SAN JOSE, Calif. — It’s something how one game can change a team’s perspective this time of year.
The Blackhawks were feeling good after Monday’s win over the Colorado Avalanche. They played well enough from start to finish. They had been in all but one of their first 10 games. While their record wasn’t where they hoped it would be, Monday’s win coupled with their competitiveness in the others allowed them to generate some optimism. Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson remarked after Monday’s win he was curious how his team would process the win and move forward.
A few days later, he found out, and it wasn’t what he was hoping. Whatever positive vibe the Blackhawks were carrying from Monday, the Sharks popped it Thursday with a 3-2 win at home.
Before Thursday’s game, the Sharks had been starting to show they weren’t a complete dumpster fire, winning consecutive games against the Los Angeles Kings and Utah Hockey Club. Still, they entered the game with the worst points percentage in the NHL. They’re a team the Blackhawks should beat if they’re going to be taken seriously this season and aren’t just going to compile a ton of moral victories. Blackhawks fans are way too familiar with teams that take steps forward and then take more steps back. It’s been going on for some time now.
Thursday was another step back. The Blackhawks were respectable and competitive again. Thursday’s game marked the 10th of 11 this season where the Blackhawks were either leading, tied or within a goal in the third period. But like most of those, the Blackhawks failed to win again.
At some point, how you lost doesn’t matter. Your record is simply your record. The fact is the Blackhawks’ record after 11 games is 3-7-1. As much as they don’t resemble the same abysmal team of a season ago, the standings don’t reflect that. With the Sharks winning and the Blackhawks losing, the Sharks jumped the Blackhawks in the standings, and it’s now the Blackhawks who are 32nd in the NHL in points percentage. That has to be a harsh reality for the Blackhawks.
Just think what a win Thursday would have meant for the Blackhawks. This story would be much different. That would have been momentum forward. That would have been building on something. Instead, they’re back to where they were two games ago.
The Blackhawks know they’re repeating themselves.
“We put together some good periods against good teams,” said Blackhawks forward Ryan Donato, who scored his team-leading sixth goal in the loss. “There’s not a night you can take off in this league; there’s too many good players. Tonight’s a prime example of that. We can always say we can go regroup and try to get better, but at a certain point, it’s super frustrating and it’s hard to keep on saying that. I’m going to say it again: Hopefully, we can learn from the experience, but we need results.”
That’s what made Thursday’s loss so frustrating for the Blackhawks. It was a result they should have had. Maybe the Sharks aren’t as bad as expected, but they’re beatable and the Blackhawks had enough possession and chances to do so. Seth Jones said as much.
“It’s a winnable game for us,” said Jones, who attempted nine shots in the third period. “We think we’re a better hockey team, but we have to go out and show it every night. It’s just frustrating. Like you said, big win in Colorado and then we come out and lose this one. It’s one we think we could win and should have.”
Where did it go wrong Thursday? Richardson thought it came down to the second period. The Blackhawks were winning 2-1 after the first period and then let the Sharks overtake them in the second period.
“We were off and on our game plan, really,” Richardson said. “Over the game, I thought there was times it was just a little bit sloppy play. But there were times when we were really good in the offensive zone and in our transition. Unfortunately, we just didn’t get a bounce in a couple of those flurries in the O-zone. … But it’s a game that I think that we come out and got the lead in the first period, and the second period was probably the most disorganized and maybe just off our game plan a little bit. And that’s all it takes to lose a game in this league.”
Jones thought the Blackhawks got away from what they did in the first period and were trying to be too pretty through the neutral zone.
“We started turning the puck over,” Jones said. “Same old story you’re going to hear a thousand times. You’ve heard it a thousand times. We start going east-west in the neutral zone. Sometimes we think we’re the Globetrotters in the neutral zone when we need to be getting pucks deep and going to work and scoring rebound goals like we did last game. Just keep it simple.”
Simple was how Tyler Bertuzzi scored his first five-on-five goal Thursday. After a faceoff win in the offensive zone, Connor Murphy put a shot on net and Bertuzzi did what he’s done throughout his career — battled at the front of the net and scored.
give ’em pumpkin to talk about🎃 pic.twitter.com/abW6BORRSs
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 1, 2024
Bertuzzi’s goal has to be encouraging for the Blackhawks. Donato’s offensive surge is certainly welcome, too. But as nice as depth scoring can be for the Blackhawks, when they lose, it can’t be because their top offensive players aren’t producing.
Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teräväinen had some chances Thursday, but the Blackhawks need them to get rolling together for this team to get over the hump offensively.
“I think they had some good looks,” Richardson said. “I think Teuvo just missed, or he might have got a blocker on it at the end. But no, definitely, I think we got to think shoot a little bit more instead of playmaking from the blue line in and create a little bit more off that rush and getting those shots off. But they are creative and they had a good … we only had the one power play in the five-on-four up until the six-on-four at the end. And I thought they moved it around well, created some good scoring looks. Unfortunately, we just didn’t get it.”
Joey Anderson got sick, then he got replaced.
Anderson was appearing in Richardson’s lineup on a regular basis until he came down with an illness that kept him out of the Blackhawks’ game Oct. 19. When he became healthy again, he remained out of the lineup and hasn’t played since.
It’s obviously not what Anderson wants, but he understands the situation.
“It’s never easy not to play,” Anderson said. “It’s not anything that I did, just obviously got sick. Especially after Colorado, the team’s flying right now, you’re not going to change that lineup. Just do what I can to stay ready. I think the road trip has helped. I’ve done a ton with the guys in social settings, which has been nice. It keeps me engaged with the group and not feel like we’re kind of on the side, which can happen when you’re playing this many games in a row and when you’re not in the lineup.”
Sounded like a number of people were having trouble getting CHSN reception with their antennas in the Chicago area Thursday. Sorry, don’t have any good news to report on that end. That is also the same old story.
Thursday’s game marked CHSN’s ninth Blackhawks broadcast without carriage on Comcast or an app. CHSN has 60 more Blackhawks broadcasts this season.
(Photo: D. Ross Cameron / Imagn Images)
