The Blackhawks‘ mood Thursday was unsurprisingly depressing.
“You felt like things were changing and now, all of a sudden, it feels worse than it ever has,” forward Jason Dickinson said.
The call-up of forward prospect Colton Dach, who will make his NHL debut Friday against his older brother Kirby’s Canadiens, provided the only small injection of positivity. Other than that, there was a lot of harsh self-analysis before, during and after a lengthy practice, and with good reason.
“We’re giving up too many lost battles in the corners in ‘D’-zone coverage,” Dickinson added. “That leads to point shots. That leads to not blocking shots. That leads to rebounds in front. That leads to goals.”
Said interim coach Anders Sorensen: “We can’t go in the past. We can’t change what happened. We can only deal with what we have right now. The biggest thing is trying to clean up some areas.”
Sorensen repeated something he mentioned Tuesday after the Winter Classic loss: the scoring chances were roughly even (and actually slightly in the Hawks’ favor). But he pointed out the Blues “scored four of their goals around our net, and we had zero around their net.”
Some of that is explained by the Hawks’ skaters not battling for loose pucks, boxing opponents out of the crease, tying up sticks or covering the back door diligently enough.
But some of that, inevitably, is also goaltending — which has been poor for the last-place Hawks recently.
Goaltending determines so much in hockey, and after wins, players usually credit their goalie as a key reason why they won. Goalies are almost never blamed for losses, though. The NHL is funny that way. It makes sense why players themselves wouldn’t throw a teammate under the bus, but objectively, goaltending influences losses just as much as wins.
That’s especially true for these Hawks, who have experienced a dramatic swing in results in that category. Under Luke Richardson, solid goaltending by Petr Mrazek and Arvid Soderblom covered up some flaws and kept the team close in almost every game, even when they didn’t deserve it.
Under Sorensen, however, weak goaltending has masked some of the team’s improvements and contributed significantly to the recent blowout losses.
During five-on-five play under Richardson, the Hawks allowed 28.9 shots on goal per 60 minutes (26th in the NHL) but enjoyed a .915 save percentage (13th in the NHL). Under Sorensen, the Hawks have allowed 27.5 shots on goal per 60 minutes (18th in the NHL) but endured an .858 save percentage (32nd in the NHL).
During this ongoing five-game losing streak, the Hawks have an .837 overall save percentage and an .829 five-on-five save percentage, miles below the Senators’ .863 mark that ranks second-worst during that time frame.
Soderblom struggled Sunday while allowing five Stars goals, but he was fine in the Dec. 23 loss to the Wild and had been generally stellar before that.
This goaltending slump mostly falls on Mrazek, who has allowed four-plus goals in each of the last five games he has completed — two games before his Dec. 7 groin injury and three games since returning Dec. 21. The 32-year-old’s season save percentage has fallen from an above-average .911 to a well-below-average .893 that quickly. He also hasn’t earned a win since Nov. 27.
Mrazek, to his credit, didn’t blame the unusual lighting at Wrigley Field for anything, calling it “not a big difference.” He admitted he simply didn’t see Cam Fowler’s wrist shot from the blue line for the Blues’ fifth goal, the softest he allowed. And this slump hasn’t dented his confidence.
“When it’s not going your way, you just have to do the right thing and it will come,” Mrazek said Thursday. “I’ve been in worse situations before. That’s nothing new. I know how to play the game.”