The Chicago Blackhawks were shut out for the fourth time this season during a 3-0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, and it was the second time it has happened to goalie Arvid Söderblom, who had 28 saves.
Worse still, he was saddled with his eighth loss in his last nine starts.
“We didn’t generate enough offense, obviously, with no goals. But our guys killed penalties hard and well,” coach Luke Richardson said. “The power play couldn’t generate much after the first try. Really not enough offense to have a chance in this league. We’ve got to do a better job to support our goaltending.”
Zemgus Girgensons scored the opening goal for the Sabres, deflecting Ryan Johnson’s shot. That broke a six-game streak in which the Hawks scored first. The Sabres padded their lead in the third period with goals from JJ Peterka and Rasmus Dahlin, the latter on the power play.
The Sabres earned at least one point in their seventh straight game against the Hawks, surpassing a six-game streak from Oct. 19, 1977, to Jan. 4, 1979.
It was a likely outcome given how little resistance the Hawks put up. They had just 19 shots on goal despite four power plays.
“We came out pretty slow, felt like nobody had jump, nobody was ready to go,” Alex Vlasic said. “They like to play a high-flying game, pretty fast-paced, and we kind of played right into that.”
The game was postponed for a day because of Erie County travel restrictions, so the Hawks were idle for a day that they didn’t expect to be. The Sabres, though, went two days without practicing.
“All around, we played sluggish the whole game, myself included,” Vlasic said. “A lot of us didn’t have our legs and we weren’t ready to go from the start.”
Here are four takeaways from the loss.
1. Arvid Söderblom looked good after a long layoff — at first.
Söderblom’s last start came Jan. 5 at New Jersey — the infamous game in which Connor Bedard broke his jaw. Bedard has since had surgery and started skating again during that span.
Söderblom’s most recent three outings, including Thursday’s, weren’t bad — two, three and three goals allowed — but he hasn’t recorded a win since Nov. 24.
In the first period against the Sabres, he faced 13 shots, two penalty kills and five high-danger shots (all strengths) and shut them down. He then allowed three goals over the next two periods.
He can’t be totally absolved, but he had a bit of bad luck and was placed in some difficult positions by the defense.
During a second-period power play, Söderblom played Johnson’s shot on target to hit him in the midsection. But in the blink of an eye, Girgensons deflected the puck down and between Söderblom’s legs.
Girgensons was able to sneak up behind the net because no Hawks defenseman was there.
On Peterka’s third-period goal, he deked Isaak Phillips out of his skates and banked in a shot off Söderblom’s helmet from an insane angle below the goal line.
Sabres coach Don Granato said Peterka “absolutely” was looking for a shot from below the goal line, similar to how he scored a month ago against the Arizona Coyotes.
“No question, he sees that it’s hard to make that save,” Granato said. “Bank shot. He’s good at it.”
Söderblom also was the victim of friendly fire on Dahlin’s power-play goal. Vlasic appeared to try to break up a high-to-low pass to Zach Benson, but his stick redirected Dahlin’s shot past Söderblom.
“Dahlin’s goal went in off of their player,” Granato said, “but you had traffic — Benson was going to the net. And that created that chaos that you want.”
Vlasic added: “The one I tipped in was unfortunate. You’d like to have that one back. I feel bad for that one.”
Whatever could go wrong did for Söderblom, and he also didn’t get any help on the other end. The Hawks have been blanked in two of his last three starts.
“He kept us in there as much as he could,” Vlasic said. “It’s hard to win a game when you score zero goals.”
2. To shoot or not to shoot — it’s not even a question.
Usually it’s Seth Jones who dances with the puck or defers to a pass, while it’s Kevin Korchinski who never met a shot he didn’t like. But they reversed roles in the first period.
Korchinski ran a two-on-one with Rem Pitlick, and after a staredown with Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Korchinski opted for a backdoor pass instead of taking a clear shot. Pitlick tried a close-range wrister, but Luukkonen stuffed it.
Later in the first, Jones broke through down the middle and wasted no time taking a five-hole shot.
In the big picture, that selectiveness underscored the difference between the Sabres’ and Hawks’ styles. Granato structured his forward lines so that each had a skater, like Girgensons, who drives the net.
“He plays very direct, and we wanted that,” Granato said.
Richardson said the Hawks need “a little simpler, direct approach on the offense. We need to shoot pucks when we have that opportunity.”
Alluding to chances like Korchinski’s, Richardson said: “There were a couple line rushes or two-on-ones that we decided to make an extra pass. That was fortunate for them and unfortunate for us.
“Right now when we’re not scoring a lot of goals, we have to look to the net as first choice, not second choice.”
3. The Hawks power play has gone kaput.
Don’t let Cole Guttman’s goal Tuesday against the San Jose Sharks fool you — it’s the only success the Hawks have had in 15 power plays over their last five games, including four against the Sabres.
The first opportunity came in the second period after Dahlin roughed Reese Johnson and it looked promising: three shots on goal.
But when Dahlin goofed and played the puck before his feet were out of the box, the Hawks were gifted a second straight power play on the interference call. They did nothing with it, save for a Jason Dickinson snapper.
As usual, the recipe for stopping the Hawks power play is simple: challenge them at the blue line, take away the puck and clear. Rinse and repeat.
The Hawks showed some spunk in the third period on their final power play, putting up three shots, but by then it was too late.
“We got a couple power plays in the second, which was lucky,” Vlasic said. “We’ve got to find a way to get one of those in the back of the net. We had some good looks, but we’ve got to be sharper.”
4. Call it the Battle of the Paddle?
Wednesday’s postponement in snow-laden Buffalo left Hawks players with little to do besides hang out and play games (except not tobogganing off the hotel roof).
Korchinski and Guttman opted for pingpong.
“I kind of worked him,” Korchinski said. “He’d say otherwise, but I think I beat him every time. He just doesn’t have it in him, doesn’t have that dog in him for pingpong.”
For Korchinski, it was reminiscent of his junior days.
“You can never get enough of that stuff, bonding with guys,” he said. “It goes a long way on the ice, kind of helps build those bonds, and those are the players you play for.”
Richardson said the unscheduled day off also helped rest bodies and agreed it was a bonding opportunity.
“It reminds me of the COVID days,” he said, “when everybody was locked up in the hotels and you had no choice but to be with your teammates, like the old days.”
