The Blackhawks haven’t been having much fun lately. A rough nine-day road trip with no regulation wins didn’t help lift any spirits.
But they welcomed their reprieve home on Thursday, beating the Canucks 5-2 on the backs of an unusually aggressive offense.
It was a decidedly different mood in the locker room afterward — far jollier than the melancholy that was October.
In a joint media scrum with Patrick Kane and Andrew Shaw, the two longtime teammates toyed with reporters for several minutes by posing as one another. Shaw answered questions as Kane, and vice versa.
The skit elicited several cackles and some puzzled looks from the media gaggle assembled.
“You guys are out of your element,” Kane joked to reporters. “Going to have to question your performance. Seems like you guys are a little bit off.”
Kane and Shaw were decidedly amused throughout the performance.
”It always helps when you’re winning,” Kane said.
Kane had expressed his fair share of frustration in recent weeks. But on Thursday, he was all banter.
”I give you guys, like, a B+,” Kane told reporters with a laugh.
Coach Jeremy Colliton said this sort of energy is a key to righting the Blackhawks’ ship.
”We’ve got to have some fun,” Colliton said. “These guys — all players — play better when they’re happy and they have some joy in their game.”
