The Blackhawks beat the Sharks 5-2 on Sunday at the United Center.
Nam Y. Huh/AP Photos
At this point in the season, wins logically don’t help the Blackhawks. They only slightly decrease the Hawks’ probability of winding up with the No. 1 draft pick and Macklin Celebrini.
That’s particularly true for wins like the one the Hawks earned Sunday, when they ripped off five unanswered goals en route a 5-2 victory over the Sharks — the only team below them in the standings.
Emotionally, however, wins do help the Hawks. And there’s a compelling argument to be made that emotional positives ought to matter more than mathematical negatives right now, especially when young players whom the Hawks will craft their rebuild around all contribute to it.
That was the case Sunday. Rookie defenseman Kevin Korchinski scored what proved to be the game-winning goal — part of a game-flipping tsunami of three goals in 83 seconds midway through the third period — and rookie forward Connor Bedard tallied two points, including a last-second empty-netter.
Lukas Reichel recorded an assist on Korchinski’s goal — the highlight of Reichel’s encouragingly assertive return to the lineup — while Philipp Kurashev added two points and Alex Vlasic (as he usually does) ranked second on the team in total ice time.
“Everybody in the locker room wants to win,” Korchinski said. “It feels better after the games [and] in practices. Just talking to the guys whenever we’re winning feels better. It’s good to get that tonight…and have a better day tomorrow.”
Assessing Korchinski’s rookie season has proven difficult because of the Hawks’ overall situation around him.
On one hand, he’s a 19-year-old defenseman abruptly thrown into the NHL on one of the league’s worst teams, playing second-pairing minutes with Jaycob Megna as his regular partner. On the other hand, he has made many mistakes, some inexcusable.
No stat better exemplifies that evaluation dilemma than Korchinski’s minus-30 plus-minus rating, which ranks third-worst on the team and seventh-worst in the league. How much of that is his fault? How much isn’t? It’s hard to say.
Nights like Sunday, however, demonstrate how well he can hold his own when the team-versus-team matchup isn’t tilted against him — and offer evidence supporting a recent comment by coach Luke Richardson.
“[Kevin is] making progress,” Richardson said last week. “It’s sometimes little-by-little, so at the end of the year you’re thinking, ‘We need more progression than this.’ But it’s a hard game at this time of the year for a young defenseman to play.”
The goal was just Korchinski’s fourth of the season and second since November, but it actually tied him with Seth Jones for the lead among team defensemen. He benefited from a friendly deflection off Sharks defenseman Jacob MacDonald past Sharks goalie Devin Cooley, who was making his first career NHL start, but it was nonetheless good to see him shooting eagerly.
Richardson was even happier about Korchinski’s smart plays near his defensive blue line.
“He had some good gaps where he came from the inside out,” Richardson said. “Sometimes, he gets himself on the outside working in, and that’s not a good look for a defenseman. … So his positioning has been really good, [and] with the addition of his great skating ability, it’s really helping him play defense better. [He’s] getting pucks and moving it up to the forwards, and then jumping by his guy.”
The Hawks now lead the Sharks by four points in the standings, and although the two bottom-feeders will meet again next weekend, the Sharks have the inside track to last place. The difference between 31st and 32nd is a 12 percentage-point reduction in draft-lottery odds (25.5% vs. 13.5%).
But is that truly more valuable than some long-awaited positive reinforcement for the Hawks’ current players, who have won four of their last six games for the first time this season? Perhaps not.