A matchup against the Blue Jackets, losers of nine straight entering Wednesday, seemed like the perfect opportunity for the Blackhawks to break out of their recent struggles.
Instead, the floundering Hawks proved to be the perfect opponent against whom the Jackets could get themselves back on track.
A disastrous night for the Hawks started with veteran leader Corey Perry being a healthy scratch and ended in a lopsided 7-3 defeat that extended their losing streak to five.
Hawks coach Luke Richardson told reporters in Columbus after the game that Perry was scratched due to an “organizational decision.” It seems likely that stems from an off-ice issue rather than Perry’s on-ice performance, given he’s the team’s third-leading scorer this season with nine points in 16 games.
Perry’s absence, combined with injuries to Taylor Hall (who’s out for the fourth different time already this year) and Andreas Athanasiou left the Hawks’ offense severely short-handed. They had only 11 available forwards and dressed seven defensemen.
Nonetheless, Richardson also gave a rightly critical assessment of the team’s performance.
“For whatever reason, we just didn’t move our feet well early in the game, and [the Jackets] were motivated to do that,” Richardson said.
“[There were] a couple weird bounces on the goals — that didn’t help, either, in the first period. But [in] the second period, there was no excuse for that. We collapsed, and we started chasing [them] around on the wrong side of the puck. Pretty much everything that we’re not supposed to, we fell into the trap of doing.”
Unlike the first four games of this skid, all of which came by one goal when excluding empty-netters, the Hawks were buried quickly.
Jackets captain Boone Jenner scored twice early on short-side attempts that goalie Petr Mrazek, who allowed five goals on 18 shots before being replaced by Arvid Soderblom, probably should’ve saved.
The wheels came off the Hawks’ defensive coverage in the second period as they conceded a series of back-door goals, falling behind 7-1 after 40 minutes — the same second-intermission score they faced in the disastrous Oct. 30 game against the Coyotes.
No. 1 pick Connor Bedard scored in his first meeting against No. 3 overall pick Adam Fantilli, and Jason Dickinson and Reese Johnson added some slightly face-saving goals in the third period. The Hawks had a season-high 37 shots on goal.
“We talked to the players,” Richardson added. “There’s ups and downs in the season, and this is obviously a down part, but you can only get back up if we take the next step. I did like a little bit of their fight in the third period.”
On the other hand, Seth Jones struggled yet again against his former team. He now has zero points, a minus-5 rating and three minor penalties in two games in Columbus since the trade in 2021. Young defenseman Isaak Phillips also had a tough night, and Kevin Korchinski’s promotion did little for the power play, which went 0-for-4.
