NEWSLETTER
Catalyst you exist to pull me down,
You contradict the fact that you still want me around,
And its all downhill from here,
And its all downhill from here
That’s for my fellow early-2000’s teens.
The Chicago Blackhawks, once flirting with the idea of getting out of the basement of the NHL, are where they are supposed to be after all. Losers of six-straight games, the fell to the Arizona Coyotes last night, the worst team in the NHL, and have allowed 21 goals over their last four losses since the calendar flipped to 2022.
Before the season, I wanted to believe that the Blackhawks could actually surprise people this year. I did believe it. And I also wanted to believe that when Stan Bowman and Jeremy Colliton left the club, things could turn around in a major way. I was wrong on both counts. Now we live in a hockey world where the next steps for Chicago is to sell everything not bolted to the ground.
• Following the loss last night, the Blackhawks players held a “Players Only” meeting (that’s always a good sign).
Blackhawks Players Held “Closed Door Meeting” Following 6-4 Loss To Coyoteshttps://t.co/a7MgGhJead pic.twitter.com/a0Q9Ol3GAI
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 7, 2022
• Who knows what was said or what will come from the meeting, but it’s something different to try to figure out what the team might have within them to pull themselves out of this current rut.
Derek King on hearing the same things about sticking together as a team, etc.: "The broken record has been played for 100 years. Even when I played it was the same thing. We said the right things and we believe in the right things. But sometimes it’s hard to do the right things."
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) January 7, 2022
• This is now six-straight losses for the Blackhawks, going 0-3-3 in that stretch since December 17.
Toews: "We don’t want this little skid to snowball into something bigger than it is. Just trying to flush a couple of those down the tube and move onto the next game and know that if we keep playing as a team and more consistent with our effort, things are gonna start clicking."
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) January 7, 2022
• Under Derek King, the Blackhawks were at one point 10-6-0, they are now 10-9-3, which isn’t as fun. It looked as if there was a chance that King could be the guy to make the difference in the Blackhawks’ locker room and turn the ship around. Now, it feels like this is a roster issue, a player issue. They need to be the ones to turn things around, if they think they can still do it.
Toews on Blackhawks' postgame locker room talk tonight:
"There's clearly times the past few games where we're playing good hockey, and then we just decide to take a few shifts off… We've got to find ways to commit to each other and not have those lapses in energy and focus."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 7, 2022
• Chicago is 11 points out of the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference, and seven points behind the team directly in front of them, the Dallas Stars. So good luck to them to try and gain ground at this point in the season.
• One way they could start to do better is by doing better from the start.
Toews: "Our start was pretty flat"
The #Blackhawks have been outscored 8-1 in the 1st period since the new year (4 games).
— Joe Brand (@Joe_Brand1) January 7, 2022
• It’s not like this is a small sample-size problem, either.
#Blackhawks goal differential by period this season:
1st period -20 (20-40)
2nd period -8 (25-33)
3rd period -10 (30-40)
Chicago is 1-9-3 this year when trailing after the 1st period, 1-14-3 when trailing after the 2nd.— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) January 7, 2022
• Last night was another example of the Blackhawks having to play from behind and ending up not having enough to come out on top. They did it against the Avalanche, starting down 0-2 and coming back to take a 3-2 lead before squandering it. They were down 0-2 last night and tied the game, then again down 5-2 and made the game close. Responses are good, but they don’t win you games. You have to play with and hold onto leads to be a good team.
• It doesn’t help that the Blackhawks have the league’s worst penalty-kill unit since Derek King took over. They allowed two more powerplay goals last night and have a 66.7% kill-rate since November 7.
The #Blackhawks have allowed a power-play goal in 14 of their last 20 games.
— John Dietz (@johndietzdh) January 7, 2022
• They are 17th in the NHL in times shorthanded per game since November 7 with a 2.86 marker.
• For those of you in New York, if you’re thinking about doing the sports betting thing, make sure you check out the pre-registration bonuses from DraftKings here and from FanDuel here. You get a $100 bonus just for signing up (and you still get all the usual new user bonuses after that), but the offer goes away when sports betting goes live in the state on Saturday morning. So it’s kinda today or bust on that. Full details on DraftKings here, on FanDuel here.
• Although it was a 6-4 loss, there were some highlight goals from Chicago last night, starting with Kirby Dach’s line-drive in the second period.
#Cubs fans are focusing too much on Carlos Correa and not enough on Kirby Dach #Blackhawks #CHIvsARZ pic.twitter.com/UCc0Wbyk97
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 7, 2022
• Tying the game in the second period, former Coyotes 2017 draft pick MacKenzie Entwistle comes back to “haunt” his former club.
Former #Yotes draft pick MacKenzie Entwistle ties the game at 2-2 for the #Blackhawks in the 2nd period pic.twitter.com/DZZDCwJZk7
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 7, 2022
• The highlight of the night for the Blackhawks came late in the third period on the powerplay, with Dylan Strome bunting the puck out of mid-air to Alex DeBrincat, who buried his 21st goal of the season.
DeBrincat with the powerplay goal for his 21st of the year, pulling the #Blackhawks within one of the #Yotes 5-4#CHIvsARZ pic.twitter.com/h9Hjn7dhvW
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 7, 2022
• Even in the loss, this goal was the talk of the NHL last night. So that’s cool.
• Less than an hour before puck drop, the Blackhawks have a number of roster moves to make after placing three players in COVID protocol, most notably Brandon Hagel.
Roster Moves: Blackhawks Place Hagel, Lafferty, and Gustafsson in COVID Protocol https://t.co/5KNF5627Qa
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 7, 2022
• This led the Blackhawks to have to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen last night with Nicolas Beaudin being the extra defenseman. He played two shifts and I lost clump of hair.
• But at least I didn’t lose more, which Connor Murphy and Caleb Jones reportedly did last week, having their cars stolen while out to dinner in Chicago.
Connor Murphy and Caleb Jones Reportedly Had Their Cars Stolen While Out To Dinnerhttps://t.co/xmo2lfARUS pic.twitter.com/JGU4nuB6n9
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 6, 2022
• Fortunately, the valets who were held-up for the players’ cars are alright.
• In case you missed it, there is a chance that Blackhawks goaltending prospect Drew Commesso could be invited to play for Team USA at the 2022 Winter Olympics with NHL players not participating.
Report: Drew Commesso Could Play For Team USA at 2022 Winter Olympicshttps://t.co/I7qjJeME9z pic.twitter.com/pRH6pHkSm8
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 6, 2022
• Commesso was supposed to be with Team USA at the 2021 World Junior Championships, but COVID got in the way. He was brought onto Team USA at the World Championships last summer, but was the third goalie and didn’t play. He was the top goalie for Team USA at this year’s World Junior Championships, played one game (won), and then COVID got in the way again. Drew needs this.
• A Happy Blackhawks Birthday to former defenseman Brent Sopel!
Happy 45th Birthday to Brent Sopel!#Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/ZJOz1qgdnp
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 7, 2022
• In other NHL news last night, “Jumbo” Joe Thornton skated in his 1,700th career regular season game!
https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1479266037451399176?s=20
• Playing with the Panthers and facing the Dallas Stars, this was the first time since they were teammates with the San Jose Sharks from 2006-2019 that Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski were on the ice together.
Joe²@DallasStars | @FlaPanthers pic.twitter.com/AoqlpRg6Wc
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 7, 2022
• That’s a wholesome moment.
• For a hot minute, it looked like the Winnipeg Jets might be moving…temporarily, but that is no longer the case.
Morning update: it appears as if games in Saskatoon are not going to occur. Liked the idea, though https://t.co/55s3u9rpgr
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) January 7, 2022
• Ending with quite the moment in Boston last night as Marco Rossi and Matthew Boldy made their NHL debuts with the Minnesota Wild. Boldy is a Massachusetts-native and played his college hockey at Boston College. Rossi nearly lost his career and his life after COVID complications, but fought back to get well enough to play again and they both made their debuts on the same night.
Marco Rossi nearly died from COVID and is now playing his first #NHL game tonight. Incredible. pic.twitter.com/WTdj1SHtKy
— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) January 7, 2022
• Making it even more special was Boldy getting his first NHL goal in his “hometown” of Boston.
MATT BOLDY FIRST CAREER NHL GOAL!!!! pic.twitter.com/KLXiY3Km1u
— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) January 7, 2022
• And even better than that, the Boldy family was in attendance.
https://twitter.com/mnwild/status/1479272888993730562?s=20
• Pretty awesome moments all around.
• Don’t forget, after having their last four games postponed, the Rockford IceHogs are back at it tonight. They host the Chicago Wolves at the BMO Harris Bank Center tonight for a 7:00 p.m. CT puck drop.
https://twitter.com/goicehogs/status/1479470127338844162?s=20
• We’ll be keeping an eye on Lukas Reichel tonight as it seems like just a matter of time before he’s coming up to the NHL roster in Chicago.
• That will do it for today. Hope you all enjoy your TGIF Friday.
