RALEIGH, N.C. — When Patrick Kane, the man who has made hockey look easy for more than a decade now, admits hockey is tough right now, it’s clear things are bad.
“A lot of hard work, a lot of 50-50 battles we’re trying to win, and it doesn’t seem like anything’s coming from it,” he added. “Hopefully, sooner or later, those things are going to break.”
The Blackhawks’ effort improved slightly but their execution remained nonexistent in an ugly 4-0 loss to the Hurricanes on Saturday.
Through nearly two periods, the Hawks were generating more shot attempts and scoring chances than the hard-forechecking Canes. Despite a one-goal deficit, they seemed have responded to the adversity of Thursday’s humiliation the way Jeremy Colliton was hoping for.
But a late second-period breakdown — a lengthy shift where the Hawks couldn’t escape their defensive zone, eventually leading to a Carolina goal — thoroughly deflated the team and led to another brutally lopsided third frame.
“We were playing hard and we just needed a goal, we needed somebody to make a play,” Colliton said. “Even then, I think we had a few shifts where we were fine, and then we started getting loose. Whether it’s pressing or whether we’re just wearing down, I’m not sure.”
The Hawks have now lost four games in a row, with just two total goals scored in the last three outings. Combined with two ugly Rockford losses this weekend in Cleveland, the organization has been out-scored 20-2 in its last four games the NHL and AHL levels.
That dire lack of success is clearly weighing hard on the locker room. Jonathan Toews, still without a 5-on-5 point this season, was asked after the loss how difficult it is to keep searching for positives in this spiraling disaster. He could only turn his palms to the ceiling.
“It’s the only choice you really have. What else can you do?” Toews said, shrugging. “Things are just kind of snowballing in the wrong direction for us, and it’s really easy to get frustrated and you start searching for ways to try and end the slide. But we’ve just got to stay with it.”
The “stick with it” mentality has been what Colliton has preached for weeks.
But with the Hawks now 28th in the NHL in offense, 19th in defense, 26th on the power play, 28th on the penalty kill and 21st in scoring chance ratio, there’s not much tangible proof to support that optimism right now.
Even Colliton did try switching things up Saturday. He moved Zack Smith into the lineup, benched Drake Caggiula, slid Dylan Strome to the fourth line and reunited Toews and Kane, seemingly going against his Thursday rant that the Hawks’ line combinations don’t matter. Asked about that contradiction, he admitted that shuffling the lines “gives the guys a jolt of energy,” even though it “doesn’t mean you don’t believe in the combos” that already existed.”
There were no jolts of energy to be found Saturday, though.
The Hawks may have deserved a goal or two — Petr Mrazek (32 saves on 32 shots) did clearly best Corey Crawford (27 saves on 31 shots) in the goaltending department. But they certainly, yet again, didn’t deserve a different final outcome than what they received.
“No one’s going to lend us a hand out of this,” Colliton said. “We’ve just got to keep playing.”
