Despite 3-game skid, Hawks headed in ‘right direction’
If there’s a bright side to the Blackhawks losing their third straight game Friday night, it is at least the losses are in tighter games than they were at the beginning of the season.
The Hawks twice took the Nashville Predators beyond regulation before allowing the winning goals Tuesday and Wednesday, then fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 to start a four-game homestand.
Trailing 2-0 in the second period Friday, Dylan Strome scored a power-play goal, but the Hawks couldn’t do much else against Blue Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo, who made 31 saves.
“Overall we played a pretty solid game,” coach Jeremy Colliton said. “They’re a good team, they work hard, they make you earn what you get. It’s tough to come from behind against a team like that, and they’ve got really good goaltending.
“But I thought we did a lot of good things, and we did more than enough to score more than one goal. By no means are we satisfied, and we expect to get better. … But we continue to move in the right direction.”
Here are three observations from the game.
1. Wait. Frustration and ‘bad math’ don’t add up to wins?
Other than their two wins against the Detroit Red Wings, the Hawks have experienced either blowouts or close defeats.
Colliton was asked whether players are getting frustrated.
“No, I think we stuck with it pretty good,” he said. “That’s where we’ve got to grow as well.”
He suggested that in the past if things weren’t going well offensively, the team would start freelancing or just open up the ice and start to “trade chances” with the opposition.
“That might work on any given night, but over the long haul it just won’t,” Colliton said. “I’d rather play the right way and lose tonight but be in position to win over time because we’re building the type of game that can have sustained success.
“I’d rather do it this way than throw caution to the wind, trade a four-on-three for a two-on-one, trade a three-on-two for a breakaway. That’s bad math, so I just want us to stick with it.”
Essentially, Colliton doesn’t want the Hawks to throw everything at a rush and get caught with their pants down on a counterattack if it doesn’t work. That’s the “bad math” he’s talking about. That’s fine — you want to do it the right and certainly it will take time to eliminate those habits with players who barely knows each other. But at some point the “good math” has to show signs it can produce points in the standings.
2. Speaking of math, what’s better than five-on-four? Five-on-five.
Strome’s goal off a feed from Patrick Kane gave the Hawks their 10th power-play goal in nine games.
That’s all well and good, but they also stayed at just 11 goals at five-on-five. That’s about 1.2 goals per game — and that includes a couple of blowouts against the Red Wings.
Thank goodness for the power play, right?
“Well, we want to score more, for sure,” Colliton said. “We’re creating chances. We’re generating more in the offensive zone than we have in the past. Transition chances I feel will be there with the group we have.
“Missing a little bit of execution when we have the opportunity off the rush. Just not quite finishing, not quite making that last pass. But I believe that will come too.”
The numbers suggest the Hawks should have dominated the Blue Jackets, particularly when they had a lopsided advantage in puck possession in the first period.
According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Hawks had 12 high-danger chances to the Blue Jackets’ eight. But even the eye test would have told you the Hawks were getting really good looks and just not cashing in.
Case in point: During the second period, Brandon Hagel appeared to have a prime opportunity to tap in a goal, but Korpisalo slid over to make the kick save.
Strome, playing on a line with Dominik Kubalik and Philipp Kurashev, said the Hawks don’t know the answer yet to their five-on-five woes.
However, a place to start would be forwards getting to the net more often and defensemen taking more shots, he said.
“I think our (defensemen), when they have the lane, they got great shots and we scored five or six goals from the point this year with tips and screens and rebounds or whatever,” Strome said. “When they get through, we have good chances.
“So I guess that would be the one thing: finding a way to get to the net more. … We missed a lot of chances tonight that on most nights I feel like go in. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”
3. Korpisalo owns bragging rights on buddy Kevin Lankinen.
Despite giving up two goals, Hawks goalie Lankinen looked good in his fifth start, making 25 saves.
But he was overshadowed a bit by Korpisalo, who was born in Pori, Finland, about a three-hour drive from Lankinen’s native Helsinki. Korpisalo made 31 stops, including 18 in the second period.
“We’re really good buddies, we hang out in the summer, we work out and skate together, so it was fun to match up against him,” Lankinen said. “He did a tremendous job, made some big stops.
“I’m going to hear about this game for a little while, but luckily we get them next time.”
During the Blue Jackets’ postgame videoconference, Korpisalo was asked about competing against Lankinenand a little smile crept on his face.
“Yeah that was great, just battling against one of the best friends you have,” he said. “Getting a win, that was really fun. I think it’s been six or seven years since we played against each other.
“He won that one, so that was great to win today.”
Lankinen fully expects to hear some chirping about it at some point.
“Last time we played against each other, that was seven years ago in the Finnish league and I got the win, so I got those seven years to get to him,” Lankinen said. “I think he’ll come back at me for a little while, but on Sunday we’ve got a new game and we’re going to get them.”