Chicago Blackhawks Notes: What's Right and Wrong with the 'Hawks?

A road trip that started innocently enough with a victory over a self-destructing Phoenix team ended with a sickening thud, as the Blackhawks have dropped consecutive games to the Colorado Avalanche (2-1) and the Nashville Predators (4-1).

In these two games, the Blackhawks have peppered the opposing net-minders with 79 shots and have only managed two goals. They only drew one penalty from the Avalanche on Thursday night, and managed to get five power plays against the Predators and failed to score on any of them.

The 'Hawks’ leading goal scorer, Patrick Sharp, was also heavily defended in both games, with opposing players constantly hanging on his every move every time he approached the net, which took away his ability to snipe at close range.

He also missed several pucks that were left sitting on the doorstep like unwanted infants, and this obviously was a big contributing factor to the team not scoring.

They also were plagued by aggressive attacks by both Colorado and Nashville. Both teams came out firing early and often, making several passes and then firing at the net instead of dumping the puck into the zone and just hoping for a friendly carom or a quick pass out of the corner.

This aggressiveness kept the Blackhawks on their toes, and really took them out of their normal offensive rhythm.

While these points are all just things that I picked up from watching the two games, there is a bigger question that must be answered: with the Blackhawks losing two games in a row and four of their last six contests, are they merely cooling off from an unprecedented hot streak, or are they merely showing the first signs of terminal weaknesses that need to be addressed in an urgent fashion?

On the positive side of the spectrum, the Blackhawks are still in extremely good shape both stats wise and standings wise. They beat Calgary on Sunday and Phoenix on Tuesday, and both of those teams would be in the playoffs if they started today.

Also, they are still two points ahead of Vancouver and have four games in hand over the Canucks.

Also, they have now played over half of their road schedule, and they also have a nice stretch of home games coming up, and also have games against Nashville, St. Louis, and Minnesota, all teams who aren’t currently in the top-eight in the Western Conference. In fact, the Blues are currently in last place in the West, five points behind the Kings and Stars.

As if all of this weren’t positive enough, there’s also the idea of average points to consider. They are still on pace to notch 107 points, which would have been good for the third best record in the conference last year (and a fourth seed in the playoffs).

They also have a sterling goal differential, a +38 that is good for third in the conference, and also have the third fewest goals allowed in the conference with 102. In addition, they also have 140 goals, which is the second most in the conference behind only Detroit (153).

They also have an outstanding home record, with a 12-2-4 mark in home games this season. This bodes well for the squad down the stretch, as 16 of their final 23 games will be played at home. When you keep in mind that their two home losses in regulation were to San Jose and against Detroit (at Wrigley Field), this mark is even more impressive.

Even with all of these marks in mind, there are still quite a few reasons to be concerned about this team.

The first area of concern concerns the dearth of production out of Patrick Sharp. While he has been picking up assists recently (three in his last six games), he has also suffered a drop-off in goals, scoring only once in the past six games. This goal wasn’t even that great, considering it was a tap-in empty netter against the Flames.

This drop-off happens to coincide with the absence of Patrick Kane, who got hurt early against Detroit on Dec. 30 and still isn’t back up to 100 percent with his high ankle sprain. Quenneville has tried shuffling around lines, and also has mixed up attacks on the power play, and all to no avail.

Sharp did have a run like this earlier in the season, and he snapped out of it with a big two goal performance against Toronto in the seventh game, so hopefully this seventh game against Nashville Sunday night will be enough to snap him out of his slump.

Another bad thing going for the Hawks is the maddeningly inconsistent play of All-Star Jonathan Toews. He has been either all or nothing as of late, with a three point performance against Phoenix Tuesday night, quickly followed by no shots and no points against Colorado two nights later. He also had no points against Nashville Saturday night.

Toews has respectable numbers, but they have been coming in bunches, which is not a good thing from the team captain, but also from a center that Coach Q is counting on to anchor a line that is currently in flux. He was playing with Patrick Kane this evening in Nashville, and he still was unable to find his rhythm.

The performance of the Blackhawks hinges in a large degree to the performance of these two players, and they have not been playing well as of late, which helps explain the team’s recent struggles.

There is really no reason to be extremely concerned with the team at this point, but if they continue to struggle even on home ice, then perhaps these issues will need to be revisited in great detail by Quenneville and his staff.

Quick Notes

-The Blackhawks acquired right winger Adam Pineault from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Michael Blunden. They assigned him to the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL. He has 12 points so far this season in 28 games, and also has raked up 36 penalty minutes.

-Kris Versteeg has been named to the rookie squad in the NHL YoungStars Game, which will be held the same day as the SuperSkills Competition on Jan. 24. These events will be a fantastic prequel to the real highlight of the Blackhawks weekend, which will be Brian Campbell, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Kane all starting the All-Star Game on the 25th.

The Blackhawks’ next game will be at 6 PM on Sunday night against the Nashville Predators. The game can been seen on Comcast SportsNet, and tickets are still available through Ticketmaster.