NEW YORK — The idea of the Blackhawks dressing one of the youngest lineups in modern NHL history is romantic. The reality of it, at least for now, is less pleasing on the eyes.
The Hawks were shellacked 6-1 by a poor Rangers team Friday, one day after getting routed 5-1 by a mediocre Flyers team.
It was almost as ugly of a back-to-back set as the Hawks’ disastrous December weekend in southern California, when the Kings and Ducks beat them by a combined 13-1 score.
General manager Kyle Davidson, who has accompanied the team on this East Coast road trip, surely hopes the fully developed version of this lineup will fare much better than this fresh-off-the-vine version.
And it likely will, to be fair. But the results this week offer a bitter reminder the Hawks still have a long way to go to become contenders, even if they’ve now progressed through one stage of the rebuild and into the next.
With six out of six defensemen in the lineup aged 24 or younger and seven out of 12 forwards aged 23 or younger, the Hawks played a solid first period Friday and then fell apart.
“We were in the game,” said new alternate captain Tyler Bertuzzi, one of few remaining veterans. “And then I don’t know what happened in the second and third.
“We’re trying to figure that out ourselves. I don’t know if it’s just such a young team [with] immaturity and we can’t put it together. But it’s on everyone. It’s on us older guys to show the lead and have them follow. As a group, everyone, the last few games, we have not been good at all.”
Through the first three games of this trip, scoring chances (during five-on-five play) favor Hawks opponents by a cumulative 130-59 margin, and high-danger chances favor opponents 69-23. Those are extremely lopsided numbers.
The Hawks’ biggest problem Thursday was ill-advised step-ups in the neutral zone leading to odd-man rushes against. Their biggest problem Friday was succumbing to pressure within the defensive zone and failing to relieve it cleanly.
Fatigue is almost certainly a factor, considering the density of games and lack of practice time lately. Coach Jeff Blashill believes a correlation between lack of practice time and looser adherence to systems exists.
The schedule is dense for every team, though, so it’s no excuse.
“This will be a good test for us here after two tough ones,” Blashill said. “Overall, we haven’t been in this spot a lot. I think we’ve played pretty good hockey through most of that stretch after the trade deadline. Now we’ve got to regroup.”
The Rangers, who had lost six straight coming in, moved into a tie with the Hawks for 30th place in the NHL standings — a close race for the second-best draft lottery odds. (The Flames, one point ahead of both teams, also remain in that conversation.)
For that reason, a sizable contingent of Rangers fans on social media were rooting for their team to lose, and a smaller contingent of extremely future-looking Hawks fans were probably pleased with the result.
But most Hawks fans have tired of caring about lottery position, even if they recognize another top-five pick will be valuable for the organization. The Hawks’ front office has shifted its primary focus to the NHL roster and its progress, too. This season’s purpose is taking the first step up the mountain, not tanking.
Even though the Hawks remain on pace to finish with 75 points — a 14-point improvement upon last season — this week is a reasonable cause for concern.
“We’ve got a lot of the…core pieces that that are going to be here moving forward, hopefully,” Alex Vlasic said. “So it’s on us to do a better job.”
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