Disruptive Behavior (blackhawks)

blackhawks

Disruptive Behavior

By Theo Fox

Mar 27, 2022 • 10:02 pm

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It was a problem under previous head coach Jeremy Colliton and it's still a problem under interim head coach Derek King: the Blackhawks often struggle to hold leads and also have way too many instances of letting the other team open the floodgates.

Case in point is the 3-goal outburst in less than 2 minutes to open the 3rd period in Saturday's game against the Golden Knights who clawed back twice to tie the game and force overtime where they eventually scored the game winner.

Although there are many areas for improvement for the Hawks that can aid them in generating a more competitive brand of hockey, one strategy is disrupting the flow of the opponent. Not just once or twice a game but as a habit every shift.

Creating disruption can be done both through disruptive speed and through attacking and defending in waves. A team can still execute in waves without speed. This is where playing as cohesive units is critical, not relying on a select few.

This is also where a team with less skill can still take it to the opposition and at least gut it out to the end even if the final outcome is a loss in regulation, overtime, or shootout. The more skill, though, the greater chance of piling up wins.

Disruptive Speed

Brandon Hagel is the poster child for using his speed to disrupt the flow of the other team no matter where the play is on the ice. He gets on pucks like a fly on manure and hounds the puck handler into a turnover or a 50/50 battle.

With Hagel now in Tampa Bay, Sam Lafferty has been stating his case as a less refined version of the shift disturbing presence that Hagel was while in Chicago. Lafferty may not score as much but he brings more physicality and sandpaper.

On the blueline, Seth Jones plays with considerable pace to advance the puck swiftly zone to zone. Sure, he has some shortcomings in his defense, but his size, strength, and speed while carrying the puck can often be a struggle to contain.

Down on the farm, Andrei Altybarmakian is cut from a similar cloth as Hagel and Lafferty being closer to the latter than the former. Then Alec Regula, Ian Mitchell, Jakub Galvas, and Wyatt Kalynuk are able to push the pace despite lacking Jones' other attributes.

In addition to straight-line speed is shiftiness and ability to change gears in a split second. Look no further than top prospect Lukas Reichel as Exhibit A for demonstrating how gear shifting can be a powerful weapon during offensive rushes.

Attacking in Waves

To attack in waves is simply to keep the puck in the offensive zone as frequently and as long as possible which is the opposite of a common sight in Blackhawks hockey, i.e. too many "one and done" plays. Unrelenting pressure is key.

It starts with flipping the ice by neutralizing rushes, recovering the puck, and moving it up and out with haste whether through a series of passes -- or a stretch pass if it can be made on the tape -- or just skating to escape the D zone.

Then once in the O zone, forechecking, cycling, crashing the crease, putting pucks on net (to create tips, deflections, and rebounds), moving the puck low to high and vice versa, and keeping in clearing attempts are the chief fundamentals.

The other fundamentals are precise passing with quick successive feeds, placing the puck in a teammate’s wheelhouse so they can crank it, and rattling off one timers and shots in motion rather than waiting for fancy plays that may never be there.

Of course, all of this is possible only if each individual player and the units they play on can nail these fundamentals. The inability of the Hawks to attack in waves is primarily due to lack of consistent execution of said fundamentals.

Defending in Waves

In a similar vein, defending in waves boils down to fundamentals. The best teams stymie the opponent early and often before the puck even breaches the blueline. Even if the opponent gets that far, "one and dones" are routinely forced.

Teams that are masterful at defending are the ones that are able to regularly employ fundamentals like maintaining tight gaps, shutting down passing and shooting lanes, asserting pins and stops, and establishing inside positioning.

Again, though, not carrying out the fundamentals have led the Hawks to have difficulty with defending in general let alone defending in waves. But if they can reverse this trend, it's the basic building block for being perpetually competitive.

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Blackhawks Game Summary

Saturday Boxscore

DeBrincat - Strome - Kane Kubalik - Toews - Raddysh Borgstrom - Dach - Lafferty Katchouk - R Johnson - Entwistle

de Haan - S Jones McCabe - C Jones Stillman - Gustafsson

Lankinen Delia

Scratches: Kurashev, Vlasic

1st Goal (1-0): Kubalik (McCabe, Toews) 2nd Goal (2-0): Toews (DeBrincat) 3rd Goal (3-0): Strome (C Jones, Kane) 4th Goal (3-1): Stephenson (Dadonov) 5th Goal (3-2): Karlsson (Coghlan, Marchessault) 6th Goal (3-3): Eichel (Stephenson, Theodore) 7th Goal (4-3): DeBrincat (Kane, S Jones) 8th Goal (4-4): Pietrangelo (Roy, Janmark) 9th Goal (4-5): Dadonov (Roy, Marchessault) OT

SOG For/Against: 34/34 PP: 0-for-1 PK: 2-for-2 Faceoffs Won: 38%

Highlights

IceHogs Game Summary

Saturday Boxscore

Hardman - Reichel - Connolly Altybarmakian - McLaughlin - Busdeker Morrison - Gicewicz - Barratt Pour - Yetman - Gabriel

Phillips - I Mitchell Kalynuk - Regula Galvas - Beaudin

Gillam Soderblom

1st Goal (1-0): Busdeker (McLaughlin) 2nd Goal (2-0): Pour (Kalynuk) 3rd Goal (3-0): Hardman (Connolly) 4th Goal (4-0): McLaughlin (Beaudin)

SOG For/Against: 27/38 PP: 0-for-5 PK: 4-for-4

Highlights

See you on the boards!

Sources: Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald, NBC Sports Chicago, The Athletic Chicago

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