In Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday the Chicago Blackhawks looked like they were skating through mud in the first period.
Veteran Craig Smith expressed frustration and embarrassment and implored his teammates to take a 48-hour mindset in their preparation for games.
Well, the Hawks didn’t have 48 hours to get ready for a home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs — less than 24, in fact — but they didn’t waste time jumping on the Leafs, taking the first six shots on goal and setting off to a 1-0 lead in the first period.
And then it all went to pot.
The Leafs rattled off three goals in the second and two in the third, bookending the back-to-back of Saturday’s 5-1 loss to the Blue Jackets with Sunday’s 5-2 loss to the Leafs.
The final indignity: Hawks even lost the challenge on the final goal, which seemed like a good case for an offside call.
“We didn’t feel like it was a tag-up situation, but they did,” Hawks interim coach Anders Sorensen said.
At that stage, it wouldn’t have made a difference; more for pride than anything.
Pride (and youth development) is also all the Hawks have left to play for, but two games after the 4 Nations Face-Off break, they can’t even count on that.
“We’ve just got to shake the rust off,” Tyler Bertuzzi said. “We had a few stints of playing good tonight. … Heading into the road trip, we need to figure it out soon.”
Sorensen refused to indict the Hawks’ entire performance over the last two games.
“It’s not like it’s six bad periods,” Sorensen said.
The Hawks certainly have had plenty of that type of game this season — the Hawks wore their Winter Classic uniforms Sunday, in case you needed a reminder.
Oh, and by the way, Lukas Reichel is somehow back in Sorensen’s doghouse. At least Philipp Kurashev scored.
“So take the positives and build off of those,” Sorensen said. “And then the stuff we’ve got to clean up, let’s clean it up.”
The Hawks will have their next chance to “clean it up” during a three-game road trip — Utah Hockey Club, Vegas Golden Knights and Anaheim Ducks — beginning Tuesday in Salt Lake City.
Here are five takeaways.
1. What went right in the first period? (Teuvo Teräväinen, for one)
Early in the first, the Hawks attacked up the middle and were able to push the Leafs to the outside.
“We were on our toes, and we kind of made them defend, and we had some zone time there,” Sorenson said. “So that was real positive. That whole period was pretty good for us.”
Later in the first, the Hawks began to show signs of cracking as the Leafs started to find their footing offensively.
However, Teuvo Teräväinen posted a power-play goal with 11 seconds left in the period.
“We got a power play there, got a couple looks there, then I made the pass to (Ryan Donato) in the middle and (Bertuzzi) made a nice effort there, and just an empty net for me,” Teräväinen said.
The goal also marked his 500th career point.
Teräväinen, 30, said he never thought much about milestones when he started.
“When I came to the league, I just tried to play it game by game and enjoy the ride,” he said. “It is pretty special. Makes me think I’ve been here for a while, I guess.
“Still feel young, but feels good, though.”
2. What went wrong in the second period?
It has been a problem intermittently all season.
The Hawks entered the game with the fourth-worst second-period goal differential at minus-17 (they were minus-22 in the third period, second-worst, but that’s a story for another day), and their numbers won’t look any prettier after Sunday.
The Leafs outscored the Hawks 3-1 in the middle frame, including two goals by Nicholas Robertson, the first of which came on the power play.
Sorensen said, “We were fine up till they scored on the power play,” he said “And then we kind of lost momentum there for a couple of shifts. …
“The second period, shot-wise, (wasn’t) great. But if you look at the actual ups and downs of the period, it wasn’t that bad.
Bertuzzi was less charitable in his assessment: “We just weren’t ready. Just slow, not connected.”
He added that the long change could be a factor in the Hawks’ second-period struggles.
“We need to have better changes,” Bertuzzi said. “But we’re still trying to figure it out.”
3. Nick Lardis grabs the spotlight with his seventh hat trick.
Meanwhile, over in the Ontario Hockey League, Lardis is knocking ’em out like batting practice balls, scoring his seventh hat trick for the Brantford Bulldogs on Sunday against the Ottawa 67’s (and adding an assist, to boot).
The Hawks have produced one hat trick this season and that player, Taylor Hall, is a Carolina Hurricane now.
Four of those hatties have happened this month.
Lardis leads the OHL with 62 goals and 23 power-play goals, and is second in points with 101.
Needless to say, the 2023 third-round pick has rocketed up the prospect pipeline this season.
“It’s impressive,” said Sorensen, who has coached Lardis in development and with the Rockford IceHogs. “We saw him a little bit last year in Rockford for a game.
“He came in for the last two weeks of the season and you can really see the potential and ceiling of his talent level, and it seems like he’s really putting it together this year.”
4. The top line could get retooled.
Bedard’s line with Landon Slaggert and Ryan Donato started with a three-game goal streak, but they’ve given up at least one goal in the last three games.
And the goals-for have dried up.
Sorensen was asked before the game if he’d consider tinkering with the line.
“Every situation is fluid but last night (in Columbus), for example, they had some looks,” he said. “They didn’t capitalize on their looks. Sometimes I think you stick with it a little bit and see how it goes here.”
He acknowledged, however, “Defensively, they’ve got to be a little bit better.”
This was before the top line got tagged with two Leafs goals.
In his postgame talk, Sorensen seemed ready to budge.
“We’ll look at it,” he said.
5. Two former cast-offs — Max Domi and Jake McCabe — torment the Hawks.
Max Domi and Jake McCabe were traded by the Hawks for picks.
Domi was acquired by the Dallas Stars on March 2, 2023, and part of the package included a 2025 second-round draft pick to the Hawks.
McCabe was part of a multi-player, multi-pick package that sent the defenseman to the Leafs on Feb. 27, 2023, in exchange for a 2025 conditional first-round pick and a 2026 second-rounder to the Hawks.
Both exacted a small measure of revenge on Sunday.
Domi had the primary assist on both of Robertson’s goals. McCabe had a point-shot goal in the second and assisted on Chris Tanev’s third-period back-breaker.
“It’s always nice to contribute offensively,” McCabe said. “Obviously when we hop over the boards our main objective is to keep the puck out of our net, but anytime we can put one in theirs it’s a nice feeling, especially against the old squad.”
Domi still has fond memories of his time in Chicago.
“Oh, man, it’s the best,” he said. “I was lucky enough to play here with my childhood idol in Patrick Kane. Standing next to him on the blue line with that anthem going on, you can’t beat that.
“They have a good young team over there. The future is bright for sure for the Blackhawks.”