You could say the Chicago Blackhawks were the picture of frustration during a 5-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, but which image?
Connor Bedard punching the boards after hitting the crossbar on a power-play shot? Or Bedard banging his head on the boards? Maybe it’s Reese Johnson beating Chris Wagner in a fight, then imploring his bench, “Let’s (bleeping) go!”
“Anything to change a little momentum,” Johnson said later. “It’s part of my role.”
Certainly by the time Avs defenseman Devon Toews scored with 1.7 seconds left in the second period to take a 4-0 lead, the Hawks had to be at their boiling point.
“That one hurts,” defenseman Jarred Tinordi said. “I don’t think we responded well when we got down. I think we got tentative. We were just kind of watching them make plays, watching them exit the zone and it’s frustrating.
“We were looking to get over that hump tonight, and we didn’t have it, we didn’t do it.”
The Hawks, after their fifth straight loss, have cause to be exasperated.
They started off jumping on pucks and turning back advances by Colorado, but all for not as the Hawks were shut out for the eighth time this season.
Zach Parise scored the opening goal off a two-on-one with Johnson with 2 minutes left in the first.
Hawks coach Luke Richardson said, “It’s disappointing at the end of the period to give that one up. We started chasing the game a little bit then and didn’t have the same type of execution defensively against them.”
Early in the second period, Philipp Kurashev and Bedard had their own two-on-one brewing, but Samuel Girard broke up Kurashev’s pass to Bedard.
The Avalanche bagged goals 42 seconds apart in the second period. Ross Colton cleaned up his own rebound as Hawks goalie Petr Mrázek tried to dive on the puck.
“The power-play goal, that hurt,” RIchardson said. “If (only) we could have got that killed off (with) two seconds left” in the man advantage.
Then Parise backhanded in a rebound from Ryan Johansen’s nifty attempt to stuff it in from below the goal line. Toews one-timed a dish from Mikko Rantanen with 2 seconds left in the period.
Nathan MacKinnon piled on with the fifth with 2 1/2 minutes left in the game.
“We haven’t had a game like that in a long time,” Richardson said. “We’ve been in every game and tonight, just by the third period, that’s a long hill to climb against a team like this.
“It’s good that you’re upset and you’re frustrated. Hopefully we can bring that to the table Saturday (against the Columbus Blue Jackets) and make sure we execute right through the 20 minutes (of each period). You give the other team momentum, it’s hard to get it back.”
Here are three takeaways from the loss.
1. What was going on between Josh Manson and Connor Bedard?
Early in the third in the Avs’ end, Manson, a Hinsdale native and son of ex-Hawk Dave Manson, slashed Bedard’s wrist. Bedard shook his hand in pain and dropped his stick.
With about 4 minutes left, Manson knocked Bedard off his feet while they were both going for a loose puck in the corner, and they started shoving each other.
Tinordi didn’t see the shoving match but “I heard the crowd get loud … toward the end.”
He said of Bedard, “There’s going to be players that try to get under his skin a little bit and that’s something he has to learn how to play through, and then we have guys in this room that’ll step up when needed.”
Richardson didn’t see much of the late-period clash, but knew Bedard came barreling in on the forecheck and Manson lost his stick.
“He’s a feisty guy,” Richardson said of Manson, “so I’m sure him and Connor just bumped heads in the corner. Connor doesn’t seem to back down from anybody. I like the aggressiveness.”
As for the slash, Richardson was made aware of it after the game.
“Connor will whack him back,” he said. “He’s not afraid to.”
“Connor will whack him back. He's not afraid to."
–Luke Richardson on Connor Bedard getting whacked on the wrist by Josh Manson pic.twitter.com/JgOrEBsHP9
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) March 1, 2024
2. Old Man Jack Johnson is still teaching the Hawks a few lessons.
Johnson, who split last season between the Hawks and Avs, showed he still has a few tricks up his sleeve at 37 years old.
Here are a few examples.
1. In the first period, Johnson used his stick to keep Bedard from getting a clean shot, then snuck up behind Anthony Beauvillier at the defensive blue line and stripped him.
Johnson and fellow dinosaur Parise ran a two-on-one against Hawks rookie Kevin Korchinski, with Johnson serving up the helper to Parise for the 1-0 goal.
2. Bedard put a nasty deke on Logan O’Connor and was moving in, but Johnson shoved MacKenzie Entwistle, and he and Bedard collided before Bedard could get a shot off.
“I think it surprised Beauv, but he’s got to be aware that guy’s coming behind him,” Richardson said of the Avs’ man-to-man on defense. “Jack came up and he’s a big strong guy. He just out-muscled him up the wall.”
3. Petr Mrázek snapped at Jaycob Megna after Ross Colton’s goal.
Megna was stationary as he camped out in front of the crease to break up a pass from Colton to Parise.
That gave Colton clearance to take a crack at Mrázek, scoop up the rebound and score from an angle. Mrázek’s head bobbed as he barked at Megna.
Power play goal for Colorado!
Scored by Ross Colton with 13:04 remaining in the 2nd period.
Assisted by Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews.
Chicago: 0
Colorado: 2#COLvsCHI #Blackhawks #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/lhbdh75AcD— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) March 1, 2024
“I think (Megna was) trying to reach up for the shot-tip in the slot and he was just a little late getting there,” Richardson said. “So if he’s late getting there the rebound’s wide open for the guy, so it looks like your defensemen is not there helping you.
“If he gets a stick on that, it probably doesn’t get to Petr, or if it does, it might stay on more of the strong side where Petr can just gobble it up and freeze it.”
Richardson said Mrázek’s reaction was akin to throwing your hands up, “disappointed that it just didn’t get done. It didn’t get executed.”
After the game, some Hawks acknowledged that frustration was seeping in with each other.
Johnson said, “That’s definitely something that can’t happen. It’s fine getting frustrated, (but) you’ve got to channel that. We’ve got to maybe address that and move on.”
“You try and keep that in check,” Tinordi agreed. “Let’s be honest here: We haven’t won a ton of hockey games. You do your best to not let that creep in, but that’s what we’re all here to do. It’s frustrating we don’t get it done.”
Richardson said it’s a good thing the team has a day off Friday, giving them a chance to get their minds off the latest shutout.
“This team has been really good about talking about things and coming to the rink the next day with a good attitude to work,” he said. “And that’s what we’ll have to do.”
