The Blackhawks cannot figure out second periods.
Another disastrous one stood out Sunday in a 3-2 overtime loss to the lowly Coyotes, the Hawks’ fifth straight defeat.
“We just stop thinking, shut our brains off and let them get back in the game,” interim coach Derek King said.
With 15 seconds left in overtime, Shayne Gostisbehere’s power-play shot deflected off the skate of Jonathan Toews — who was honored before the game for playing his 1,000th career game on the preceding road trip — and past Kevin Lankinen.
But it was the second period that cost the Hawks, who were clearly the better team otherwise. Scoring chances favored the Coyotes 14-9 in the second, during which they scored twice to flip a 1-0 deficit, but favored the Hawks 21-14 during the other 40 minutes of regulation.
It’s difficult to determine what exactly it is about second periods that flusters the Hawks — the long change, the only actual difference, doesn’t seem like a sufficient explanation — but something does. They’ve been outscored 81-56 in them this season.
“We try to make them change at certain times — at the right time,” King said. “Hopefully you can hem the other team in and get some cycles going, get some fresh bodies out, especially when you have them tired. But they did it to us. We were tired in our end. They hemmed us in, and they got some changes. So it’s stuff we just have to keep working on.”
Reunion time
Marian Hossa, Brent Seabrook, Andrew Shaw and Patrick Sharp — along with Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat — made surprise appearances at Toews’ ceremony. Toews was less surprised personally, though, because Shaw “can’t keep a secret.”
“I owe so much to those guys,” Toews said. “I feel embarrassed or even stupid being recognized like that. Because we were all in it together, and it has been a special ride, and I’m just so thankful to be able to have shared it with guys like that.”
Corey Crawford was shown in the suite with them later in the game, making one of his first public appearances since his abrupt retirement from Devils training camp in January 2021. Toews said he and Crawford have been in touch.
“[We] went to dinner once or twice the past summer and this year, as well,” he said. “When guys aren’t in the locker room, they move on with their lives and kids and families and all that stuff. Everyone is busy. It’s hard to see each other as much.”
Kyle vs. Kyle
Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas’ post-trade-deadline spat with Kyle Davidson was one of the weirder GM interactions seen around the NHL in recent years.
TSN’s Darren Dreger reported shortly before the deadline — but after the Hagel trade to the Lightning — that the Hawks and Leafs had discussed a massive deal involving Hagel, Marc-Andre Fleury, Leafs goalie Petr Mrazek, top Leafs prospect Matthew Knies and a first-round pick.
On deadline day, Dubas insisted the leak had originated from the Hawks’ front office, not his, and told Toronto reporters he was “disappointed” that “specifics like that have been made public.”
But at the GM meetings last week in Florida, the league’s youngest and second-youngest GMs got together and smoothed things over.
“We had a conversation even before the deadline, then again at the meetings,” Davidson said Friday. “It was a simple conversation. We just both said where we’re working from. . . . Both 30-something Northern Ontario [native] Kyles left as friends.”
