Coach Luke Richardson talked a big game during training camp about the new way he’d run the Blackhawks’ penalty kill.
Five games into the season, the results have backed up Richardson’s words.
The Hawks’ PK looks different than all the rest around the NHL, tenaciously forechecking complacent opposing power plays with two forwards as if not a man down at all, and the unique approach is working brilliantly.
Yet another short-handed goal Sunday jump-started yet another multi-goal comeback en route to a 5-4 victory against the Kraken, the Hawks’ third in a row.
“We’re never out of it,” forward Jujhar Khaira said. “But we’re relentless, and we’re resilient. So we’re going to keep going.”
A sleepy start spotted the Kraken an early 2-0 lead as the Hawks committed turnovers and lost puck battles left and right. But on a penalty kill late in the first period, Khaira forced a turnover in the neutral zone, found Colin Blackwell entering the zone and knocked in a rebound off Blackwell’s shot to give the Hawks life.
Tyler Johnson leveled the game at 2, then tied it 4-4 with 7:03 left in the third period after a well-spotted and well-placed Jonathan Toews centering pass. Only 13 seconds later, Jason Dickinson buried what turned out to be the game-winner.
At 3-2-0, the Hawks are above .500 for the first time since March 6, 2021.
“Obviously, we [need] some better starts and hopefully play with some leads,” Johnson said. “But you’ve got to be happy with getting points and playing the way we are.”
And among all the Hawks’ surprising bright spots, the penalty kill stands clearly above the rest.
They’ve scored four short-handed goals in three games, including Sam Lafferty’s pair against the Sharks and Connor Murphy’s long-distance wrist shot against the Red Wings. It’s the first time since February 2009 that they’ve scored short-handed goals in three consecutive games, and the first time since March 1995 that they’ve scored four short-handed goals in a three-game span.
Even after Khaira’s goal, the Hawks effectively pestered the Kraken enough to kill off three more power plays, including a double-minor to Seth Jones during which the visitors struggled to enter their offensive zone and never had a decent look.
The PK forward duos of Lafferty-Dickinson and Khaira-Blackwell — all of whom are averaging at least 2:13 of short-handed ice time — have been great on the forecheck, and the defensive pairs of Jack Johnson-Seth Jones and Murphy-Jarred Tinordi have been solid enough.
“You just find the right combinations where they can trust each other and work off each other,” Richardson said. “It’s very disruptive up ice. The power plays do not like it. With our speed this year, why not take a chance instead of just sitting back and letting the best players in the world come at you 100 miles an hour? Why not try to disrupt [them] . . . and maybe force bad passes, get them out of their routes?”
Since an admittedly awful debut against the Avalanche, during which they allowed four power-play goals, the Hawks have killed off 14 of 15 opportunities and have a 19.4% short-handed scoring-chance ratio.
It’s a remarkable turnaround from last season, when the Hawks ranked 24th with a 76.2% kill rate and 18th with a 12.2% short-handed scoring-chance ratio and scored only two short-handed goals in 82 games.
“It’s just [about] reading off each other, trusting the three guys next to you and being able to know that if you’re going in [on the forecheck], there’s someone covering for you,” Khaira said. “That’s the main thing.”
