The Blackhawks problems continued on Tuesday night with a sixth consecutive loss. The Hawks promised a renewed emphasis on defense but apparently the lesson did not take. The Hawks gave up 8 odd man rushes and had zero odd man rushes. What can the Hawks do to fix their problems and can they be fixed?
- Keep practicing on defense- The emphasis on defense is not going to take after one or two practices. This needs to be something that the Hawks focus on for the rest of the season. The Hawks need to watch the tape from tonight’s game and they’ll see errors that can be fixed like Eddie Olyzck pointed out during the broadcast. When the defensemen pinch in, the forwards have to communicate who is staying back. On the fourth Avalanche goal, both Markus Kruger and Michael Frolik got caught pinching in to support the defensemen who were deep in the zone. David Jones correctly read the play and got a breakaway. Patrick Kane and other forwards should look at that play as how to play effective defense and stop trying to cherry pick. Again, Quenneville needs to keep drilling the basic defensive principles to the whole team.
- The stars need to start producing- All fours need to start producing consistently. Jonathan Toews has two assists and Marian Hossa has no points on the road trip. Patrick Sharp has been the best Hawks player on the ice in this road trip. He has 3 goals and 2 assists. Patrick Kane has a point in each of the four games. However, when the team is slumping you look to your stars to step up. Toews and Hossa have been talked about as Hart and Selke trophy candidates. Well now is the time to step up and prove why you are stars. All four stars need to step it up another notch and put the team on their backs. We need to see more of the Patrick Kane that we saw in Colorado. If the Patrick Kane that showed up in Colorado shows up this weekend it will be a very good weekend for the Hawks.
- The Power Play- The power play has been atrocious for the Blackhawks on the road trip. They are 0 for 10 on the road trip. Either they need to make personnel changes like put Nick Leddy back on the power play even though he has no power play goals this year which is baffling for a guy who was getting regular power play time. The other thing is maybe you have to change your strategy on the power play. Last year, the go to play for the Hawks on the power play was the backdoor cut. This year the Hawks had very little goals from that play. So maybe you shoot it off the boards to create chaos. Or another idea could be to put two guys down low in front of the net and create more traffic and screens. More traffic means that the goalie can’t see the puck which improves your chances. The Hawks need more shots from the point and traffic in front of the net. Fresh ideas never hurt and especially when things are going south, a new perspective can’t hurt to try.
- The Goaltending- This is the most troublesome issue. Initially, I thought that the second goal that David Jones scored was completely the fault of the forwards. However, an astute observer correctly pointed out that Emery has to make that save on a shot from the slot and cut down on the angle. The Hawks have no shutouts and at this point of the year have not had their goaltender steal a game. The troubling problem is that there goalies are not making enough big saves to keep them in the game. Even if the defense is hanging the goalies out to dry, the goalies have not bailed out the team enough. It is up to Corey Crawford or Ray Emery to assert their control on the goaltending job.
It is not time to panic for the Hawks yet. Let’s see how they respond this weekend with back to back games. If the Hawks can’t break the losing streak this weekend, then it is time to press the panic button. However, the Hawks need a team win and one win could be what finally turns around this downward spiral.
Comments