DENVER — Occasional bad games are inevitable for any team, especially a team as inexperienced as the Blackhawks, but that fact doesn’t make them taste any better.
The Hawks endured their first bad game of the season Thursday in a 4-0 shutout loss to the Avalanche, and bad might understate how awful it was.
Connor Bedard — a shot-producing, if not goal-producing, juggernaut through his first four games — was held without a single shot attempt. Fellow rookie Alex Vlasic, a defensive revelation during the first four games, was swamped to the tune of a 13-5 shots-on-goal differential at five-on-five. The Hawks, as a team, were outshot 41-18.
The game’s first 10 minutes were fairly competitive, but an icebreaking shorthanded goal by Logan O’Connor unleashed an Avalanche avalanche the rest of the night. Goalie Petr Mrazek (37 saves) was the only Hawk on his game.
“They blitzed us and we couldn’t really get our ‘D’-zone [coverage] figured out quick enough,” Seth Jones said. “They went low-to-high and started moving around on us. And we didn’t have a lot of poise with the puck tonight, either.”
There were plenty of valid excuses to be made — tough opponent, Denver’s altitude, fatigue at the end of a grueling five-game road trip — but Nick Foligno wasn’t willing to make them. The Hawks will return home (at long last) with a 2-3-0 record.
“We are not in a position to be making excuses at all,” Foligno said. “We’re a team that needs to fight for respect now.
“We weren’t the team that we expect to be, so that’s disappointing. We’re trying to grow this. I know there’s going to be growing pains, so you don’t get too high [or] too low. But you want to see some progress, and today it just felt like we left a little bit on the table.”
Stand-up team
The Hawks have placed a big emphasis on standing up for teammates so far this season. Thursday’s game didn’t feature any feisty scrums, but Thursday’s game was the exception to the rule on the road trip in numerous ways.
Since the preseason, almost every questionable hit on a Hawks player has led to another dropping the gloves with the assailant. Foligno, Connor Murphy, Jarred Tinordi, Corey Perry and Reese Johnson are always happy to get involved in rough stuff.
Jason Dickinson, not normally a frequent fighter, even received love from Pat McAfee on ESPN last week for dropping the gloves with the Bruins’ John Beecher after Beecher boarded Cole Guttman.
Dickinson received an instigator penalty for doing so, giving the Bruins a power play. But coach Luke Richardson said afterward he appreciated the fight anyway. That was an old-school take — analytics definitely wouldn’t agree — but hockey players do often disagree with analytics.
“In the long run, I think there’s going to be less of [those hits on us] because teams are going to know that we’re going to be a little bit more of a stand-up team,” Richardson posited.
Perry vs. Reaves
Probably the most discussed extracurricular incident involving the Hawks so far, however, wasn’t a fight.
It started when Perry and Maple Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves got in an argument during the first period Monday in Toronto. The exchange was captured on video, with plenty of expletives included. Richardson gave a summary Thursday.
“[Perry] was yapping at [Reaves] from the bench and told him he lost his last two fights,” Richardson said. “[Reaves] asked him, ‘What are you going to do? You’re scared of me.’ Corey is like, ‘I’ve never been scared a day in my life.’”
Luke Richardson on the Corey Perry vs. Ryan Reaves beef:
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) October 19, 2023
"[Perry] was yapping at him from the bench and told him he lost his last two fights. [Reaves] asked him, 'What are you going to do? You're scared of me.' Corey is like, 'I've never been scared a day in my life.'
For the… https://t.co/ttimPe3BN6
They never eventually dropped the gloves, but Reaves trashed Perry in an interview Wednesday.
“I never really liked him, to be honest,” Reaves told Leafs reporters. “We always seem to run into each other when we play against each other, but [I don’t have] a lot of love for that guy. Just the way he runs his mouth, I don’t know. He kind of acts tough. He’s not tough.”
Richardson responded Thursday with a good point: Perry later scored the game-winning goal for the Hawks; Reaves did not.
