Patrick Kane found the United Center to be still hospitable despite returning to the building as a Detroit Red Wing on Wednesday.
The group that seems to find less comfort there happens to be the Chicago Blackhawks. Mind you, they haven’t been home much — just five games out of 14 — but they’ve won there only once and lost their fourth straight home game 4-1 to the Red Wings.
“Not good enough,” Connor Murphy said. “It’s really frustrating at home. We’re trying to build a better group of performances here at home.
“The United Center was known years ago to be a hard place to play in … and we haven’t made it that so far this year.”
Added Nick Foligno: “We probably just (need to) understand it’s a more simple game, simple approach. I think we get in front of our crowd and for whatever reason we feel we have to put on a show. It’s just simplifying.
“We’ve got to figure it out at home, especially when we’re not on TV. We’ve got to find a way to get our fans excited about us playing here. It’s disappointing tonight.”
As much of a letdown as the early home record is, the Hawks also squandered a chance to win their third game in a row, something they haven’t done since a five-game winning streak in February 2023.
Wednesday’s game started well enough. The Hawks held the Red Wings in the first period to a 9-minute, 16-second drought in shots on goal before ex-Hawk Alex DeBrincat ended it with Detroit’s second shot. Petr Mrázek robbed DeBrincat at the doorstep, bending backward to glove the puck before it could dribble across the goal line.
DeBrincat hit the crossbar on his next attempt, but the third time was the charm. Dylan Larkin set him up with a cross-crease pass, and DeBrincat found an opening from the side with two seconds left in the period.
Foligno jammed the puck past Cam Talbot’s leg for the equalizer 8:42 into the second after Tyler Bertuzzi fished a loose puck out off the back wall and whipped it to Foligno.
Photos: Detroit Red Wings 4, Chicago Blackhawks 1 at the United Center
But later in the period, Simon Edvinsson knocked the puck away from Bertuzzi, DeBrincat collected it and connected with Larkin, who motored past the Hawks defense to give the Red Wings a 2-1 lead they never relinquished.
Joe Veleno deflected Moritz Seider’s point shot, and it ricocheted in off Nolan Allan’s skate 3:03 into the third. Andrew Copp padded the margin with an empty-netter.
“We just didn’t have energy most of the night,” coach Luke Richardson said. “Just a couple of poor decisions at times. Timely goals against, like the one at the end of the first period, we obviously can’t give up.
“We gave them too many two-on-ones and line rushes against us, which takes a lot of energy out when we didn’t have a whole lot of it to begin with.”
Perhaps going back on the road to face the Dallas Stars on Thursday can be a remedy. The Hawks finished the last trip 3-2-0 with back-to-back wins against the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks.
Here are five takeaways from Wednesday’s loss.
1. How demoralizing was Alex DeBrincat’s goal?
The last time the Hawks and Red Wings met in February, it was Kane who haunted his former team with an overtime goal. DeBrincat did the honors this time by scoring with two seconds left in the first period.
“It sucks,” Foligno said. “You don’t want to be giving up a goal that late, but we got it back, right?”
Yes, the Hawks tied it in the second, but the emotional damage was done.
“It’s frustrating,” Murphy said. “It felt like we had them hemmed in for a while there. We felt like we were wanting to push and try to score there in the last seconds of the period and didn’t really feel like it was a threat for them to come back.”
2. Dylan Larkin’s goal was just as damaging.
The Hawks were about to set up in the offensive zone when the Red Wings took the puck, and Larkin finished on the other end to retake the lead.
“The second goal’s a direct result of a few shifts of not getting the puck in deep, and they make you pay,” Foligno said. “They’re a team that plays off the rush. They’re opportunistic — they like that style of hockey. They want to be able to get it for an odd-man rush and make you pay. … You can’t be the one giving it away.”
Isaak Phillips was caught in a bad spot when Larkin sped by him.
“Not much” Phillips could’ve done, Richardson said. “He’s looking for a (line) change. He was dead tired on that shift.
“We have to do a better job getting pucks deep. We got a little bit sloppy, especially in the second period. Our power play was not great (0-for-2 with one shot on goal), and then we had two or three shifts in a row where we turned pucks over at the blue line and that was one of them.”
3. There’s more than one way to handle Patrick Kane.
The last thing the Hawks wanted was for him to play the hero again.
“He’s got some of the best vision that we’ve seen in our game,” said Seth Jones, who played with Kane during his last two seasons in Chicago. “Try to close him out quick, try to separate him from the puck as fast as I can, because bad things usually happen when he’s got it on his stick for a long time.”
Last season Kane didn’t need to have the puck when Connor Bedard rocked him along the boards in their first meeting.
Kane joked about the moment before Wednesday’s game.
“We’ll see what happens, I guess,” he said. “Last year, I think I said he had the bubble (face mask) on, so he’s lucky I didn’t come after him. Hopefully I don’t get hit by him this year.
“It was a pretty good hit up against the wall. I didn’t know he had the physicality in him, so maybe I let up a little bit.”
“Last year I think I said he had the bubble on, so he was lucky I didn’t come after him. Hopefully I don’t get hit by him. It was a pretty good hit. … Didn’t know he had the physicality in him. Maybe I let up a little bit.”
—Patrick Kane on Connor Bedard’s hit last season pic.twitter.com/Pt9Nxsa4cH
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) November 6, 2024
In the rematch, the crowd of 19,984 got the Bedard-Kane moment many were looking for. Kane stripped Bedard in the Hawks end, and Bedard tripped him after Kane got by him, resulting in a penalty.
Before the game, Kane gave Bedard a glowing review.
“He’s obviously a special player,” he said. “He does a lot of things that not many guys can do in the league, as far as the way he can stickhandle around defenders or get his shot off.
“Coming into the league, maybe his playmaking was a little underrated too. You see a lot of plays that he makes for his linemates. He’s had a great start to his career and I’m sure he’ll continue to get better and better.”
4. Kane had more time to reflect during this trip.
Unlike in February, the Red Wings had a morning skate, offering the former Hawk a chance to take it all in.
“Just coming in here and being on the ice in the morning,” Kane said, “(wearing a) different jersey and looking around at all the banners and the building in general, how many great memories were here and how many times you were out there for morning skate donning that Blackhawks logo. It was a great run.
“(I’ll) always cherish the chance to come back here, whether it’s in the summer (for workouts) and seeing different people or coming back and playing and coming to this rink. It’s pretty special.”
5. Isaak Phillips has seen highs and lows.
The young defenseman didn’t see anything at all on his first goal of the season Sunday against the Ducks.
“I was shooting for the post,” he said. “I couldn’t really see the goalie. I just saw that side of the net, so I just tried to get by the first few guys and it went in.”
That was a highlight. A lowlight came in the second period Wednesday when Larkin rocketed by him for the go-ahead goal.
Phillips is looking to make an impression. He’s on the clock. Because he cleared waivers earlier and was recalled Oct. 29, he’s waiver-exempt up to 10 games or 30 days with the Hawks, whichever comes first.
“It’s not really on my mind,” he said. “It’s just play every day, see how it goes. I’m just looking to prove myself.”
On being waived Oct. 6, he said: “Obviously no one wants to go on waivers, and if you get picked up, you get picked up. There’s nothing really you can do about it.
“I want to stay here. I want to be here, be a part of this team, part of this group. I was happy not to leave.”
