hard and as fast as he can. Last year at even strength, Kurashev had eight first assists in 966:30 over 70 games. This year (according to ) he already has three first assists in just 140:12. His speed has always been there, we were just waiting for him to put it together. It appears he’s found someone on the roster now who can play with him at his speed, and they’ve got some good chemistry.
But I’ve been more impressed with his play without the puck than even his instincts with it. He’s been a beast on the forecheck all season and has been a solid defensive player most of the ten games he’s been healthy.
How about another big afternoon for a Blackhawks’ prospect? Flint played a matinee against Sarnia on Sunday. Gavin Hayes had an assist on the Firebirds’ first goal in the first period and scored the second marker of the afternoon. Hayes was plus-three through the opening two periods. Hayes scored this beautiful short-handed goal in the third period, his 14th already this season in just his 19th game. He then added another assist for a four-point effort. Hayes finished the afternoon plus-five!
The Firebirds had three games in three nights this weekend. Hayes scored three times with three assists and put 11 shots on net in those three games. That’s with him being pointless and minus-two — with five shots on net — on Saturday. Saturday’s game was only the second time in that Hayes has been held off the scoresheet. I cannot wait for Hayes to get into the pro game and see how his offense translates because the OHL is a good league.
How about Alex Pharand‘s third of the season for Sudbury?
This weekend, Ben Pope wrote about Richardson feeling like Chicago is “home” for him. I’m glad to hear that it does, because he’s doing a great job. The results haven’t been there, but I keep coming back to the reminder that the oddsmakers and projectors looked at this Blackhawks roster and had it headed back to a top-five pick this year before the season. There’s more hope this year than there was last year, so maybe that’s impacting our judgement a little. But the coaches can’t skate or shoot or avoid turnovers on the ice. Young players are going to make mistakes; older players are, too. Richardson is still doing a tremendous job. Both he and Foligno have alluded to once they figure it out this team could really do some damage. We’re just waiting for that figuring things out to happen.
Make sure to check out this week’s three stars from the college ranks. The Hawks have some young players performing very well right now.
One thing the veterans on the roster have consistently talked about is making the United Center a had place to play in for opponents again. Thus far this season, it has not been. Last night both Foligno and Taylor Raddysh commented on how special it can be when the UC is rocking.
It sounds like there might be a divorce necessary in Columbus right now. Patrik Laine, who has been a disappointment thus far (three points in nine games), was a healthy scratch on Sunday and was reportedly not happy about it. When asked about the move, the Jackets’ head coach was pretty clear that he wasn’t happy with Laine’s effort. Hoo boy… Laine has two more years after this season left on a contract that carries an $8.7 million cap hit and has a 10-team no-trade clause. Good bleepin’ luck with that one!
Finally, it would be amazing to have the Cubs land some massive fish this winter in their spending expeditions. This city is so much more fun when multiple teams are good. And right now… yeah. We need one.
