Blackhawks taught harsh lesson by Hurricanes about how effective a system can be

Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour runs perhaps the NHL’s most distinctive system, something Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill has “talked to him a lot about” in the past.

Thursday proved how effective that system can be regardless of personnel. The Hurricanes, having already clinched the Metropolitan Division title, rested seven key players — including their three leading scorers — and still annihilated the Hawks 7-2.

“One of the reasons that they’re a really good team year after year is their work ethic and compete on the puck is excellent,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “Although they obviously had a light lineup tonight, they still worked and competed on the pucks, and we didn’t do that enough.”

The Hawks could learn several things from that mentality. They also need to learn how to compete against it.

Too many times, Hawks forwards — especially Connor Bedard’s line with Nick Lardis and Teuvo Teravainen — assumed their defensemen could execute a breakout and started cheating early for offense, which is an assumption that cannot be safely made against the Hurricanes’ relentless forecheck.

Granted, the Hawks did win in Carolina in January — one of their most impressive victories of the season. But a blowout loss against a lineup one-third composed of AHL call-ups is justifiably alarming.

“It’s a hard system to play against, but we didn’t give ourselves a chance, really,” Louis Crevier said.

Blashill’s comment Wednesday about showing Hawks fans “how good we can be and how good we will be” during this final home stand is already aging poorly.

“We’ve done a pretty good job all year of competing pretty hard,” Blashill said Thursday. “I don’t want to overreact to a bad night. It’s frustrating, for sure. Our fans deserve better, for sure. I recognize all of that. But there are [bad] nights that happen, and this was one of them.”

Frondell shines

Anton Frondell was the Hawks’ lone bright spot, scoring twice and creating two dangerous chances late in search of a hat trick. And it’s true that if Hawks management could pick anybody to be a bright spot right now, they would pick him.

Frondell admitted he’s surprised himself with his production: Eight points in his first nine NHL games.

Knight nominated

Spencer Knight is this year’s Blackhawks nominee for the Masterton Trophy, which is awarded annually to the NHL player who “best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey.” The nominees are chosen by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Knight has emerged as the Hawks’ No. 1 goalie this season after, three years ago in the Panthers’ organization, spending time in the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program so to get help managing obsessive-compulsive disorder.

His 53 starts are tied for seventh-most in the league. And behind the Hawks’ leaky defense, he has usually been excellent — although he endured one of his worst performances Thursday, stopping only 15 of 22 shots.

His .904 save percentage looks unremarkable at first glance, but that’s before considering that the league-average save percentage has plummeted down to .896 this season — a 30-year low.

That trend has received much attention in the past few days, in part because it’s influenced by the NHL tightening its standards for (and it’s double-checking of) shots on goal. Teams have averaged 27.7 shots per game this season — the lowest in 24 years.

He’s unlikely to be a Masterton finalist, but Hawks-turned-Jets legend Jonathan Toews has a good chance. Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog, Sabres star Rasmus Dahlin, retiring Kings stalwart Anze Kopitar and possibly retiring Capitals icon Alex Ovechkin are other notable nominees.

Mangiapane’s motivation

When Andrew Mangiapane laced up his skates March 19 in Minnesota, he felt like he was “playing more like myself and understanding the system and getting chemistry” with his new Hawks team at last.

Nothing has gone right for Mangiapane this season, however, so in fitting fashion, he aggravated a lingering injury in that game and ended up missing nearly three weeks. He returned Monday against the Sharks to play the Hawks’ final five games.

“Not a lot of guys here know me too well, so [I’m] just showcasing myself,” Mangiapane said. “This year has been a little tough for me, just with the limited opportunity I feel like I received with the [Oilers]. I want to go out here now and play and run with it.”

The 30-year-old forward will spend this upcoming summer training at home in the Toronto area and awaiting confirmation that he will be back in Chicago next season. He has one year left on his contract, but a buyout can’t be completely ruled out.

Notes

Oliver Moore, injured since March 8, joined the end of Hawks practice Wednesday wearing a gray non-contact jersey. He’s still unlikely to return before the season finale next Wednesday, though.

Andre Burakovsky returned to the lineup Thursday after his healthy-scratch Monday, but he looked no better than before. His lowlight was an inexplicable, inexcusable back-pass to nobody as a power-play expired that led to a Hurricanes goal.