Blackhawks hold team meeting after blowout loss to Penguins: ‘There’s some hard lessons’

PITTSBURGH — The Blackhawks held a lengthy team meeting after an ugly 5-0 loss Tuesday to the Penguins.

On first thought, it was weird timing after their 56th loss of the season with only four games to go. There’s nothing left to do aside from some last-minute development for young players, and the Hawks haven’t held meetings after plenty of other blowout losses in the last few months.

With so many prospects having integrated into the group during that time, however, experiencing a players-only meeting after the game could be valuable in itself for them. For wide-eyed rookies such as Sam Rinzel and Oliver Moore, who were playing their fifth career game, it was their first such meeting.

‘‘Sometimes it’s good to blow off some steam and not sit on it for days, so [we talked about] just how bad we played,’’ alternate captain Connor Murphy said. ‘‘It’s good to hear guys talk and be a part of a locker room at any stage. As a young guy, [it’s good] to know the dynamic and feel that communication.’’

Said forward Ryan Donato: ‘‘As veterans or guys who have been around long enough know, you’ve got to bring [young players] with you and teach them the right way. There’s some hard lessons in there, but it makes the team better. I think everybody can look at themselves in the mirror and find something they didn’t do great this game. You’ve got to continue to build. It’s a hard league.’’

The Hawks looked sharp for the first 15 minutes, but they were awful after that. They suffered their seventh consecutive road defeat and their 13th loss in their last 15 games overall.

Cornerstones Sidney Crosby, Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang scored for the Penguins, who had a 13-2 edge in scoring chances in the second period before breaking the game open — from 2-0 to 5-0 — in the third. It was a massive difference from the Hawks’ 3-1 home victory Sunday against the same opponent.

‘‘A lot is turnovers, and it’s out of our own zone [and] out of the offensive zone,’’ interim coach Anders Sorensen said. ‘‘It’s mind-boggling it can be like that 48 hours later.’’

The announced attendance at PPG Paints Arena was 15,029, and there appeared to be thousands fewer fans than that present. So no hostile atmosphere suffocated the Hawks.

Yet they weren’t able to get anything going, and they also weren’t able to turn the tide once it swung against them. They spent two-minute shifts chasing the Penguins around and then, upon finally regaining possession of the puck, threw it away quickly.

Kevin Korchinski took an inexplicably meandering route defending a rush by Kevin Hayes in the final two minutes that turned into a goal. Teuvo Teravainen turned the puck over right before Karlsson’s goal.

Rinzel dominated his first few shifts but had some out-of-position moments after that. Connor Bedard didn’t generate much offensively. Goalie Spencer Knight awkwardly fumbled the Penguins’ fourth goal into the net.

Sorensen said the Hawks ‘‘let themselves and their teammates down.’’ Donato said they ‘‘could have used more’’ yelling in the meeting, in his opinion.

‘‘[The coaches] give us a good plan to go into the game,’’ Donato said. ‘‘We all have to buy in to that and play the same way. It’s on the veterans — and some of the young guys — to make sure we’re doing what we’re told.

‘‘Some of the most simple teams are the best. As a team that’s young and inexperienced, the more the simple you play, you create more offense; you create all these different things. I don’t really know where to start with that.’’