The Blackhawks broke into their corner battle drills on Wednesday, something they haven’t had to revert to in a few weeks now.
But those drills coincide with the Blackhawks’ first real lull this season. It’s not a big one at the moment, 0-2-1 in their last three games. But between improving their own game and staving off the Western Conference competition that’s hot on their heels, the Blackhawks know they have to get better.
“I think we’re better when we’re harder to play against,” coach Joel Quenneville said Wednesday following the Blackhawks’ 3-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night. “(It’s about) fighting for your space, getting to the net, coming up with loose pucks, protecting the puck and having more pace to your game as well. The last couple of games we’ve been easy to play against, so let’s have more consistency to our game.”
The Blackhawks came off their last road trip with a 3-0-0 mark and looked just as impressive in their first game home against San Jose on Dec. 18. Then, the lull hit. First Ottawa bested them, then they were outplayed by Colorado and Winnipeg in their pre- and post-Christmas games.
The issues ranged from lack of scoring again — two goals in their last two games — to the power play going quiet to the defense-first mentality not being at the usual forefront. Lulls can happen over a long season, but the Blackhawks don’t want worry or stress to seep into their game.
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“When they happen, don’t panic. just try to focus in on what made us successful earlier in the year,” Trevor van Riemsdyk said. “We know what it takes to win game. We don’t want to start gripping our sticks tight and panicking. When we’re playing our game we’re getting pucks forward, moving it quick. If we focus on the little things, those will make us successful.”
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Still, whenever there’s a dip there are changes. Quenneville changed up the defensive pairs on Wednesday. Duncan Keith was with van Riemsdyk, Brian Campbell was back with Gustav Forsling and Niklas Hjalmarsson joined Brent Seabrook. Quenneville also said Michal Kempny and Michal Rozsival, who have sat for a while now, will likely play again soon. Among the forward lines, Tyler Motte was moved up to the top line with Ryan Hartman and Jonathan Toews.
The Blackhawks aren’t playing with the same level of zip right now. Again, they’re approaching the midseason mark — the Blackhawks will play their 38th game on Thursday in Nashville — and it’s not shocking there’s a lull this time of the season. But the competition is fierce in the West — the Minnesota Wild and their 11-game winning streak are just one point behind the Blackhawks. Slumps happen. But the Blackhawks don’t want it to snowball.
“You just want to keep your lulls as short as possible when you have them,” Campbell said. “Obviously, 82 games it’ll be tough. But you want to keep those spans, where you’re not playing your best, hopefully you’re (at least) grabbing points and keeping them as short as possible.”