How Slow Starts for the Chicago Blackhawks Will Become an Issue If Not Addressed

The Chicago Blackhawks have played two games, and they have started the season with two wins. So everything is just fine in head coach Joel Quenneville's world, correct?

The bottom line is winning, and the Blackhawks took care of business in Dallas against the Stars and at home against the Buffalo Sabres. However, the Blackhawks played indifferent hockey in the first two periods of both games and needed strong third periods to reassert themselves.

That's fine over the short term. But that's not going to work as often over the course of the 82-game season. The Blackhawks are likely to find out that if they fail to assert themselves for the first 40 minutes, sometimes they are not going to be able to turn it on in the third period just because they want to.

It's going to cost them some games along the way.

In the opener against the Stars, the game was scoreless with less than a minute to go in the first period until defenseman Duncan Keith launched a shot from the half-wall that got through Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen's pads to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.

The Blackhawks had few chances before that goal and did not get off to a good start. It got significantly worse in the second period as the Stars took a 2-1 lead on goals by Trevor Daley and Cody Eakin. The Stars outshot the Blackhawks 16-8 in the second period and 24-11 through 40 minutes.

If goalie Corey Crawford had not been on top of his game, the Blackhawks could have been down by three or four goals.

The Blackhawks turned things around in the third period as they outskated and outchanced their hosts. The Blackhawks tied the game on a power-play goal by Patrick Sharp midway through the third period, and they outshot the Stars 14-9 over the final 20 minutes. They had a number of sizzling opportunities to take the lead in the final moments of the period, but they could not slip the winner past Lehtonen.

The Blackhawks ultimately took care of business in the shootout on a one-of-a-kind backhand flip to the top corner by Patrick Kane.

Crawford noted his team's inefficient start when he spoke to reporters after the game.

''It definitely was a pretty slow start for us,'' Crawford said. ''We gained our timing as the game went on and gained our confidence and that speed and puck possession game as we went further into the game. You could see that.''

The Blackhawks flew back to Chicago for their second game Oct. 11 against the Sabres, who are not expected to contend for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference this season.

Charles Cherney/Associated Press

They are a rebuilding team that is searching for an identity, and they are the kind of team the Blackhawks should be able to put away early in the game.

However, the Sabres and Blackhawks were tied 2-2 after 40 minutes. And even though Chicago scored four goals in the final period, the game was a struggle when it should have been a runaway.

The Blackhawks started the game as if they were going to blow out the Sabres, as Andrew Shaw and Keith scored in the first three minutes of the game.

However, the young Sabres got chance after chance in the first period and tied the score on goals by Zemgus Girgensons and Tyler Ennis.

Once again, it was Crawford who was left to stop several Sabres shots on his own as the defense appeared to be a step or two behind in the first period. 

"I think we started really well, and we forgot to play defense,'' Marian Hossa said after the game. ''They just kept coming, and it was a tie game."

The Blackhawks turned things around in the third period and dominated against Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth. Kane, Hossa, Sharp and Daniel Carcillo scored to give the Blackhawks a comfortable margin.

Quenneville may be concerned about the Blackhawks' inability to get the edge on their first two opponents in the early going, but he has not addressed it. The only thing that has stood out to him is the amount of ice time that his top defensemen had to play in the opener against the Stars because there were so many short-handed situations.

Keith played 29:40, while Brent Seabrook, Johnny Oduya and Niklas Hjalmarsson all played at least 23:50. 

Quenneville doesn't want to overuse his defensemen early in the regular season, but the light schedule means that it's not a debilitating situation.

“I think we’re comfortable knowing that our schedule and this season is a lot different than it’s been in the last few years,” Quenneville told Brian Sandalow of the Chicago Sun-Times. “We don’t want them out there in the high twenties much this year, but if it happens, we’re going to be playing that game to try to win that game, and then certain games maybe you can stay off of them a little bit.”

The Blackhawks have played just two games through Oct. 14.

The schedule picks up Wednesday night (home vs. Calgary), with eight games before the end of the month. No doubt, the Blackhawks would be best served by getting off to quicker starts and not tiring out their top four defensemen in the first month of the season.