Loss to ’Canes shows areas where Hawks still lacking

The Chicago Blackhawks got a sobering reminder that for all their progress there’s a reason hockey pundits aren’t yet fully embracing them as playoff contenders.

The Carolina Hurricanes displayed a structure and execution during their 5-3 win Friday that illustrated why the Hawks just aren’t there yet.

Incidentally, Hockey Reference’s latest playoff probabilities report gives the Hawks a 43.6% chance at a postseason berth. Meanwhile, the Canes are at 87.6%.

From the outset, the Hurricanes were all over the Hawks in the neutral zone, and when the Hawks could get the puck through, they consistently had two or three Canes players at the blue line ready to turn it back.

Conversely, the Hurricanes’ offensive pressure was relentless, and when the Hawks could get a stick on a puck, it seemed aherculean task to get it out the defensive zone. Often when it looked as if the Hawks might get the puck up ice — and a get second to regroup — there was Hurricanes skater to dump it back and keep up the pressure.

This was especially true when the Hawks were on the penalty kill.

“They definitely play the most highpressure system in the league, and we definitely want to take some of what they do,” coach Jeremy Colliton said.

“That’s a team we can learn from,” said Patrick Kane, who leads the team in points (26) and scored his 397th goal Friday. “They do it so well and they’ve been doing it so well a long time.

“They have that ingrained in their system to work hard, win puck battles, and then the game’s just easier on them.”

Rookie Ian Mitchell put it more simply: “They were just all over us.”

Here are five takeaways from the game.

1. If it felt as if the Hurricanes were everywhere at once, it’s because they were. Passing lanes, loose pucks, board battles, the forecheck, the backcheck — the list goes on.

“They play man-on-man over the ice,” Mitchell said. “Anytime you’re looking for an outlet, there’s a guy right on him. That made it tough to break out pucks and get O-zone time.”

Carolina had a 61.25% Corsi-for percentage, but puck possession was tilted in their favor in the first and second periods. They also hit the Hawks 24 times and had 13 takeaways.

Said Kane: “They have some great defensive defensemen in (Jaccob) Slavin and (Brett) Pesce and (Brady) Skjei. It makes life a little bit tougher on us.”

Added Colliton: “They just forecheck really hard and have so many big bodies with speed you don’t have time. And when you do have time, they’re hard on you. We had opportunities when we had time (but) we were slow to advance it, and by the time they’re on top of you, you’re in a bad situation.

“That happened a little too much. But we have to recognize that’s a good team and we’ll keep improving.”

2. The Hawks were boxed in by penalties. There was no reason to think this would be a huge factor in the game. The Hurricanes entered the game 28.3% on the power play and were sixth-best (36.8%) at home. But while the Hawks had the 12th-ranked penalty kill (82.1%), they were even better on the road — 84.8%, eighth in the NHL.

When the Hawks couldn’t clear or get in front of a breakaway, they sometimes resorted to desperation tactics that resulted in penalties.

They escaped a couple of times, but in the third period the Hurricanes made them pay with with goals from Martin Necas and Nino Niederreiter that put the Canes ahead 4-2.

“They were just stronger on the puck, they were stronger in battles, more clean with their puck plays and led to a bunch of penalties for us, and when you don’t clear the puck on the penalty kill, you make it hard on yourself,” Colliton said. “And they have two really dangerous units.”

The Hawks’ penalty kill dropped to 18th (80%) in the league.

“We have to look at it as an opportunity to get better and realize we still have a ways to go to be where we want to be,” Colliton said

3. Take a moment to appreciate Patrick Kane’s second-period spin-orama goal.

It’s not the first time Kane spun on a defender and backhanded a sharp-angle goal, but it never gets old.

After taking an outlet pass from Alex DeBrincat, Kane spun on Pesce and tucked a corner shot under James Reimer’s right arm, his stick side.

“Yeah, good play by Brinks just to chip it up to me there, especially when we were in our zone,” Kane said. “I kind of toe-picked a little bit but when I got my head up I saw I had a little space and their guy was on my left shoulder, so I thought it was a good chance to try the spin-o-rama.

“I missed my shot a little bit. (I) was trying to go high-blocker and it went through the seven-hole. But always good to see those go in. That was a big goal for us, too, especially down 2-0 make it 2-1, got a little life off that.

“Were able to tie it up pretty quickly after. A good little sequence there for the team.”