The Chicago Blackhawks were the victim of a few bad bounces, but it doesn’t absolve them of some blunders during a 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.
The Hawks usually have made their own bad luck this season and Auston Matthews’ opening goal was Exhibit A.
During a first-period line change amid a Leafs rush, Hawks defenders trained their eyes on William Nylander bolting up the right side, oblivious to Matthews sneaking up the left, behind Ryan Donato.
Nylander sauced to Matthews, who had no one between him and Arvid Söderblom and tucked it five-hole.
In the second period, the Hawks found themselves on the business end of one of the weirdest-looking goals they’ve seen this season.
John Tavares executed a spin-o-rama shot while being covered by defenseman Alex Vlasic.
Well, at least it counted as a shot, because how did a move that looked like a centering pass even get there?
The puck bounced off Vlasic’s stick, curled and caromed over Connor Murphy and sailed in over Söderblom’s shoulder.
What do you call him after that, “Ava-Tavares: The Last Puckbender”?
It was a downer for the Hawks because they put relentless pressure on the Leafs in the second period and weren’t rewarded. The 10-7 shots edge doesn’t do it justice.
Still, they carried that momentum into the third period.
Lukas Reichel shoveled in the Hawks’ first goal at the 3:26 mark, after Pat Maroon tapped T.J. Brodie’s rebound to him.
But Fraser Minten scored 21 seconds later, repeating the demons that haunted the Hawks during a 6-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday: They score and an opponent’s goal quickly cancels it out.
Here was the case of another awkward bounce.
Conor Timmins’ shot bounced off the back wall, then off Söderblom, straight to Minten.
Down 3-1, the Hawks got a must-have power play (Taylor Hall drew a hooking call) with 5 1/2 minutes left in the game.
But they failed to register a shot attempt after getting bullied at the blue line on entries and getting picky about taking what few chances they did have.
The only real threat came on Simon Benoit’s shorthand shot.
Matthew Knies salted away the game on an empty-netter, and the Hawks’ third straight defeat dropped them to 8-15-2.
“We had some great chances,” Luke Richardson said. “I thought we worked them down low pretty good. That was the game plan and unfortunately, we just didn’t connect on a few of those.”
Here are three takeaways.
1. The Leafs didn’t win any style points — just won.
Matthews speeding up the side on the game’s first goal was about as high-flying as it got.
Craig Berube’s version of the Leafs looked more like trench warfare than we’re used to seeing.
They hunkered down around the crease and only Reichel’s line was able to crack it. Toronto blocked 16 shots.
“They battled pretty hard in front of their net,” Richardson said. “But I liked our guys’ intensity and jam.
“Unfortunately we’ve got to find ways to score goals if we’re not getting them on the power play.”
It was reminiscent of early November when the Hawks were held to a goal in four games out of a five-game stretch.
2. Did the Hawks use up all their power-play goals?
They had three power-play goals against the Blue Jackets but went 0-for-4 against the Leafs.
In fact, the Leafs held the Hawks to just two shots on goal, and one of those man-advantages was a five-on-three.
“We had trouble on our entries,” Richardson said. “We were just looking for the perfect play instead of having a little more speed and trying to get it either going low to high on the strong side, bumping it back to the D, or getting it to the other side.”
Connor Bedard set up Nick Foligno from short range, “we just didn’t connect on a goal.”
3. And we’re back to Bedard line changes.
Richardson gave the Hall-Bedard-Philipp Kurashev a go for three games, but the hand that fills out the lineup card must have started twitching again.
Tyler Bertuzzi replaced Kurashev on Monday.
“I thought (Bertuzzi) was good tonight,” Richardson said. “Unfortunately Connor hit him on the power play, right on the leg.
“It didn’t work offensively tonight, but I thought they had some good shifts in the O zone. Taylor gives them a little speed and strong on the puck, and (Bertuzzi’s) usually around that net and Connor’s a playmaker.
“It’s the makeup of a good line, just didn’t connect.”
We’ve heard this before.
This Connor Carousel illustrates how the offseason push to complement Bedard offensively has failed to yield consistent results.
Against the Leafs, Bedard’s line with Bertuzzi played together for 10 minutes and 55 seconds in five-on-five and generated three shots, according to naturalstattrick.com.
Bedard finished with no shots on goal.
