Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Alex Vlasic scored his first goal of the season, but two goals from Brad Marchand in the second period powered the Boston Bruins to a 4-2 win Wednesday at the United Center.
The Hawks’ wounds were mostly self-inflicted: passing up shots, losing possession (particularly on one faceoff play) and committing third-period penalties.
“We didn’t have really a lot of offense in the first half of the game other than the first goal (by Vlasic), which was a nice goal,” coach Luke Richardson said. “Then they kind of turned it on in the second period.
“We just had trouble managing the puck. We were much better (in the second half) because we got into their zone and got some good shifts down low. (It) led to some momentum and (Jason) Dickinson’s goal to pull us within one. But it’s hard when you’re chasing pretty much the whole game.”
The defeat was the Hawks’ fourth straight and seventh in regulation (eighth overall) in their last 10 games. They’ve held the league’s last place since Friday, and at 8-16-2, they have three more regulation losses than the next closest teams (four are tied with 13).
“We’re not happy with the record for sure,” Richardson said. “The guys are trying to work within the system the right way and unfortunately … we don’t seem to have one Achilles heel.
“There’s not one problem with our team. It’s like one night there’s one area – maybe our defense or our forwards or one player – and then the next night it’s another area by a different player. So it’s just an accumulation of one-offs every game that put us behind the eight-ball.”
Here are six takeaways from the loss.
1. This tailspin seems to be eroding the Hawks’ confidence.
Early in the season, I asked some newcomers to the locker room: Do you change the culture or does the culture change you?
Now it seems like the emotional vortex that is the Hawks has sucked in a few more players.
Teuvo Teräväinen averaged 0.70 points per game last season with the Carolina Hurricanes and has averaged 0.46 with the Hawks. It’s a similar offensive spiral for Tyler Bertuzzi, who has dropped from 0.54 points per game with the Toronto Maple Leafs to 0.38 so far this season.
These are two of the players who were brought in to punch up the offense.
Teräväinen has always given off “understated,” but he seemed almost defeated after Wednesday’s loss.
“Just losing is tough and I just (put) pressure a lot (on) myself,” he said. “I want to be better. I feel like if we lose a game, I feel like I’ve got to do something better. So it’s always got to find a way to get better. Just got to work harder.”
Bertuzzi hasn’t scored in 11 games despite being elevated to the top line with Connor Bedard for the past two games.
“Bert’s a guy who is used to scoring,” Richardson said. “He’s had some good opportunities lately. Even tonight … he had a chance that he would usually slam home there. It was one of those greasy ones. It was a rebound. … I think he was battling with a guy and he got his stick on the puck and just hit the side of the net. So we need some of those to start going in.
“Sometimes you have to have that internal will to make something happen.”
It’s a bottom-line business – wins, and the goals that lead to wins – but when you count up the close losses, it’s easy to start second-guessing.
“We seemed dejected and that’s not a good thing, because we’re losing some games here,” Connor Murphy said.
Richardson added, “It mounts and it gets frustrating for the players and it weighs on their confidence, it weighs on their execution the next game.
“No one else is going to help us except for ourselves, so we have to have the internal strength to get through this. … We’re definitely not happy with where we are.”
2. Defense is trending the wrong way.
The Hawks defense could never be characterized as “shutdown,” but it was functional, even stingy at times, earlier this season.
Their 52 goals-against in five-on-five ranked 15th as of Wednesday night. That’s middling, but not the horror show you’d expect for a last-place team. And 11 empty-netters, the second most allowed in the league, pads those numbers.
There was a solid stretch when the Hawks were holding teams to one or two even-strength goals in regulation, but not lately. They have given up at least four goals in each of their last three games.
Richardson pointed to Marchand’s first goal as a great example of how there was a breakdown in responsibilities.
Alec Martinez had to move over to goalie Petr Mrázek’s right to cover David Pastrnak as the Bruin circled behind the net. Marchand dropped down when Bedard turned his back to him, and Pastrnak seamed it to him, exploiting the opening.
In Connor Murphy’s view, the Hawks put themselves in a bad spot by losing to the Bruins before Boston even scored.
“It felt like self-errors,” he said. “We iced it and then they beat us on a faceoff play that we usually should be able to cover.”
3. Giving up early leads frays at confidence too.
Alex Vlasic got the Hawks off on good footing with the opening goal just 1:23 into the game, but Morgan Geekie erased it with 7:43 left in the first.
The same thing happened in the loss to the Blue Jackets, only Columbus burned the Hawks two more times after they scored goals to regain momentum.
The Hawks also squandered leads to the Minnesota Wild, Philadelphia Flyers, Anaheim Ducks and Vancouver Canucks.
“We did it to ourselves again. We were sloppy,” Murphy said. “Seems like we were sloppy with the puck when we had a lull. We have to be able to manage that and not do damage to ourselves with costly turnovers and just sloppy play.”
4. Teuvo Teräväinen makes Finland’s 4 Nations Face-Off team.
Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States announced their final 23-man rosters for the tournament in February. Teräväinen will be the Hawks’ only representative on the ice. Equipment manager Troy Parchman was also named to the staff.
But Teräväinen didn’t want to celebrate after the loss to the Bruins.
“It means a lot, of course. It’s always an honor to put the Finnish jersey on,” he said. “It’s great but I feel like it’s still kind of far away. So all the focus is right now here and (the) bad mood after this game.”
5. Alex Vlasic illustrated how much Seth Jones is missed.
The Hawks should circle the Nov. 3 game against the Ducks, when they got two goals from defensemen Isaak Phillips, and later Seth Jones on a power play goal.
Since then, only Louis Crevier had scored on behalf of the blueliners (Nov. 27, 2024, versus Dallas) until Vlasic’s goal Wednesday.
Jones, who has been out since sustaining a right foot injury on Nov. 14 in Seattle, still leads the Hawks defense with two goals — just like he has led or co-led the previous three seasons.
Richardson said nothing has changed with Jones’ timeline.
“We’re hoping he comes on the (New York) trip (next week) but I’m not sure when he’s back on the ice yet,” he said.
6. Ryan Donato and his father are in rare company.
Donato discussed his family’s unique connection to the Boston Bruins after morning skate: Both he and his father are Boston natives who were drafted by — and played — for the Bruins.
I told him that had to be a very short list. Turns out it is.
NHL Stats conducted a search and found nine father-son combinations who had played for the team in their hometown market:
The Marchments, Toronto Maple Leafs
- Son: Mason Marchment, forward (Uxbridge, Ontario)
- Father: Bryan Marchment, defenseman (Scarborough, Ontario)
The Donatos, Boston Bruins
- Son: Ryan Donato, forward (Boston)
- Father: Ted Donato, forward (Boston)
The Bennings, Edmonton Oilers
- Son: Matthew Benning, defenseman (Edmonton, Alberta)
- Father: Brian Benning, defenseman (Edmonton, Alberta)
The Johansens, Toronto Maple Leafs
- Son: Trevor Johansen, defenseman (Thunder Bay, Ontario)
- Father: Bill Johansen, forward (Port Arthur, Ontario)
The Geoffrions, Montreal Canadiens
- Son: Danny Geoffrion, forward (Montreal)
- Father: Bernie Geoffrion, forward (Montreal)
The Cullens, Toronto Maple Leafs
- Son: John Cullen, forward (Puslinch, Ontario)
- Father: Barry Cullen, forward (Ottawa)
The Bouchards, Montreal Canadiens
- Son: Pierre Bouchard, defenseman (Longueuil, Quebec)
- Father: Butch Bouchard, defenseman (Montreal)
The Conachers, Toronto Maple Leafs
- Son: Pete Conacher, forward (Toronto)
- Father: Charlie Conacher, forward (Toronto)
The Clancys, Toronto Maple Leafs
- Son: Terry Clancy, forward (Ottawa)
- Father: King Clancy, defenseman (Ottawa)
“It’s definitely very special to me. Very cool,” Donato told the Tribune. “We’ve definitely bonded over different things, stories we’ve told.
“And I think he’s excited, the fact that I’m in Chicago, because it’s always been a team that I think he would have liked to play for, if he could have one day.
“He loved the city of Chicago, so anytime he’s here, he’s always excited, ready to go to the games. And I wish I could have him here more often during the season.”
