DALLAS — The Blackhawks have endured a handful of atrocious blowout losses this season, and they added another to the list Sunday.
The Stars dominated from the outset and rolled to a 8-1 rout, closing the Hawks’ 2023 with a pair of defeats in Dallas that stretched their road losing streak to 11 games.
Between an 8-1 loss at the Coyotes, a 7-3 loss at the Blue Jackets (which was 7-1 at the second intermission), a 7-1 loss at the Kraken and the Stars’ romp Sunday, it’s hard to determine which Hawks performance was the worst.
De facto captain Nick Foligno was thoroughly upset after the game, stating he felt the team had turned a corner since Christmas — earning points in each of their last two games — before falling apart Sunday.
“I get where we are, the group we are,” Foligno said. “But we can’t accept it, and that’s what we have to get hammered through our heads in this room: we’re going to have to fight tooth-and-nail to get respect.
“It just seemed like we were starstruck again, and then we started getting away from what makes us successful. That’s just disappointing.”
Hawks rookie Connor Bedard hit the post on a shot that would’ve tied the score in the first period, but then he made poor plays on consecutive Stars goals that blew the game open by the first intermission.
“I brought him in after the first period [and told him], ‘You can’t get everything back in one shift,’” coach Luke Richardson said. “You’ve just got to get back to playing on top of them and trusting your other players to turn pucks over.”
Goalie Petr Mrazek made his third consecutive start but had to be replaced by Arvid Soderblom after yielding six goals. The Hawks had hoped to get Soderblom a longer stretch of uninterrupted practice time with goalie coach Jimmy Waite.
Defenseman Jarred Tinordi remained in the lineup despite his array of mistakes Friday. Richardson encouraged him to ‘‘go back and be himself,’’ but Tinordi committed a costly delay-of-game penalty and had the Stars’ eighth goal deflect in off his skate.
He was far from the only Hawk who struggled, though. Fellow defenseman Isaak Phillips was a particularly ugly minus-five.
Johnson injured
The Hawks’ barrage of forward injuries continued with Tyler Johnson exiting the game in the second period.
He had been dealing with a lingering injury for some time (which caused him to miss the Dec. 23 game at the Blues), but Richardson said this is a new, different injury that will cause him to “be probably out for a little time.”
Joey Anderson, Andreas Athanasiou and Taylor Raddysh have all been felled recently, joining Taylor Hall and defenseman Seth Jones on the injured list.
Earlier this weekend, Johnson had mentioned one interesting tweak he would make to the NHL if he became commissioner.
“I do wish they went to a 3-2-1 system,” he said Friday. “I think a regulation win should count more than an OT or shootout win.”
There’s widespread popularity for that system because it is objectively more fair. Every game would have three points up for grabs. If it went to overtime, the winner would get two points and the loser one.
Some college and European leagues already use it, and the NHL supposedly discussed it during the 2004-05 lockout. Realistically, however, it doesn’t seem likely to be implemented.
Beauvillier fitting in
Anthony Beauvillier has proved to be a natural fit in the Hawks’ locker room.
The former Canucks and Islanders forward played his 14th game for the Hawks on Sunday, but it feels as though he already has been around longer than a month.
“The transition has been really easy; the group has made it easy for me,” Beauvillier said before the game. “It’s just about creating new friendships and getting to know the guys better. That’s all it’s about, so I feel like I’m getting even more comfortable in the room.”
Dinners on the road, such as the one some Hawks enjoyed Saturday at a Dallas steakhouse, help with that process.
Producing on the ice helps, too. And after a slow start in which he had only one point in his first six appearances with the Hawks, Beauvillier gradually has improved production-wise, notching five points in his last eight appearances.
“I’m finding some confidence, seeing the ice a little bit more and getting adjusted to the system, as well,” he said. “My game is coming along.”
As a 26-year-old pending unrestricted free agent, there’s a chance Beauvillier might be traded again before March. But the Hawks need all the offensive help they can find at the moment, and the decision to give up a fifth-round pick to acquire him seems as though it was probably worth it.
