CHICAGO _ Want the good news first? Dylan Strome scored a goal in his first game with the Blackhawks.
Now look away, because it's all downhill from here.
The Hawks once again got off to a bad start but instead of keeping things close they were battered, bruised and blown out Tuesday night in an 8-3 loss to the Golden Knights at the United Center.
With his team a work-in-progress, Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton is searching for the right combinations.
The one Hawks fans wanted to see _ Alex DeBrincat and Strome on a line together _ they got in Strome's first game since coming over in the trade that sent Nick Schmaltz to the Coyotes. Patrick Kane played alongside the old Erie Otters teammates and the new linemates looked comfortable together.
They created several scoring chances in the first period, and in the second Strome scored his first goal with the Hawks off assists from Kane and DeBrincat. Strome also had an assist on Erik Gustafsson's third-period goal.
"We're still getting there," Colliton said. "I know a lot more about the group now than I did before. And there's a necessary turn with the pairs and with the line combos and who's in and who's out as we learn as a staff sort of what we have. And also how they're going to adjust to us maybe doing things different than they were doing before.
"Now we add a couple of new guys, (Connor) Murphy will be back at some point, so that'll continue on. But we've learned a lot already."
It wasn't nearly enough. The Hawks fell behind early once again and now have been outscored 11-1 in the first period over their last four games.
The Golden Knights' Daniel Carr got things started 2 minutes, 10 seconds into the game. The Hawks thought they tied it three minutes later on a Dominik Kahun rebound but the Knights challenged and Kahun was ruled to have been offside, wiping out the goal.
Things went south fast from there.
The Knights went up 2-0 on an unassisted goal, though Jonathan Toews and Corey Crawford could have been credited with helpers. Toews sent a pass to the point but with no defenseman there it went all the way back into the Hawks' zone. Crawford retrieved it behind his net and tried to clear it but it went right to Alex Tuch, who took a few strides in before scoring his eighth goal of the season.
Cody Eakin made it 3-0 with 3:46 left in the first and the Hawks closed out the period with possibly their worst power play of the season. They were never able to get set up, didn't get a shot on goal and iced it once.
Gustav Forsling made it 3-1 just 29 seconds into the second period on a shot that deflected off William Karlsson for his first goal of the season. But Karlsson got the goal back a few minutes later with a power-play score.
The Hawks trailed 6-2 after the second period and Colliton pulled Crawford, who stopped 24 of 30 shots, to start the third in favor of Cam Ward.
