Start strong, finish feebly.
The Chicago Blackhawks have followed that pattern more often than they’d prefer over the first 10 games of the season.
A Sunday matinee against the visiting Florida Panthers offers the next chance for Chicago to correct.
“I still like our team a lot,” Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “We haven’t had a full group yet. I look forward to that day when we have our full group. We’re 3-7, so that’s way far off from where we want to be. I don’t think we’re far off from it clicking and turning the other way, but we got to make it happen. … It’ll be a broken record until we fix it.”
Chicago fell to 2-3-0 on a seven-game homestand with Friday’s 4-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
Skating without defenseman Bowen Byram (upper body) and forward Andrew Mangiapane, who earlier in the day was activated from injured reserve, the Blackhawks still built early momentum.
Captain Connor Bedard scored 4:23 into the game and Jordan Greenway hit the post later in the first period. But the Blackhawks conceded a goal at 17:29 to begin a string of four straight Montreal tallies to close the game.
In the third, the Blackhawks needed 8:45 to register their first shot on goal.
“We need to have some conversations … and figure out how we can be better, because clearly (what we’re doing is) not good enough,” defenseman Ian Cole said. “We start the game well, come out looking good, flying, speeding fast — that’s great, but ultimately they take it to us.”
Meanwhile, slumping Florida has allowed nine successive goals since Brady Tkachuk scored midway through the first period of Wednesday’s visit to Ottawa, where Tkachuk played for eight seasons.
The Senators rallied for a 5-1 victory, then the host Pittsburgh Penguins prevailed 4-0 over the Panthers on Thursday. Sam Reinhart had six shots and Sam Bennett four but the Panthers couldn’t solve Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs as Florida was shut out for the first time this season.
“I don’t know if we’re on the spectrum of arrogance and softness that I’ve allowed to creep into our game,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I’m going to find that out here in a couple of days. … I’ve got to figure out where it’s coming from. I think it’s coming from me. So, we’ve got a good 48 hours to grind on that and come up with an answer.
“I just need to get their attention.”
Added Matthew Tkachuk: “This stuff just can’t happen. It’s not even how we’re losing, it’s the way we’re playing. It’s something that we’re going to have to fix in here.”
Although the lopsided losses have felt repetitive, the Panthers nonetheless were part of league history Thursday behind goaltender Cooper Black. The 6-foot-9 rookie became the tallest netminder to appear in the NHL, making 17 saves.
Defenseman Gustav Forsling left the game late in the third period after being hit in the face by a puck.
Akira Schmid is set to start in net, Maurice said Saturday.
–Field Level Media
