Although coach Brian Sutter preaches defense, he turns pretty offensive when the Blackhawks go on the power play.
With the exception of Igor Korolev, the Hawks load up their offensive firepower on their power-play units, playing four forwards on the first unit along with defenseman Bryan Berard, who has a forward’s mentality.
That kind of lineup can sometimes lead to trouble if the play turns the other way. The Hawks gave up a pair of short-handed goals on the same power play in Sunday’s 4-3 loss to Edmonton and have surrendered nine this season, second only to Pittsburgh.
“It’s just guys not backing up guys,” winger Mark Bell said. “We have a forward on defense [Steve Sullivan] and a guy who likes to jump into the play in Bryan, so you have to back guys up, doesn’t matter if it’s a power play or five-on-five.” …
The Hawks gave up just eight short-handed goals all last season. … The last time the Hawks allowed two short-handed goals in a game was Nov. 19, 2002, also against the Oilers, in Edmonton. … Tuomo Ruutu played 18 minutes 55 seconds Sunday, the most ice time for him since he logged 20:52 on Nov. 29 at Los Angeles. Ruutu is averaging 15:20 per game for the season. … Nathan Dempsey is the team leader in ice time at 24:04. . . .
Wednesday night’s game at Minnesota begins a stretch of five games in eight days. The final four opponents–Calgary, Colorado, Detroit and St. Louis–are well over .500.
