CHICAGO — The Blackhawks were never going to be a simple fix.
To be fair, it’s not even clear whether they can be fixed. Remember, this wasn’t a team built to win, just slightly improve.
So, as positive and promising as the start was to Anders Sorensen’s time as interim coach, what’s unfolded over the last week for the Blackhawks shouldn’t be that surprising. With four consecutive losses, including back-to-back lopsided ones, the latter being a 5-1 loss to the Dallas Stars at home Sunday, those early good vibes under Sorensen have been decimated and the Blackhawks are back to saying and feeling the same things they were under Luke Richardson.
Sunday’s loss left the Blackhawks again searching for answers as to why a game had gotten away from them. On Friday against the Buffalo Sabres, it was a horrid start that put them down 4-0 and led to a 6-2 loss. In Sunday’s four-goal loss, it was less about a single stretch that did them in and more individual breakdowns on enough plays that they couldn’t overcome them all.
There was a bad change on the Stars’ first goal.
On the third goal, another shaky line change put the Blackhawks in a tough spot, and then their defensemen got split to give the Stars even more open ice.
On the fourth one, which happened 10 seconds into the third period, everyone seemed to be caught out of position and the Stars capitalized.
Take away those plays and the Blackhawks played well. A five-minute major and game misconduct by Tyler Bertuzzi for elbowing Colin Blackwell in the second period could have been what decided the game for the Blackhawks, but they battled through that. They allowed one power-play goal over five minutes. That certainly didn’t help, but it wasn’t what determined the outcome. Before the Stars’ third goal, it felt like the Blackhawks were showing more effort, defending well, creating enough offense and putting themselves in a position to win the game.
But when that third goal happened and the Blackhawks didn’t respond immediately, you could sense they were losing a grip. And then the Stars put it away in the opening seconds of the third period. They scored a fifth goal 2:45 later.
So, what happened in the third period?
“I honestly don’t know,” Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones said. “We just sucked in the first five minutes of that period. Against a good team, that’s going to happen. Against any team, that’s going to happen.”
It wasn’t the only time Jones used “sucked” after the game. He went there again when asked why the Blackhawks had found themselves in a few lopsided games lately while games had been much tighter under Richardson — not that the overall results were different.
“I’m honestly not sure,” Jones said. “Like I said, it’s a game, 3-1. We took the five-minute (penalty). Still a game going into the third. We have no reason to come out the way we did in the third period and like I said, we sucked. It just wasn’t good enough.”
As Blackhawks fans are well aware, Jones and defenseman T.J. Brodie also haven’t been enough lately for the Blackhawks. Sorensen’s decision to put them together Sunday caused a stir on social media.
Their play didn’t help matters. Jones was on the ice for three goals against and Brodie for two in five-on-five play. The Blackhawks have been outscored 14-6 with Brodie on the ice under Sorensen, and with Jones on the ice, it’s been 7-4 in four games. Jones also has a 35.36 expected goals percentage in those games, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Sorensen explained why he put them together, saying they liked Nolan Allan and Connor Murphy together as a pairing and Alex Vlasic and Louis Crevier as another, resulting in Brodie and Jones as the final pairing.
“There it is,” Sorensen said.
As for his thoughts on Brodie and Jones?
“Could be better,” he said and left it at that.
Sorensen was hopeful he could turn everything around with a few system changes and getting Connor Bedard going — which he deserves some credit for, as Bedard has found his groove again with six goals in December — but he had to know this was a process. With little practice time and a lot of games, Sorensen has to pick and choose his priorities.
“There have been some positives in terms of some of the stuff we’re creating,” Sorensen said. “It’s also like when it goes the wrong way, we can’t let it snowball. We can’t just let it go that way. If it’s quick goals after goals against, we give up another one, or start of period like we did today, those are things that we got to nip in the bud pretty quickly.”
Which brings us to the Winter Classic. The game is supposed to be a feel-good experience for a team. But for the Blackhawks, it’s odd considering they’re in last place, have already fired a coach and are searching for an identity under a new coach.
The NHL will want to tell you the next few days will be all positive for the Blackhawks and life is grand while you play at Wrigley Field. The reality?
“Maybe,” Jones said. “Maybe something different, yeah. Switch it up. I know a lot of guys have families and friends in town now. We’ll have practice tomorrow, it’s going to be a hectic couple of days. But once we hit the ice for the game, business starts.”
What happens in the Winter Classic doesn’t usually matter all that much. The result is sort of secondary to everything else. For the Blackhawks, though, it just might.
(Photo of Evgenii Dadonov’s goal in the second period: Matt Marton / Imagn Images)
