The Chicago Blackhawks got a snapshot of the future when rookie Kevin Korchinski scored his third goal of the season Tuesday at the United Center.
But it was hard to picture it through a muddy 4-2 loss to the league-leading Vancouver Canucks that extended the Hawks’ winless streak to seven games.
The Hawks came out looking like they weren’t fit to share the ice with a top contender.
“I don’t really have any answers,” Korchinski said. “We’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror individually and as a team and just come out with more flare flair, more anger and a chip on our shoulder that each team is going to underestimate us and we’ve got to go out there and prove them wrong.”
The Canucks entered with the league’s best record when scoring first (26-5-2), so a fast start for the Hawks was imperative.
They got the opposite.
Already down 1-0 on Conor Garland’s goal, they were 31 seconds from failing to register a shot on goal in the first period before Seth Jones did so on a power play.
“Last three games, it’s two terrible starts,” Jones said. “I wish I had an answer for you. We’ve got to come out with a lot more fire, a lot more juice.
“If not for Raz (goalie Petr Mrázek), it could be 4-0 in the first 10 minutes. Winning no battles down low. They won every single puck battle. Couldn’t get pucks out. Weren’t working together at all. It’s hard to get momentum after that.
“We had it at 2-1 (in the second period), and then they score right after. Just mental breakdowns everywhere.”
A bad sequence by Alex Vlasic led to the Canucks’ first goal. He turned over the puck to Filip Hronek on a bad breakout pass, then Garland got behind Vlasic during a give-and-go with Dakota Joshua. Mrázek committed to Joshua’s shot, leaving a wide-open tip-in for Garland.
Garland bagged a second goal in the second period — a Hronek blast that ricocheted off Garland’s foot. Tyler Johnson cracked the scoreboard for the Hawks with a power-play goal with 3:17 left in the second.
Less than two minutes later, Colin Blackwell looked to pull the Hawks even with a breakaway shot, but it hit the crossbar. The Canucks countered quickly and Nils Hoglander punched it in from the crease.
“That’s just how it’s gone,” Jones said. “You know, it could be 2-2, they go down five seconds later and it’s 3-1.
“It’s simply momentum swings that we’ve been having to deal with and it’s just unfortunate.”
Joshua padded the Vancouver lead 6:07 into the third before Korchinski capped the scoring 7:20 later, his first goal since Nov. 24 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“We’ve been proud how the guys have worked over the last month, but not tonight,” Hawks coach Luke Richardson said. “That wasn’t the same effort. Kind of the same result in pulling the goalie and putting a little pressure on at the end, but not the way we want to do things around here.”
The Hawks killed an early penalty — the penalty kill has been one bright spot — so Richardson was encouraged.
“But right after we killed that first penalty, it went downhill,” he said. “They turned their speed up and their determination level and we didn’t. We definitely didn’t match it, nowhere even close.”
Just like the Canucks and Hawks: the top and bottom of the league.
“They really showed where they are in the standings and showed us where we are,” Richardson said. “So that’s nothing to be proud of tonight, the way we played. Other than Petr.”
Here are six takeaways from the loss.
1. Kevin Korchinski found offense through simple defense.
He backhanded a pass behind the net to protect the puck from a defender and set up a breakout. All Canucks eyes were on the wall as Lukas Reichel broke out the puck to Ryan Donato, so Korchinski shot up the middle.
He and Donato led an odd-man rush, and Korchinski flushed a backdoor pass.
hello kevin score-chinski pic.twitter.com/HUa14NS8qw
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) February 14, 2024
“Reichs made a good play up the wall and Donno made a fantastic pass to me and I just had to bury it,” Korchinski said. “It was a great play by Donno and Reichs. Just unfortunate at the time of the goal that it wasn’t a closer game.”
It’s easy to envision more of those in the future, but Korchinski has been focused on defense first in this learning year, getting a feel for the right time to strike.
“The main thing is digging in defensively so that, when you get those chances, you get up the ice, you’re not playing in your D-zone,” he said. “I’m confident in my abilities and try to go out there and play my game.”
Richardson said Korchinki still can be “a little hesitant” picking the right time to go for it.
“Even shooting the puck at the end, six-on-five, he should have shot the puck right in the middle and he passes it off,” Richardson said. “The guy passes it to him and then he shoots it, but there’s a guy in his lane and blocks it.
“Things like that, these repetitions are going to be good for him down the road.”
2. The first-period shooting drought was ’embarrassing.’
You could sense the grumbling start to build at the United Center as the seconds ticked off.
And then it happened: The Hawks got their first shot on goal — with 31 seconds to spare in the first period — eliciting mock cheers from the crowd.
“We were aware. We were definitely aware,” Jones said about the seconds ticking down. “The fans were aware.
“It’s embarrassing. It’s embarrassing you can’t get one puck to the net. I don’t know if we need to shoot it quicker or we need to have a shot mentality a little bit more and stop being so cute in the offensive zone. But, yeah, I took a muffin one-timer at the end just to put a ‘one’ up there, to be honest.”
The Hawks were outshot 12-1 in the period, a little less ugly than 12-0 would have been.
"We were definitely aware. The fans were aware. It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing you can't get one puck to the net."
–Seth Jones on giving the Blackhawks their first shot on goal 31 seconds before the 1st period expired pic.twitter.com/Jtva9u0exZ
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) February 14, 2024
3. The Hawks scored on the power play for the first time since Jan. 24.
That goal, from Nick Foligno, came five games earlier in Seattle. Johnson did the honors Tuesday, but Foligno was a factor.
Foligno made a leaping stop on a clear attempt to keep the puck in the zone, then went tic-tac-toe with Philipp Kurashev and Johnson.
“Great play by Fliggy to keep it in, be aggressive on the blue line and made a tic-tac-toe play down low,” Jones said. “Made three passes in a row and put it on each other’s tape, and it’s in the back of the net.”
4. The Canucks played cat-and-mouse at one point.
So how does a team get outshot 12-1 in the first period despite three minutes of power play?
When you have to shelter in place in your defensive zone, that can be the result.
Third-liners Reichel, Taylor Raddysh and MacKenzie Entwistle got hemmed in the Hawks end for a nearly 2 1/2-minute shift in the first.
“It’s tough,” said Korchinski, who held up the back end with Louis Crevier. “You’re not getting any chances. They’re just snapping it around. But we did a good job compacting and not letting them score and weathering the storm.”
When asked what they could’ve done to get out of that situation, Richardson sounded far from pleased.
“Well, get it out the first time,” he snapped. “There was about four times in one shift that the puck should have been out. It was on their tape in that red zone that I call it — just inside the blue line.
“We panic, so we stand still and look to pass it standing still, weakly, and it doesn’t get out. And if it does get out … it’s not enough for everybody to change — or anybody to change. … That was probably one of the worst parts of our game tonight. It was red zones and turning pucks over.”
5. Reese Johnson is ready to roll with his role.
Johnson drew back into the lineup after a couple of scratches.
As a fourth-liner, he won’t always dent the box score. But he’s going to make his presence felt — vocally if not physically — even as someone hovering around the tail end of the depth chart.
“I like the strength in the player that doesn’t care,” Richardson said. “He’s the biggest part of the character on our team, almost. Nick (Foligno) has come in and done a good job in that department as well, but Reeser’s been here, he knows his role.
“Whether he’s playing or not, he’s one of the leaders in that department of being vocal and being spirited to keep everybody up.”
6. Is this Arvid Söderblom’s new reality?
It’s too soon to call it a pattern, but Söderblom sat out a fifth straight game Tuesday, matching his longest stretch without a start from Jan. 7-16. He allowed six goals on 28 shots in his last start Jan. 24 in Seattle.
Meanwhile, Mrázek had a 2.20 goals-against average in his previous 11 starts entering Tuesday with a .926 save percentage.
“It’s hard with the way Petr’s playing right now,” Richardson said. “He’s holding that net. He deserves it.
“But we definitely discussed (that) we want to get (Söderblom) in. … He continues to work with (goalie coach) Jimmy (Waite) daily, and Jimmy’s great with him. We’re confident in him to come back and be ready whenever that call is.”
