Blackhawks struggle with situational awareness in loss to Blue Jackets
During the first two months of the season, captain Nick Foligno frequently has mentioned how the Blackhawks don’t properly understand ‘‘situational play’’ and the dynamics of momentum.
In his view, the Hawks are working hard and giving strong effort in general, but they have a tendency to let their guard down for brief moments or fail to appreciate the critical nature of every event in hockey — such as winning a wall battle for the puck in a 2-0 game, for instance. Those tiny breakdowns then compound to undo all the smart plays they make.
‘‘There’s games we’ve been in for the majority of the game that we’ve found a way to lose, and those are the ones that tick me off,’’ Foligno said Saturday.
On Sunday, the Hawks added another frustrating defeat to that bucket, falling 6-3 at home to the Blue Jackets. They’re 8-14-2 this season, last in the NHL.
The Hawks tied a season high with three power-play goals — by Connor Bedard in the first period, Craig Smith in the second and Foligno in the third — but they conceded a goal within the next three minutes each time. Those miscues prevented them from building any momentum against a beatable opponent.
‘‘We get one back, and then we’re a little too loose; it just seemed like that,’’ Foligno said after the game. ‘‘They’re an offensive team . . . but you smother a team like that by making them have to come through you and not giving them those opportunities. It just seemed like a little bit too much time and space on a lot of those goals. We have to rectify this.’’
Coach Luke Richardson was equally upset about his own message not being heeded. He said the team spent the last two days emphasizing the importance of playing a structured, defensive game instead of letting the Jackets break things open into a back-and-forth game. But the Jackets proved able to do exactly that.
‘‘We haven’t been scoring a lot on five-on-five [play], so why would we do that?’’ Richardson said. ‘‘That would be irresponsible of us. We somehow got sucked into that game. That’s just [not] being disciplined on our game plan. We have to be stronger in that.
‘‘Today was the whole ball of wax put together. That’s the situation Nick’s talking about.’’
Goalie Petr Mrazek endured his worst performance of the season, which exacerbated the Hawks’ porousness. Sean Monahan’s goal (which gave the Jackets the lead for good in the second period) and Dante Fabbro’s goal (which extended their lead to 4-2 in the third) beat him to the short side with no screen in front. Such shots always should be saved at this level.
Kent Johnson’s goal in the first period probably should’ve been stopped, too, although Mrazek made up for that by making an unbelievable glove save on Johnson later. He finished with 30 saves on 35 shots.
The Hawks have scored first in six consecutive games, but they’ve earned only two victories during that span. On most nights, their inability to keep generating offense and add on to their leads has been their biggest weakness. Their defense has been OK overall, and their goaltending has been stellar.
On Sunday, however, sloppy turnovers, inattentive defensive coverage and weak goaltending were the problems.
‘‘We’re a team that [has to] earn respect every time we play, and no team thinks they’re out of it against us,’’ Foligno said. ‘‘We have to prove to them they’re out of it. It’s a hard thing to do.’’
The Hawks continue to be competitive, at least. They’ve been leading, tied or within one goal in the third period in all but one game all season. But they also continue to find new ways to lose close games.