Shuffled lines produce big payoff
CALGARY, Alberta — With Jonathan Toews a late scratch due to illness Thursday against the Flames, Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson shuffled all four forward lines in warmups.
And then all four lines scored in a 5-1 Hawks win.
Jason Dickinson moved up to first-line center and deposited a beautiful goal on a nearly betweenhis-legs shot. Max Domi moved down to Toews’ second-line center role and earned an assist on Taylor Raddysh’s goal.
Third-line wing Sam Lafferty extended his red-hot stretch with a two-on-one tap-in. And Boris Katchouk, making his first appearance since Jan. 3, scored for the fourth line — a goal on which recent call-up Luke Philp earned his first NHL point. Defenseman Connor Murphy also hit an empty net.
The Hawks’ January winning surge, written off for dead after the last two losses, apparently might not be quite done yet.
Chasing Kane
Patrick Kane tallied one assist and two shots on goal.
That latter category has been scrutinized lately because he went consecutive games last weekend (against the Blues and Kings) with zero shots for just the second time in his career.
“[We’ve been] chasing the puck a lot and not [having] much puck possession,” Kane said. “When we do get it, we can do a better job of hanging onto it.”
The only other instance was in December 2010, but it really shouldn’t count. He was injured 23 seconds into the first game, and the second game came three weeks later.
He has been talking about needing to get more possession since November, but he hasn’t been able to resolve the problem. That has been reflected in his production: He entered the game on pace to finish with 56 points in 77 games, down from 92 points last year.
It might be unresolvable, considering the way this Hawks team is constructed. Kane has no choice but to keep trying to do so, though, and he did play well Thursday. He easily could’ve had two or three points.
“It has been not a great year production-wise. It’s disappointing, for sure,” he said. “You get used to playing with certain guys [in] a certain style for two, three, four years. All of a sudden, it’s different. It’s not like it’s any worse or better; it’s just different.
“You have to learn ... how to go to the right areas, be in the right spot for your teammates. I know it has been over half the season, but some games it clicks, some games it’s been a little bit different.”
Neutral-zone numbers
Overall this season, the Hawks have carried the puck across the attacking blue line — rather than dumped it in — on just 43.4% of their offensive-zone entry attempts, according to All Three Zones. That’s the second-lowest rate in the league.
That’s not inherently a bad thing if it’s intentional. The Hurricanes have the league’s lowest carry-in rate at 42.1%, for example, but lead the league by a mile in both forechecking pressures and recovered dump-ins.
But for the Hawks, with their league-worst recovered dump-in rate, it’s suboptimal.
Four Hawks forwards have individual carry-in rates above the league average, according to All Three Zones: Lafferty (51.2%), Kane (56.8%), Andreas Athanasiou (65.8%) and Domi (70.0%).
Athanasiou and Domi actually fall well within the league’s upper quartile in that regard.